Oklahoma football: Four trips to Texas for the Sooners

For more than 100 years, the Sooners have been crossing the Red River for football games. In 2012, they will cross it perhaps like never before.

OU will play four regular-season games in the state of Texas: Sept. 1 at Texas-El Paso, Oct. 6 at Texas Tech, Oct. 13 against Texas in Dallas and Dec. 1 at TCU.

Only four times in history have the Sooners played four games in Texas, and three of those times came with the help of a post-season game:

2010: beat Texas 28-20 in Dallas, lost to Texas A&M 33-19 in College Station, beat Baylor 53-24 in Waco and beat Nebraska 23-20 in the Big 12 title game in Arlington.

2009: lost to Brigham Young 14-13 in Arlington, lost to Texas 16-13 in Dallas, lost to Texas Tech 41-13 in Lubbock and beat Stanford 31-27 in El Paso’s Sun Bowl.

2002: beat Texas 35-24 in Dallas, lost to Texas A&M 30-26 in College Station, beat Baylor 49-9 in Waco and beat Colorado 29-7 in the Big 12 title game in Houston.

1998: beat TCU 10-9 in Fort Worth, lost to Texas 34-3 in Dallas, lost to Texas A&M 29-0 in College Station and beat Baylor 28-16 in Waco.

This coming season, the Sooners could end up playing five games in Texas, should they land in the Cotton Bowl or Houston bowl or even the TicketCity Bowl.

Never have the Sooners won four games in the state of Texas in a single season. OU will be heavy favorites at UTEP and Tech; they figure to be moderate favorites against Texas and TCU.