University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

From the laws of defeat. Texas ties OU " iffkmjdomOU inTem-Oklahoinii en oldiaumwZWH It was a very wise man who once said, " You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out. " Although he was probably talking about baseball, he couldn ' t have been any closer to the truth when the top ranked Long- UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Poll of Collegiate Coaches Week of Oct. 8, 1984 1. Texas . : (3-0) 579 2. Oklahoma (4-0) 518 3. Washington (5-0) 487 4. Boston College (3-0) 459 5. BYU (5-0) 429 horns and the second-ranked Oklahoma Sooners slipped, sloshed and slid across the Cotton Bowl turf, Oct. 13, on their way to a 15-15 tie. " It was a shame two great teams had to play in conditions like that, " Coach Fred Akers said. " The weather took away about three-quarters of our offense. " OU Coach Barry Switzer had similar complaints. " The rain Pouncing on the fumbled football, defensive back David Fulbright dives for the ball on the soggy Cotton Bowl turf, in only the second meeting bet- ween Texas-OU in which the teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2. In 1963, No. 2 Texas upset top-rated OU, 28-7, and later claimed UT ' s first national championship. Photo by Morris Goen stopped our option play, " he said. " It kept us from going east and west on the slick field, so we had to go straight at them. " " We were pretty much forced not to make mistakes, " Akers added. " Our game is based on speed and finesse, and the con- ditions simply took that away from us. We were forced to play an error-free game. " It was the Sooners who made the mistakes during the first half, and the Longhorns who turned them into points. When OU punter Mike Winchester mishandled a snap, the Horns took over at the Oklahoma 26. Three plays later, quarterback Todd Dodge hit flanker Bill Boy Bryant on a 25-yard scoring strike for a 7-0 Texas lead. In the second quarter, Oklahoma halfback Spencer Tillman coughed up the wet pigskin on his own 26. From there, Jeff Ward kicked a 40-yard field goal and the Horns led at halftime, 10-0. After halftime, the roles were reversed as Texas turnovers led to Oklahoma scores. Tailback Terry Orr fumbled at the Longhorn six, setting up the Sooners ' first touchdown. Four plays later, deep-snapper Terry Steelhammer snapped the ball over punter John Teltschik ' s head for a safety. The Horns ' lead had dwindled to a single point, 10-9. That score didn ' t hold up very long as OU took the ensuing free kick and began the only true drive of the day. They marched 71 yards for their second TD, a 15-10 advantage, and a lot of momentum going into the final, dramatic period. Football 143