Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Seven things fans should know about OU-Nebraska

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Mario Williams (4) knocks the ball away from Nebraska's Luke Reimer (28) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. Oklahoma won 23-16.Lx14580
Oklahoma's Mario Williams (4) knocks the ball away from Nebraska's Luke Reimer (28) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. Oklahoma won 23-16.Lx14580 /
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The Oklahoma football rivalry with Nebraska first began in 1912. The rivalry series would have been a century old in 2012, except the Sooners and Cornhuskers were no longer in the same conference.

For 90 years, from 1921 to 2010, Oklahoma and Nebraska were members of the same conference, and the two teams played every season for 70 consecutive seasons (1928-1997) before the string was snapped when the Big 12 went to a divisional structure in 1998. With the Sooners in the South Division and Nebraska in the North Division, the two old rivals did not play every season. The OU-Nebraska series became a two-years-off, two-years-on affair, alternating home games.

Before last season, the two longtime conference rivals had not played since the 2010 Big 12 Championship game, won by Oklahoma 23-20. The Sooners won last year’s game, played in Norman, 23-16, in what was a close game throughout.

The indications so far are that this year’s Nebraska team might not be as good as last season’s Cornhusker squad, which fashioned an overall record of 3-9 and tied for last place in the Big Ten’s West Division.

Nebraska has started off the 2022 season losing two of its first three games. The disappointing start, coupled with a 16-31 record in five seasons under head coach Scott Frost, cost Frost his job over the past weekend. Assistant coach Mickey Joseph has been named interim head coach and will lead the Cornhuskers against Oklahoma on Saturday.

Oklahoma is a 10.5-point favorite over Nebraska on Saturday

Here are seven more things Sooner fans should know ahead of Saturday’s 11 a.m. CT kickoff on FOX.

  • Oklahoma leads the all-time series with Nebraska with a record of 46-38-3. The Sooners were 6-4 against the Cornhuskers when both programs were in the Big 12 and 20-17 against Nebraska as members of the Big Eight.
  • Oklahoma and Nebraska played in what at the time was billed as the “Game of the Century” in 1971. Nebraska entered that game as the No. 1 team in the nation, and the Sooners were ranked No. 2. Nebraska prevailed 35-31 in a back-and-forth contest that lived up to its billing.
  • The Sooners have won 28 of their last 32 true road games. Since the 1971 season, Oklahoma is 8-9 in games against Nebraska played in Lincoln, Nebraska.
  • OU is one of five teams nationally and just five in Power Five conference that hasn’t committed a turnover this season.
  • Oklahoma leads all FBS programs with 50 conference championships. Nebraska ranks second with 46 conference titles.
  • The Sooners have outscored opponents 21-0 in the first quarter this season and 38-0 in the third quarter.
  • Sixty-three of the 73 games played between Oklahoma and Nebraska since the first Associated Press college football poll was published in 1936 have featured at least one ranked team. That includes this season, with the Sooners ranked No. 6 in both major weekly polls.
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