Texas won’t be able to control how Oklahoma fans conduct themselves in the stands at AT&T Stadium during the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Football Championship on Saturday. As far as the players are concerned, the Big 12 office has apparently told the Sooners that putting their horns down won’t fly.

On his coaches show Tuesday evening, Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley said the Sooners have been told they can’t do throw the ‘Horns Down’ hand sign. Josh Helmer of 1400 AM (KREF) in Norman reported on Twitter that Riley said Oklahoma reached out to the conference office to see if players would be penalized for doing the inverted Hook ‘Em Horns hand sign and the news Riley got makes the hand gesture off limits on Saturday with the Big 12 title on the line.

"Yeah, we can't do it.," Riley said, according to Helmer.

Throwing the horns down didn’t become a hot-button issue until the season, specifically when West Virginia beat Texas, 42-41, at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Nov. 3. Wide receiver David Sills V was assessed a 15-yard penalty for going ‘Horns Down’ after scoring a touchdown, the same fate that befell quarterback Will Grier when he flashed the sign to the Texas student section after running in the game-winning 2-point conversion.

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen said during his postgame press conference that the Mountaineers asked the officiating crew if doing the hand gesture would result in a penalty, Holgorsen indicated the information West Virginia received from the officials didn’t jibe with what happened on the field.

“Here’s what I'm disappointed about: We communicated with the refs if that thing was going to get called,” Holgorsen said. “I guess there was miscommunication.

“We did ask, yeah,” he added. “I guess there was some miscommunication. That's been brought up in our coaches meetings and stuff. I think they should take a hard, fast stance on it, mandate we can do it or not do it. I don't know where we stand on that.”

The Big 12 has told the Sooners they apparently can’t do it on Saturday. That’s sure to not sit well with Barry Switzer, the legendary Oklahoma head coach who told Jason Kersey of The Athletic that the “‘Horns down’ is part of the history of the game.”

“It’s like if someone gives you the finger. You give them the finger back, right? Well, if someone does a ‘Horns up,’ you do a ‘Horns down’ back at them.”

The Big 12 censoring Oklahoma’s hands is the latest move the by the league to try and quell the rivalry flame. Folks on both sides of the Red River, however, seem to have an issue with how the league has handled what’s typically an intense, deeply-personal border conflict between two college football blue bloods.

Texas defensive lineman Breckyn Hager was issued a public reprimand by the conference and had to issue a public apology for his comments following the team’s 24-10 win over Iowa State on Nov. 17. Hager said the Sooners have “no defense” and told reporters “OU still sucks” after noting it was 11:12 p.m., which forced the league to reprimand him and resulted in Hager releasing a written apology through the school.

In a video published on Twitter by ESPN’s Jake Trotter following Oklahoma’s 59-56 win over West Virginia, Sooners linebacker Curtis Bolton fired back at Hager.

What's next for the Texas Longhorns? Make sure you stay in the loop by signing up for a FREE seven-day trial to Horns247 now!

"Blows my mind,” Bolton said. “We hung 50 (45) on them, too. If anyone on their defense has anything to say, they can have fun playing (quarterback) Kyler (Murray) next week."

The 48-45 win the Longhorns scored over the Sooners in the AT&T Red River Showdown on Oct. 6 was as intense as any game in the recent history of the rivalry. With the conference stepping and trying to referee the trash talk ahead of time, along with the ongoing banter between Murray and Sam Ehlinger, Saturday's rematch is sure to have the tension and juice befitting of a game between the Big 12’s two biggest dogs with the conference crown on the line.