The Red River Rivalry seems to always deliver, and it certainly did on Saturday as Oklahoma won, 34-30, in an instant classic.

This is a substantially different game without one player: Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel, whose 285 passing yards and 113 yards on the ground spurred Oklahoma to this monumental victory, saving his best for last on a back-breaking final drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown pass to Nic Anderson for the game-winning score. Gabriel scampered around and avoided pressure on the play as the last of his many Houdini escapes on the day.

In many ways, this Texas team feels different from so many previous iterations: their mental and physical toughness, particularly in the trenches, seemed to put them on another level coming into Saturday’s game. Against Rice, Alabama, Wyoming, and Kansas, relatively slow starts gave way to explosive second halves that left little doubt who was better in the end. But today was different, and almost from the very beginning, Oklahoma proved an even match almost from the very beginning of the game.

After an opening drive interception into triple coverage by Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, the Sooners opened the scoring on a short drive. What followed was a first quarter featuring several special teams mistakes that you couldn’t script if you tried, and portended an early horror show for the Sooners. Texas converted a fake punt with basically nobody home to one side of the formation and blocked an Oklahoma punt in which a protection miscue allowed a free rusher to come right up the middle. The Sooners ran a nice fake field goal in a situation where a Texas celebration penalty gave them extra room, but it got called back for a forward lateral. On the next punt, Oklahoma shanked a kick and had a penalty on the same play.

But despite the miscues, the Sooners’ big plays were what kept them in the game and gave them a small lead heading into halftime.

Texas’s defense did enough to keep giving its offense chances in the second half. Two three-and-outs and another short five-play drive served as evidence that the Horns can continue to answer the bell on that side of the ball and play complimentary football, while Oklahoma’s defense largely stoned Texas up front for most of the game. The best example of that was a crucial goal line stand early in the fourth quarter that saw the Sooners deny the Longhorns four times from the 1-yard line.

Oklahoma’s special teams continued its missteps when kicker Zach Shmitt came up short on a 44-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter. Texas thought they had the game after a 46-yarder of their own, but left too much time on the clock for Gabriel and the Sooners. Five plays and 75 yards later, Gabriel made magic once more, and the Sooners prevailed.