Colt McCoy: Texas roster 'arguably most talented ever' heading into Red River Rivalry

Colt McCoy stood in Dallas on Friday, back where the biggest game of his college career still echoes, and he had a simple assessment of the Texas team preparing to face Oklahoma: this roster, he said, might be the most talented the program has ever assembled.

The Red River Rivalry kicks off Saturday with Texas arriving undefeated at 4-0 and ranked first in the nation. McCoy knows the weight of this matchup better than most. During his four years as the Longhorns' quarterback, he went 3-1 against the Sooners, including a signature win when Texas sat fifth in the rankings and Oklahoma was number one. That victory came 45-35, the kind of statement game that defines a rivalry. Yet McCoy never won a national championship at Texas, never quite reached the destination his talent promised. Now, watching from the outside, he sees something different in this team.

McCoy was in Dallas working with Fanatics, the merchandise company, engaging with fans ahead of the rivalry game. He spoke to Fox News Digital about what makes this matchup singular in college football. The game is played in Dallas, split down the middle between the two schools' supporters, held in the Cotton Bowl, always in October. There is a shared tunnel where players from both teams walk side by side before taking the field. "You just feel the sanctity of that place when you walk down the tunnel," McCoy said. He described it as the unofficial kickoff to conference play, the one game every team circles on its calendar before the season begins. "The beauty of rivalries is that you may be the best team in the country, but if you don't strap it up and play that day or if you're off that day, like you got problems."

Texas has won three of the last four meetings with Oklahoma, a reversal of fortune after losing ten of the previous thirteen matchups, including the 2018 Big 12 Championship Game. The rivalry has shifted. McCoy acknowledged that staying focused on games leading up to the rivalry was always difficult. He went 3-1 in those preceding contests, though he remembered one loss vividly: a 41-21 upset by unranked Kansas State when Texas was ranked seventh. But once the rivalry game arrived, the noise and anticipation took over. "By the time you get to the game, you're just ready to punch somebody in the mouth," he said.

When McCoy moved to the NFL as a third-round draft pick, the rivalry had to fade. He played alongside some of Oklahoma's best products: Trent Williams, whom he called possibly the greatest left tackle ever, still performing at an All-Pro level after seventeen years; Adrian Peterson for a couple of seasons; Tress Way, an exceptional punter; and Kyler Murray, whom he described as his boy. "There's unfortunately been some really good dudes come out of Oklahoma," McCoy said. But now, retired from playing, his allegiance is fully Texas again.

What he sees in this year's team excites him. Texas is 4-0 and ranked number one, and McCoy believes they haven't even peaked. "The sky's the limit for this team," he said. "They're super talented. They're well coached. They kind of have all the makings from both sides of the ball to be really special." He emphasized that this roster, when you examine it position by position, talent against talent, should never walk into a stadium outmatched. That confidence, he suggested, matters. Texas endured a ten-year stretch of struggle before the recent turnaround. Now, with their first national championship in over two decades within reach, McCoy sees a team built to get there. "I do think that this is arguably the most talented roster that Texas has had," he said. "Just when you look across the board, you look at the coaching staff, you look at the players, you look at just the straight talent, like man-to-man, they're never going to go into a game and be outmatched."