Stephanie Baxter of Dallas and her two brothers are native Texans, but they have no allegiances to the University of Texas during the annual Red River Rivalry game.

TIM GRUBER/DMN

UT fan Clayton Goode, 8, took a break from the Texas-OU pre-game party to watch the Dallas Stars' opening night NHL game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"We're traitors," Ms. Baxter said. "We've been OU fans for 30 years."

The siblings started out as UT fans, but that all changed.

"When Texas stopped running the wishbone and lost Darrell Royal, we decided to go with Barry Switzer at OU," Bruce Baxter said.

The Baxters donned University of Oklahoma attire and milled around Friday night with other OU and UT fans at the Battle in the Big D party at the AT&T Plaza at Victory Park, which quickly turned into a sea of red and orange.

Organizers expected a turnout of 5,000 to 6,000 at the event, which featured live music and performances from both schools' cheerleading squads.

"For me, it's a true blessing," said Brooke Robertson, a UT sophomore and cheerleader, about cheering at the game. "The fact that we get this opportunity – it's awesome."

Dallas police added more patrol officers Friday night in anticipation of pre-game festivities and today's game, but the atmosphere remained friendly between rivals at the party.

"Everything has been quiet," said Dallas police Cpl. Gerardo Monreal. "We haven't gotten any reports of any arrests or anything wrong going on."

But fans became passionate once they start talking about the game.

"We hate OU," said Jackie Clayton, a UT alum. "I think the biggest thing is that they come here to Texas and rob our players. We're playing Texas North."

Mr. Clayton predicts a close game, with the final score as UT 28 and OU 21.

But Taylor Mangrum, an OU sophomore, had a different analysis.

"We're going to win just because we're No. 1," she said of the school's ranking in the college football polls. "The last six times that we've been No. 1, we've won."

Ms. Mangrum said she hoped the atmosphere would become a little rowdy.

"I hope there is yelling back and forth," she said. "I just don't want somebody going to jail."

Her father, Terry, on the other hand, didn't mind if somebody went to jail.

"If they're going to jail, we want it to be somebody who is wearing burnt orange," he joked.