Texas history: 60 years this October, Darrell Royal took a big step in becoming a legend

In 1957, Oklahoma lost its record 47-game winning streak. It’s a record that has never been broken.

That same season the University of Texas had hired Darrell Royal as head coach. He wasn’t exactly an immediate success. Royal was 2-2 after four games and lost to No. 1 Oklahoma 21-7. It was Texas’ sixth loss in a row to the Sooners.

The very next week, however, Royal did score his first monumental win at Texas when the Longhorns beat No. 10 Arkansas 17-0 and followed that win with another against No. 13 Rice, 19-14. By the end of the season, Texas was 6-4-1, second in the Southwest Conference with a 4-1-1 record and ranked 11th.

Also, Royal beat No. 4 Texas A&M 9-7, the biggest win of the year.

But he hadn’t beaten Oklahoma, and in the 1950s, there was no program better in America than Oklahoma, and perhaps the Bud Wilkinson-era Sooners of the 1950s is the greatest college football dynasty of all time.

In 1958, Oklahoma started the season ranked No. 2 and had that ranking on Oct. 11 when they met the No. 16-ranked Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl.

MORE: Daily Longhorn football history: The 1958 season

What ensued was one of the best Red River Shootout games ever. The two teams were scoreless after a quarter but Texas took a 8-0 lead into halftime when Rene Ramirez hit George Blanch with a 10-yard pass in the second quarter.

Oklahoma scored 14 unanswered points and held that lead in the fourth quarter.

That’s when Texas finally slayed the Sooners.

Bobby Lackey threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Bob Bryant to give Texas a 15-14 lead and the win.

PHOTOS FROM THE ARCHIVES: Darrell Royal’s final game at Texas on Dec. 4, 1976

For a coach famous for hating the passing his game, Royal’s two scores in his first win over the Sooners came via the forward pass.

Royal’s dominance of the Sooners is part of his legend. A former Oklahoma quarterback himself, Royal was 12-6-1 and was 10-1 at one point in his career against Oklahoma. The win in 1958 began a stretch of eight consecutive victories over Oklahoma.