As Oklahoma prepared to face Nebraska, the Sooners’ coaching staff dusted off films of those fabled Sooners-Cornhuskers wars of yore. Every evening, before the players broke into position meetings, the staff rolled a few minutes of highlights.
“I wanted them to know how well Oklahoma used to play against Nebraska all those years,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “They had heard about `Sooner Magic,’ but this showed them what that meant. That’s part of our history, and I think that made an impression on them.”
Perhaps. But there was nothing magical about third-ranked Oklahoma’s 31-14 whipping of No. 1 Nebraska on Saturday at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. OU (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) simply manhandled the Cornhuskers (7-1, 4-1) in front of 75,989 roaring fans. The Sooners spotted the visitors a 14-0 lead after six minutes, then bombed Nebraska with 24 points in the second quarter.
Oklahoma, which drilled then-No. 2 Kansas State 41-31 Oct. 14, became the second team in college history to defeat a No. 1 and No. 2 team in consecutive games. Southern Cal did it in 1964.
“We’re trying to write our own history,” receiver Andre Woolfolk said.
In the old days, Oklahoma-Nebraska was played over Thanksgiving weekend, with oranges littering the field to signify a berth in the Orange Bowl, destination of the Big Eight champion.
This year the Orange Bowl is the site of the Bowl Championship Series title game. The first orange splattered onto the field when Sooners defensive back Derrick Strait raced 32 yards with an interception to make it 31-14 five minutes after halftime.
OU still has some work to do before it clinches a trip to Miami. But when the two major polls are released Sunday, look for Oklahoma to sit atop them.
“We Are the Champions” blared over the public-address system as the jubilant Sooner Nation headed for postgame parties. That rock anthem was a bit fresher the last time Oklahoma reigned atop the polls, at the close of the 1987 regular season.
The Sooners aren’t the champions of anything yet, but they have put themselves in a strong position to make a bid for their seventh national title.
“One of our goals wasn’t to be the No. 1 team in the country halfway or three-quarters of the way through the season,” Stoops said.
For most of this season the Sooners’ high-scoring offense, which leads the nation in scoring, has drawn attention. Saturday’s victory belonged to their defense–after the first quarter, that is.
Nebraska’s first two touchdowns were almost insultingly easy. The first came three minutes into the game, when quarterback Eric Crouch faked an option run, pulled up and fired a 39-yard touchdown pass to Matt Davison. The second came four minutes later, when Crouch romped 37 yards on an option keeper.
“It didn’t look good early,” Stoops said.
The Cornhuskers rolled up 192 yards of offense in the first quarter. They gained 136 the rest of the way. What changed? Not much, said Stoops, who said his defenders merely adjusted to the Cornhuskers’ speed. By halftime the Sooners had taken ownership of the line of scrimmage. Every time Crouch tried to dart through the line, a swarm of blood-colored jerseys engulfed him.
“I really believe that when we started stopping them, they started going sideways,” nose guard Jeremy Wilson-Guest said. “You know how they normally are. They say, `We’re Nebraska. This is what we do. See if you can stop us.'”
With linebackers Rocky Calmus and Torrance Marshall leading the charge, Oklahoma repelled the nation’s No. 2 scoring attack.
“We tried to get a running game established,” Nebraska coach Frank Solich said. “It all kind of comes off what you do best. If they shut that down, you’re going to struggle.”
This wasn’t a struggle. This was a complete collapse. The Cornhuskers suffered their most lopsided defeat since Arizona State whacked them 19-0 in 1996. The Cornhuskers were No. 1 going into that game too.
As the Sooners’ defense began stuffing the Huskers, their offense came alive behind quarterback Josh Heupel, who sliced Nebraska’s man-to-man and zone defenses to ribbons. Heupel connected on 20-of-34 passes for 300 yards, including an electrifying 34-yard strike to Curtis Fagan that tied the game 14-14 early in the second quarter. Heupel gained 346 yards of total offense, most by an Oklahoma player against Nebraska since Jack Mildren accounted for 267 in the 1971 “Game of the Century” here.
Nebraska won that game 35-31. It was one of the great battles in college football history. The key word there is “history.” There’s a new bully on the Great Plains.
“I think we’ve more than proven who we are,” Stoops said. “We’re going to keep plugging away.”
