Oklahoma football: Sooner Turkey Day memories

The longtime Oklahoma football rivalry with Nebraska came to an abrupt hiatus in December 2010.

The classic rivalry of the Big Reds will be renewed in 2021 after an 11-year abeyance, but it also gives us pause to  recall two of the greatest Thanksgiving Day college games of all time featuring — who else? — the Sooners and Cornhuskers.

Fans of both these schools will not soon forget the “Game of the Century,” played Nov.  25, 1971, in Norman, Oklahoma between No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Oklahoma.

The Huskers defensive line, featuring three consensus All-Americans, was the talk of the college football world. Overall, the Nebraska defense had pitched three shutouts that season and was allowing opponents an average of just 6.4 points a game.

The Nebraska offense featured some big guns as well, including quarterback Jerry Tagge, Mr. Everything Johnny Rodgers and running back Jeff Kinney. The Cornhuskers (10-0) had beaten their previous 10 opponents that season by an average of 32 points.

Oklahoma (9-0) had literally run over its nine opponents, as well, featuring one of college football’s most explosive offenses. Offensive coordinator Barry Switzer had a full arsenal of weapons to work with in his Wishbone offense, including quarterback Jack Mildren, fullback Leon Crosswhite and halfbacks Greg Pruitt and Joe Wylie. When the Sooners put the ball in the air, which was extremely rare (Mildren had thrown just 45 passes all season leading into this game), speedy Jon Harrison was usually on the receiving end.

Ahead of the Nebraska game, Oklahoma had been held under 30 points just once that season.

A crowd of close to 63,000 was present for the game at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (small by today’s standards, but long before all the structural enhancements in the 2000s that increased the stadium capacity), as well as a nationally televised audience on ABC-TV.

Both teams were forced to punt on their first possession. Johnny Rodgers received Oklahoma’s punt and broke free for a 72-yard touchdown return to open the scoring and put Nebraska on top 7-0.

The Sooners responded with a 72-yard drive on their second possession of the game, but the drive stalled on the Nebraska 12-yard line, where OU’s John Carroll put OU on the scoreboard with a field goal.

Oklahoma football found itself behind by 11 early in the 2nd quarter

A Sooner fumble by Greg Pruitt late in the opening quarter was recovered by the Cornhuskers and led to a second Nebraska touchdown to go up 14-3 early in the second quarter.

Oklahoma cut the Nebraska advantage to 14-10 on a three-yard TD run by Jack Mildren with just over five minutes remaining in the half. And the Sooners weren’t finished.

Nebraska was forced to punt with less than two minutes left in the half. Oklahoma took over on its own 22-yard line. A couple of running plays picked up an OU first down, and head coach Chuck Fairbanks promptly called a time out with 29 seconds on the game clock.

That’s when the Sooners fooled everybody, with a 43-yard pass to an uncovered Jon Harrison that put the ball on the Cornhusker 24-yard line with 15 seconds remaining. On the next play, Mildren went to the air again, finding Harrison in the end zone for a score and sending the Sooners to the locker room at intermission with a 17-14 lead.

Early in the third quarter with the Sooners still leading 17-14 and with the ball, Mildren put the ball on the ground and it was recovered by the Huskers at their own 47-yard line. Several running plays later, with most of the work done by the halfback Kinney, Nebraska scored to regain the lead, 21-17.

Five minutes later, Nebraska mounted a 61-yard scoring drive. finished off by a one-yard TD run by Kinney, and just like that the Huskers had silenced the crowd and taken command with an 11-point, 28-17 advantage with 3:38 left in the third quarter.

Fortunately, the Sooners didn’t heed the message the top-ranked Huskers were sending. Faced with a third-and five from the OU 33-yard line, Harrison took a handoff from Mildren on a reverse but pulled up short of the line of scrimmage and let loose with a pass to tight end Al Chandler. Fifty-one yards later, Oklahoma was set up at the Nebraska 16. Mildren carried four straight times from there, scoring the Sooners third touchdown of the game with 28 seconds left in the quarter to narrow the Husker lead to four points, 28-24.

The lead changed hands a couple of times in the final quarter

In the fourth quarter, Nebraska appeared to be on a scoring drive, advancing the ball to the Sooners’ 24-yard line in seven plays. That’s when disaster struck the Cornhuskers (or was it a bit of Sooner Magic?). Tagge mishandled a handoff to Rodgers resulting in a fumble and the first Husker turnover of the game. Lucious Selmon recovered for the Sooners at the OU 31-yard line.

Mildren and the Sooners made Nebraska pay dearly for that missed opportunity. The senior OU quarterback led a 69-yard Sooner scoring drive that included two fourth-down conversions and put Oklahoma back out in front, 31-28 midway through the fourth quarter.

After the kickoff, Nebraska began its next possession at its own 26-yard line. The Huskers, wisely and methodically controlled the clock for the next five and a half minutes, marching 74 yards and successfully converting several big third downs.

The ball was resting on the Sooner six-yard line with 2:20 remaining in the game. Two plays later, Kinney burrowed across the goal line to give the visitors a 35-31 lead with 1:38 to go.

Oklahoma needed a touchdown to win the game. The Sooners started their final possession from the 19-yard line. An incomplete pass, followed by a four-yard run and a quarterback sack pushed the Sooners back to the 16. From there one last desperation pass to Harrison was deflected and fell incomplete, and the so-called “Game of the Century” came to an end with Nebraska claiming victory.

The Sooners were able to record 467 yards of offense against the nation’s best defensive team and, surprisingly, 188 of those were passing yards, including two touchdowns through the air. Mildren was the offensive star of the game for the Sooners, passing for 188 yards and gaining 130 rushing yards running the option.

The loss didn’t hurt Oklahoma’s national standing. The Sooners went on to route Auburn in the Sugar Bowl and finish second behind Nebraska in the final Associated Press poll. The Big Eight Conference also had the third best time in the country that year. Colorado finished No. 3 in the rankings.

The Sooners exact revenge over their northern rivals the following year

Oklahoma and Nebraska met again the following year on Thanksgiving Day. This time the Sooners were the higher-ranked team at No. 4; Nebraska was No. 5.

The game was played at Nebraska and it was the final home game for Cornhusker head coach Bob Devaney. The 1972 season was also the final one for Oklahoma head coach Chuck Fairbanks. Barry Switzer took over the reins in 1973.

Nebraska had not lost at home in 23 games, and the Huskers appeared on their way to a 24th consecutive home win as the fourth quarter began, despite an outstanding defensive effort by the Sooners.

Nebraska had come into the game averaging nearly 45 points a game, but the Huskers held on to a narrow 14-7 lead entering the final quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Sooners got a huge break when they took possession at the Nebraska 36-yard line following a punt. Senior quarterback Dave Robertson found freshman Tinker Owens for a completed 22-yard pass that moved the ball to the 10. A pass interference call on the Huskers in the end zone moved the ball to the one, where Grant Burget punched it in for the tying touchdown.

At that point, there was 11: 45 remaining in the game.

On Nebraska’s next possession, quarterback David Humm fumbled and the ball was recovered by OU at the Husker 26-yard line. On fourth-and-eight, Rick Fulcher came on to attempt a 42-yard field goal. He had missed field goals of 41 and 45 yards earlier in the game, but he didn’t miss this one, booting it through the uprights for what would turn out to be the game-winning score.

The Sooners held on to win 17-14 and snap Nebraska’s 23-game home winning streak. The OU defense held Nebraska to just 181 yards of offense, and Johnny Rodgers, who had burned the Sooners badly the year before, was limited to just two rushing yards.