There are Sooners you don’t like and the Sooners you hate. And then there are these guys.
Here’s a look at five Sooners who Texas fans love to hate. Truthfully, the list is much longer than five, and lots of Oklahoma standouts could’ve made this list.
Adrian Peterson turned down Texas and then tore its defense apart. Kenny Stills is only a junior and already Texas fans can’t stand him. Bob Stoops could easily earn a spot on it for beating the Longhorns in eight of the last 12 years.
But these five set themselves apart from the rest with big-time performances and, in the case of a few, a whole lot of trash talk. These are the five that Longhorns fans truly loathe.
Roy Williams
No need to describe why. Texas fans won’t soon forget his “Superman” dive, can’t erase how the safety flew over the Longhorns line like a missile and forced Chris Simms’ game-clinching pick-six to Teddy Lehman, springing Oklahoma to a 14-3 victory and win No. 2 of a five-year win streak in the Red River Rivalry. Williams also picked off a Simms pass that afternoon and recorded a sack during OU’s win in 2000.
Quentin Griffin
A diminutive 5-foot-7 back from Houston’s Nimitz High, Griffin tied an NCAA rushing record against Texas in 2000 despite running for only 87 yards. His six rushing touchdowns -- none from longer than 8 yards -- helped power a 63-14 whooping in which OU scored the game’s first 42 points. As a senior two years later, Griffin burned the Longhorns for 250 rushing yards and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 35-24 victory.
Jason White
White played in three wins against Texas, with his finest performance coming during his 2003 Heisman Trophy year. He threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns in a 65-13 beatdown. His first Red River Rivalry game was another impressive feat: White came in for an injured Nate Hybl and threw for 108 yards during OU’s 2001 victory.
Brian Bosworth
The infamous Sooners linebacker liked to say the color orange “reminds me of puke.” A two-time Butkus Award winner, “Boz” was born in Oklahoma City but grew up in Irving, Texas. His contempt for Texas only grew when the Longhorns didn’t recruit him, and the notorious trash-talker punished UT for that in his three Red River Rivalry games. His first was a 15-15 tie in 1984, but Oklahoma won in 1985 -- on the way to a national title -- and again in 1986.
Barry Switzer
No list of hated Sooners is complete without Switzer. His 9-5-2 career record against Texas will forever make him one of the rivalry’s great villains. Few games cemented that status like the 1976 game, when Darrell Royal accused Switzer of sending a spy to Texas practices the week of the game. Switzer vehemently denied the accusations but eventually admitted to the snooping in his 1990 autobiography “Bootlegger’s Boy.”