Texas defeated Oklahoma, 23-6, in the annual Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Saturday afternoon. It was the first loss of the season for the Sooners (5-1, 1-1 SEC) who came into the game ranked sixth. Texas improved to 4-2, 1-1 SEC.

The Longhorns beat the Sooners for the sixth time in the last 17 meetings.

“I’m really proud of our players, this was not an easy week for them, when you have a gut-check moment like we had last Saturday,” said Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian. “I thought we played a very physical game; I thought that we played complimentary football. All three phases were tied together. We had a game plan, and the guys executed it. I thought we got better as the game went on at executing that plan, and ultimately the result was the result.”

OU got the ball first and scored on their first drive with a 42-yard field goal by Tate Sandell to take an early lead. Sandell kicked a 41-yard field goal in the second quarter and OU led 6-0.

Texas got a 22-yard field goal from Mason Shipley in the second quarter, and OU led 6-3 at halftime. However, the Longhorns limited Oklahoma to only 88 yards of offense in the first half.

Texas scored a touchdown and a field goal in each of the two quarters in the second half, and shutdown the Sooners.

OU quarterback John Mateer made his first appearance since the Sept. 20 win over Auburn, completing 20-of-38 passes for 202 yards with three interceptions. Deion Burks and Isaiah Sategna III each surpassed 60 receiving yards, while freshman Tory Blaylock led the Sooners with 33 rushing yards.

“The pain level is nothing, there’s no excuse, I was ready to go physically, but mentally I just didn’t perform,” Mateer said after the game. “My eyes weren’t as good as they needed to be, and when your quarterback doesn’t play good football it’s hard to win in this league, and that’s what happened. I was honored to play in the game and get to see the atmosphere, but I just didn’t play good enough.”

Texas quarterback Arch Manning was 21-of-27 for 166 yards and one touchdown. He connected with DeAndre Moore Jr. in the third quarter to give the Longhorns the lead.

“Arch took a lot of hits last week,” Sarkisian said. “The biggest thing that impressed me this week about his game, he didn’t one rep of practice this week. He came back Monday, and he was not 100 percent, he was beat up, but he took every rep.”

A 75-yard punt return touchdown by Ryan Niblett in the fourth quarter sealed the win for the Longhorns.

Texas amassed 302 total yards on offense, while holding OU to 258.

“We learned how to fight today,” Sarkisian said. “We learned that we don’t have to wait until the 12th round to knock somebody out to win a game. We can win rounds and continue to fight for four quarters.”

Oklahoma travels to Columbia, S.C., on Saturday to face South Carolina. The kickoff will be at 11 or 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network or ABC.