Oklahoma DB Billy Bowman: Red River Rivalry is 'like no other game'

Oklahoma defensive back Billy Bowman is ready for the Sooners’ move to the SEC, but he still believes nothing the conference can offer matches the intensity of the Red River Rivalry.

Speaking with Andy Staples during the latest episode of Andy Staples On3 on YouTube, the Sooners defender elaborated on what it feels like to play in a game like Oklahoma versus Texas, and how it’ll change the way you view college football.

“It’s a feeling like no other, like no other game,” Bowman stated. “You walk out that tunnel, and the field is split right at the 50. Half orange, half red. The game is loud the whole entire time, because it’s half red, half orange. One side is going to be cheering the whole entire time. So just going out in that man, it’s chills.

“And being a captain in the game last time, last year I mean, walking out there on the field, it’s like, it’s just surreal. It’s crazy.”

Of course, the Red River Rivalry will stay in 2024 and beyond, as the SEC brought Texas and Oklahoma over from the Big 12 together. That was a non-negotiable, at least in Bowman’s eyes, even if the two programs are heated rivals.

“Yeah. Oh yeah. That’s the only right way to do it,” Bowman said, regarding Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC together. “I feel like, one of us going in and one of us staying, that’s wrong. We travel together. Yeah, that’s our rivalry, but it feels good going in there with them, because you know, it’s self-explanatory, you know.”

Still, while there might be a respect from Billy Bowman to the Longhorns, he’s not predicting that golden hat going over to Austin now that the two teams are in the SEC: “We gonna keep it here in Norman this year,” he told Staples.

Regardless, the SEC recognizes the electricity the Red River Rivalry has, and arguably the biggest game in college football will be contested the SEC banner for the first time in 2024. It should be an amazing event, per usual, with some extra juice now.

Billy Bowman applauds SEC allowing ‘Horns Down,’ calls Big 12 restrictions ‘pretty soft’

Alas, Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC this upcoming college football season has come with a multitude of different topics during SEC Media Days in Dallas this week. One being the ‘Horns Down’ hand gesture that has been popularized as a taunt against the Longhorns.

Use of the Horns Down resulted in a 15-yard penalty unsportsmanlike penalty in the Big 12 Conference, but at SEC Media Days, SEC Coordinator of Officials John McDaid confirmed that Horns Down will not be considered unsportsmanlike conduct. Which Oklahoma safety Billy Bowman reacted to during Media Days on Tuesday. 

“It shouldn’t be a penalty … if you let a hand signal affect you & affect the game, maybe you shouldn’t be there … allowing us to throw the horns down, that’s cool and all,” Bowman said. “But, I mean, if it can’t be a part of the game? Pretty soft.”

Bowman’s comments were spoken like a true Sooner with hatred for Texas, words that will likely be supported by Oklahoma’s fans and frowned upon by fans of the Longhorns.

The Hook’em Horns hand celebration is one of the most iconic and recognizable hand gestures across all of college athletics. But despite athletes and fan bases turning those horns upside down to taunt Texas for many years, there’s no question that Horns Down has taken on a life of its own.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this article.