Oklahoma’s march toward a record-setting fifth consecutive Big 12 title took a big step Saturday as the Sooners beat Texas 34-27 in the Red River Showdown in Dallas.

The win tied No. 5 OU (6-0, 3-0 in the Big 12) with No. 18 Baylor (6-0, 3-0) atop the Big 12 standings. Oklahoma hosts West Virginia (3-3, 1-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday in Norman. The Mountaineers could be without quarterback Austin Kendall, a transfer from Oklahoma who had a chest injury in Saturday’s 14-38 loss to Iowa State.

Oklahoma should be favored in their last six games. If OU runs the table and wins the Big 12 Championship game, the Sooners look like a lock to make the College Football Playoff.

Unlike last season, when OU fell to Texas and had to beat the Longhorns to get to the playoff, the Sooners rose to the occasion Saturday in the Cotton Bowl. OU has won four of the last five meetings with the Longhorns.

“This game continues to live up to its billing as the best game in college football,” said OU coach Lincoln Riley.

OU wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was outstanding. Lamb caught three touchdown passes and totaled 171 receiving yards. But the most impressive aspect was how he battled for yardage after each catch. Lamb:

• Tied Dede Westbrook for the most receptions in the rivalry game;
• Tied Westbrook and Manuel Johnson for the most TD receptions (three) against Texas; and
• Has scored a touchdown in eight straight games, tying Mark Clayton for second place in that category (Westbrook has 10 games in a row).

“He’s a special player,” Riley said of Lamb. “It’s been fun for the journey with CeeDee, really just like Kenneth (Murray), too, just seeing their development through the years. They came in here talented, hungry kids. They’ve really both turned into great players. Proud of these guys, certainly proud how CeeDee played today on the big stage. He’s a big- game player.”

OU quarterback Jalen Hurts, playing in his first and last Red River Showdown, hit 16 of 28 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed 17 times for 131 yards and totaled 366 yards of offense. Only three other OU quarterbacks – Jack Mitchell, Jack Mildren and Charles Thompson – have rushed for more than 100 yards against Texas. Hurts went over 100 in the first half.

Hurts uncharacteristically had two turnovers – a fumble and an interception – that happened as OU was about to score.

“That’s an extremely talented and well-coached team led by an exceptional quarterback that had a heck of a day,” said Texas coach Tom Herman. “They are really, really good and played really, really well. We did not, and it’s disappointing, certainly, for our seniors.”

The OU defense played lights out, recording nine quarterback sacks and holding Texas to 305 yards of total offense (57 yards came on one running play). Texas had only 100 yards rushing, compared to 235 for the Sooners. OU forced seven punts and the Longhorns made only six of 14 third down attempts.

Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger had only 210 yards passing but he had 401 yards passing when Texas played LSU.

The Sooner defense held Texas to 83 total yards in the first half, including only 12 yards on 17 rushing attempts. The defense has 15 tackles for loss against the Longhorn offense.

“Well, regardless of what the outside world thinks, we believe a lot in our defense,” Riley said. “I don’t care what our defensive calls are, schemes. Not that I don’t care, but the way we play right now was the difference today. Aggression, fundamentally sound, kept our aggression even in the second half when Texas made a few plays. We were outstanding there.

“We’re going to continue to get better. This won’t be our best game. It was a really good performance defensively against obviously a very talented offense.”

All-Big 12 linebacker Kenneth Murray had a sack, two tackles for loss and five solo tackles. Defensive lineman Jalen Redmond got his second sack of the season and finished with seven tackles. Neville Gallimore had two sacks.

“We tackled well, covered them well,” Riley said. “Obviously we were able to get quite a bit of pressure on the quarterback which is probably the key to the game.”

OU cut down on penalties, which have been a problem lately, against Texas.

“We knew against a good football team we couldn’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Riley said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of maintaining aggressiveness. We were just sharper. The whole week was sharper. We were sharper on communication, didn’t put ourselves in bad positions, kind of held it together, stayed composed in a game that’s hard to do that. We knew it was going to be the key to the game. We were certainly much better.”