Oklahoma leading wide receiver Deion Burks is not expected to play against No. 1 Texas, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Thursday.
Burks tops the No. 18 Sooners in receptions (26) and yards (201) this season. He’d been listed as questionable and has been dealing with a lower-body injury heading into Saturday’s game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas (TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
He scored all three of his touchdowns this season in a 51-3 rout of Temple in the Sooners’ opener.
Burks transferred to Oklahoma from Purdue after last season, when he had 47 catches for 629 yards and seven touchdowns.
Texas and Oklahoma are both coming off open dates, marking the first time since they started playing annually in 1929 that both were off the previous week.
This is the 44th time both teams will be ranked heading into the game, which is second only to the Ohio State–Michigan rivalry (49). It’s the fifth time Texas will enter the game at the Cotton Bowl ranked No. 1; Texas is 3-0-1 in the previous four.
Oklahoma will start a true freshman quarterback against the Longhorns for the first time. Michael Hawkins Jr., who graduated up the road from the Cotton Bowl at Frisco Emerson, won his first start in the Sooners’ last game two weeks ago, when they rallied in the fourth quarter at Auburn for their first SEC road win.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.