Rain before and after, but it's clear during game
There's no doubt to almighty significance of OU vs. Texas

The Longhorns and Sooners were both coming off losses for only the seventh time in the 102-game series.

Preseason hype had quickly faded. The Big 12 was being trashed top to bottom. The two best teams from the South had just been swept by two tweener teams from the North. ESPN's College GameDay was nowhere in sight.

Recent history didn't bode well for a nail-biter, with every OU-Texas game since 1997 having been decided by double-digits.

Such things helped explain why it had been so quiet leading up to the annual showdown, both north and south of the Red River.

Fans who arrived early Saturday to the State Fair of Texas were greeted with rain from 10 a.m. to noon, providing yet another way to dampen any enthusiasm.

But when both teams trotted onto the field for pregame warmups, clouds began to lighten and eventually separated.

Heaven was clearly visible from the Cotton Bowl, and vice versa.

After taking a shower, the sellout crowd of 80,000 was treated to a sauna as the humidity dripped at 88 percent.

With patrons sweating profusely, the mood quickly seemed to intensify. Extreme dislike had returned.

The Sooners beat the Longhorns 28-21 in a single-digit decision.

The instant the clock hit :00 — and this is no exaggeration — the first raindrops in six hours were felt.

Seven minutes later came a public address announcement pleading for fans to leave the stadium and seek shelter.

Within minutes, a deluge arrived. And yet the game itself was not touched.

Such things transpired for a reason: This was OU-Texas.