DALLAS -- When Oklahoma point guard Hollis Price woke up from an afternoon nap Saturday, he flipped on his TV in the third quarter of the Texas-Oklahoma football game.

As the Sooners pulled away to a 35-24 win, Price couldn't resist grabbing his cell phone and razzing his buddy, Texas point guard T.J. Ford. As soon as Ford answered his phone he screamed at Price, "Ahhhh, why you gotta call me when we're losing?"

As Price's trash talk phone call can attest, the football version of the Red River Rivalry still grips this region like no other sporting event. But while the country focused on the football version of the rivalry this past weekend, the start of practice for the schools' two Top 10 teams went virtually unnoticed.

	“	I like being in the shadows this time of year. I don't like people coming to our practices. It's my classroom, and the English teacher doesn't like people coming in and watching her teach English. ”
		— Kelvin Sampson, Oklahoma head coach

Oklahoma ran double sessions Saturday, with a two-hour practice starting at 10 a.m. followed up with a 7-9 evening session. And just like the Texas' opening workout from noon to 3 p.m., it went off with minimal fanfare.

"Campus today," said Texas guard Royal Ivey, "was like a ghost town."

So while Maryland christened its new arena to endless ovations with a Midnight Madness on Saturday, OU and Texas wallowed in their typical autumn anonymous fashion. The Sooners, who just six months ago came within two victories of matching its 2000 gridiron brethren with a national championship, tipped off the season following a Final Four without all the confetti and back slaps.

"Campus was pretty empty today," said Sooner guard Hollis Price, who led OU to its first Final Four since 1988. "Pretty much everyone leaves on Thursday to go down to Dallas for the game."

The Game is the annual Red River Shootout. But, from the players to the coaches, everyone in Austin and Norman are used to toiling away from the spotlight until football season plays out. They understand how football is interwoven into the culture here, with generations weaned on Friday night games and spending Saturdays watching their beloved State U.

So even with the Big 12 coming off its most successful basketball year ever, as Kansas joined OU in the Final Four, basketball still has its place in the pecking order in these parts. But while the soothsayers are predicting an even better season for the league, with Texas returning five starters from a Sweet 16 team among the primary reasons, the start of practice ran alongside the bowling agate in the local papers this week.

Not that the ominous presence of football really bothers Texas coach Rick Barnes or OU coach Kelvin Sampson, who both gladly scheduled practice around the game to let their guys watch what the rest of the region's TV sets were glued to Saturday. In years past, when practice started later in the year, the coaches would come to Dallas for the game and golf against one another.

Both find the only place where the old "football school" reputation comes up is when teams recruit against them.

So with all the media focus and fan interested centered on the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, both enjoyed quiet productive workouts.

"I like being in the shadows this time of year," says Sampson. "I don't like people coming to our practices. It's my classroom, and the English teacher doesn't like people coming in and watching her teach English."

With no television cameras and an audience of a few local high school hoops coaches, Sampson stalked the practice court with his typical passion and vigor. Price said the Sooners were sluggish in the morning, and Sampson broke out his motivational rhetoric by calling freshmen Larry Turner and De'Angleo Alexander "Charmin," comparing their soft play to the two-ply toilet paper.

Much like the Sooners' workouts, there weren't any distractions in Austin. No camera shooting getting the obligatory lay ups lines. No beat writers asking about expectations for the season.

"It was just us and the coaches," Ivey said. "It was good. We went at it for two-and-a-half or three hours. It was up-and-down, hard nosed, a lot of defense. That's what it's about."

Ivey said he watched the football game alone in his room, occasionally popping across the hall to visit some of his teammates after a big play like Rod Babers' 73-yard interception return for a touchdown.

But after Oklahoma scored 21 fourth-quarter points, Ivey said things quieted down.

"It's real mellow here," he said.

While a peaceful start to the season has its advantages, Barnes still gets riled up whenever people bring up the reputation of a place like Texas as a football school. He points out that the baseball team won a national championship last year and numerous non-revenue teams compete year-in and year-out for the national title.

"People that think football is hurting us are not living in reality," Barnes said. "I enjoy bringing the recruits in on a football weekend. There's a great spirit throughout the university."

At UT, the teams are bonded, too, from wolfing down steaks every Tuesday in the Longhorn Dining Hall to reciprocal support. Texas center James Thomas recalls a galvanizing moment in the relationship between the two teams coming before Texas left to play in the Sweet 16 last March.

Thomas said that Texas strength coach Jeff Madden got on the bus outside the Moncrief-Neuhaus Center and called off the basketball team. There, the football team surrounded basketball players and serenaded them with chants of, "Oooh, Ahhhh, it's on baby, it's on baby. Oooh, Ahhhh, it's on baby, it's on baby."

"Everyone was united," says Thomas, "That made us feel like, damn, these dudes are really cheering for us. It was real cool."

At OU, there's a bond as well. Sampson and football coach Bob Stoops sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field this summer. The two golf together, and though Sampson has a reputation as one of the best golfing hoops coaches, he wouldn't say who's better.

He did make clear, however, that he's one of the biggest "football fans" on campus. Sampson and his staff also bring in recruits on football weekends and says they add to the atmosphere.

"Football really isn't a detriment," Sampson said. "If one is really good and the other is really bad, it's a detriment. If both are good, there's huge positive for each other."

Sampson holds a simple rationale. If the OU football team is good, it's better publicity for the university and better exposure for the basketball program. Plus, when it comes down to it, a throwback like Sampson much prefers an empty campus to a Midnight Madness.

"I hate those things," he said. "As far as coaching, I hate 'em. It's a show."

And as the desolate campuses in Austin and Norman can attest, it's difficult to kick off a season with a gala event when everyone in the region is focused on a different kickoff.

Pete Thamel is a Midwest freelance writer and frequent contributor to ESPN.com.