NORMAN, Okla. -- Every season, the Oklahoma-Texas game defines football in the Southwest.

To become a hero in the Red River Rivalry means a lifetime of adulation, for no game reverberates louder from the Panhandle to South Padre.

Last season, OU linebacker Teddy Lehman became an accidental icon courtesy of one the rivalry's defining plays -- Roy Williams' Superman dive into Texas quarterback Chris Simms.

	OU's Teddy Lehman is second on the team with 52 tackles.

While blitzing Simms, Lehman looked up and saw the fluttering ball "staring" him in the face thanks to Williams' hit. As Lehman grabbed the ball from the air and stepped two yards into the end zone, he also snared an unintentional legacy.

"It's one of the greatest plays in OU's history, and I'm going to go down in history for not doing anything," says Lehman. "I reaped all the benefits, but I didn't really do anything."

No. 3 Oklahoma playing No. 2 Texas in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday presents the perfect forum for Lehman to do something. And considering the shoes he's filled to emerge as a star at OU, including escaping the shadow All-Americans Torrance Marshall and Rocky Calmus, Lehman is ready to make some footprints of his own on this rivalry.

Lehman landed at OU from Fort Gibson, Okla., a town of 4,057 that sits about 150 miles east of Norman. The cozy hamlet will shut down Saturday afternoon, so gripped by the Sooners' fate that they'll be few cars at its two stoplights. ("We just got the second light a couple of years ago," says Lehman. "It was a big deal.")

Before Lehman attended OU's football camp the summer preceding his senior season at Fort Gibson High, he'd received minimal recruiting interest. But after running three consecutive 4.4s in the 40-yard dash at camp, the Sooner staff catered to him like a Bellagio high roller. When his mother picked him up at the end of camp, OU co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables told her that OU coach Bob Stoops would be calling soon with a formal scholarship offer. Lehman's mother broke into tears.

"What's great about Teddy," says Venables, "is that everything he's done is self made."

Lehman's value transcends his 52 tackles and the sprinter's speed that will allow him to chase UT tailback Cedric Benson from sideline to sideline this Saturday.

Along with filling Calmus' weakside linebacker position this season, Lehman also took over for Orange Bowl MVP Marshall at middle linebacker two years ago.

"It's like coming up to bat after someone hits a home run," says Lehman. "A single just isn't that good."

But five games into his stint replacing Calmus, Lehman has at least hit for extra bases.

Last year, Lehman admits that he "felt like just another guy out there." This season, he's made big plays on third down and filled up the stat sheet with eight tackles for losses, two fumble recoveries and three pass deflections in five games.

	“	Last year Teddy was very robotic. Now he's using his 240-pound frame in a powerful way. Now he's using his sub-4.5 speed in the right way. He's anticipating plays before they happen. ”
		— OU co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables

"Last year Teddy was very robotic," says Venables. "Now he's using his 240-pound frame in a powerful way. Now he's using his sub-4.5 speed in the right way. He's anticipating plays before they happen."

Stoops heaps on the praise, even indirectly linking Lehman to Butkus Award winner Calmus. "Teddy's played as well as anybody we've had there," says Stoops.

But as Lehman well knows from his Fort Gibson roots, reputations are branded on how players and teams perform in the Red River Shootout. So one week after yielding 449 yards to Missouri, Stoops' preseason sentiment that the OU defense could be better this season without Calmus and Williams sounds absurd.

Credit Mizzou's bloated numbers to dynamic freshman quarterback Brad Smith, who ran for 213 yards. Rest assured that Simms, with minus-2 yards on 27 carries, will not have Lehman running ragged like he did trying to catch Smith last week.

In fact, some of OU's recent success against Texas can be pinpointed to the Sooners preferring to defend a one-dimensional quarterback like Simms, whose dropback nature makes him more Drew Bledsoe than Donovan McNabb in style.

"That's one thing we hate is the quarterback running the ball," says Lehman. "It kills you. It's the hardest thing to defend."

Lehman's defensive teammates stress how his physical and cerebral nature make things easier for them on defense.

Cornerback Derrick Strait admires Lehman's versatility, as he's as deft at covering a slot wideout as he is stuffing the run. "He's like a guy you make on a video game," says Strait, "that everyone tells you you ain't supposed to have on your team."

Lehman also serves as tutor to first-year JUCO linebacker Lance Mitchell, and the staff credits Lehman's alignments for helping Mitchell play with a veteran's aplomb and register a team-high 62 tackles.

In the film room, Lehman screams things like, "That's awful, I'm embarrassed," when Venables asks him to grade himself. Then, he bothers the video coordinator for copies to take home.

His film rat tendencies lead to moments like last week's games against Missouri. Noticing an intricacy in Mizzou's formation, Lehman screamed to Mitchell, "Watch the counter. Watch the counter." Sure enough, Mizzou ran a counter and Lehman's prediction helped Mitchell bust the play and smack Smith so hard he missed the next down.

"He's right on those calls," says Mitchell, "99-percent of the time."

And if OU can smother Simms and Co. for the third consecutive year, retain bragging rights and return the swagger to the OU defense, expect Lehman to spearhead the charge.

Then, the kid from Fort Gibson will be happy. People will remember him for actually doing something.