1971 Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football game

Nebraska vs. Oklahoma, 1971
The "Game of the Century"
(1971 version)
Conference game
Nebraska Cornhuskers Oklahoma Sooners
(10–0) (9–0)
35 31
Head coach: 
Bob Devaney		 Head coach: 
Chuck Fairbanks
APCoaches
11
APCoaches
22
1234 Total
Nebraska 77147 35
Oklahoma 31477 31
Date November 25, 1971
Season 1971
Stadium Owen Field
Location Norman, Oklahoma
Favorite Nebraska by 1 [1]
National anthem The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band
Referee Vance Carlson
Attendance 61,826
United States TV coverage
Network ABC
Announcers Chris Schenkel,
Bud Wilkinson, and
Bill Flemming (sideline)

The 1971 Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football game was the 51st edition of the rivalry, one of several labeled as a "Game of the Century." The Big Eight Conference matchup was held on Thursday, November 25, 1971, in Norman, Oklahoma.

The top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, defending national champions with a 20-game winning streak (and 29 without a loss), traveled south to play the second-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.[2] In a game that lived up to the hype, the Cornhuskers scored a late touchdown to defeat the Sooners by four, 35–31.[3][4][5][6]

Background

The teams combined for 17 of 22 first-team All-Big Eight players. Nebraska had the nation’s top-ranked defense. Oklahoma had the nation's most productive offense with their wishbone averaging over 472 rushing yards per game, a NCAA record.[7][8]

The cover of Sports Illustrated (November 22) prior to the game included photographs of Nebraska linebacker Bob Terrio and Oklahoma running back Greg Pruitt, nose-to-nose, beneath the headline: "Irresistible Oklahoma Meets Immovable Nebraska."[9][10] Both teams had twelve days to prepare, as neither had played on the preceding Saturday.

The Husker "Blackshirts" defense included seven first-team All-Big Eight selections, four players who would earn consensus All-America recognition during their careers and two Outland Trophy winners: tackle Larry Jacobson and middle guard Rich Glover. Glover would win both the Outland and Lombardi awards in 1972 and eventually be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. They were joined in the starting lineup by end Willie Harper, like Glover, a two-time All-American. John Dutton, an All-American in 1973, was a sophomore backup.

The Sooners' record-setting wishbone attack was led by All-American QB Jack Mildren who rushed for over 1,000 yards, but was also a very good passer. His weapons were Heisman candidate HB Greg Pruitt, who averaged a stunning 9.5 yards per carry and speedy split end Jon Harrison. Future College Football Hall of Famer Tom Brahaney was the anchor at center.

The Husker offense was led by junior flanker Johnny Rodgers, a future Heisman Trophy winner, senior quarterback Jerry Tagge, and bullish senior tailback Jeff Kinney; the latter two were first round picks in the 1972 NFL Draft. The Sooner defense was anchored by all-Big 8 defensive tackle Derland Moore, a future All-American and NFL Pro Bowler.[11]

With a kickoff shortly before 3 pm EST,[7] ABC-TV broadcast the game nationally to an estimated 55 million viewers (at the time the largest television audience ever for a college football game). Chris Schenkel did the play-by-play, color analysis was provided by Oklahoma's legendary former coach, Bud Wilkinson, with Bill Flemming reporting from the sidelines. Before the game, Schenkel and Wilkinson emerged from the tunnel leading to the field, and when the Oklahoma crowd spotted Wilkinson, they erupted into applause. They came to their feet with admiration for the Minnesota-born coach who had guided the Sooners to prominence with three national championships and an NCAA record 47-game winning streak in the 1950s.[12]

Game

The game was played at Owen Field in Norman on Thanksgiving Day. Not only at stake was the Big Eight title, but also the #1 national ranking in the polls. However, the bowl trips had already been determined before the game, with Nebraska going to the Orange in Miami and Oklahoma headed for the Sugar in New Orleans. Two days after Thanksgiving, #5 Auburn (9–0) with Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan at quarterback, faced #3 Alabama (10–0) at Birmingham for the SEC title, the two opponents that Oklahoma and Nebraska would play.[12] Given the magnitude of the game, Devaney had even had his players' food flown in from Lincoln, in case gamblers attempted to induce a hotel chef to give the Huskers food poisoning.[12]

The NU-OU game went back and forth, with three lead changes in the second half. The Cornhuskers struck first, with Rodgers shocking the Sooners with a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown after the Sooners' first possession was stopped. Although over 45 years ago, the punt return remains one of college football's signature moments.[13]

First half

The first half was atypical for both teams, as the Huskers' potent offense was stymied by the underrated Sooner defense; meanwhile, the Sooners devastating wishbone offense was blunted by the brutal Nebraska defense, as the Sooners had several turnovers and were continually frustrated by Husker middle guard Rich Glover, who ended up with twenty-two tackles on the day, despite lining up across from All-American OU center Tom Brahaney.

Nebraska held a 14–3 advantage, the largest lead of the day, but Oklahoma came back. Relying almost entirely on Jack Mildren's arm and legs, the Sooners grabbed a 17–14 lead on two long passes from Mildren to Harrison with just seconds left before halftime. For the first time all season, the Cornhuskers trailed.

Second half

Relying on a power running game, the Huskers retook the lead and led 28–17 going into the fourth quarter. Mildren led the Sooners back with a pair of touchdowns, and Oklahoma led 31–28 with 7:05 to play. The Huskers got the ball back on their own 26-yard line. Getting to the Oklahoma 48, Husker quarterback Jerry Tagge threw to Rodgers, who broke tackles and ran all the way to the 15. Tailback Jeff Kinney then carried four times, the last resulting in his fourth touchdown of the game, and Nebraska regained the lead at 35–31 with only 98 seconds remaining. Sacks of Mildren on third and fourth down in Sooner territory finished the game off as a Nebraska win. Kinney rushed for 171 yards on 31 carries (5.5 avg.).[3]

This game, much more than the previous year's national championship, made Nebraska a program with a national following. Already having sold every seat available at their Memorial Stadium since coach Bob Devaney arrived in 1962, they would be a perennial national championship contender and a frequent presence on national TV.

Aftermath

The Cornhuskers had one more regular season game to play, venturing well southwest to Honolulu to crush Hawaii 45–3. Nebraska then traveled southeast to the Orange Bowl in Miami and soundly defeated the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide 38–6 on New Year's Day night for consecutive national titles.[14][15][16]

Devaney returned in 1972 hoping to win three consecutive national championships, but was derailed by a season-opening road loss to UCLA, as well as a tie at Iowa State and a 17–14 loss at home to Oklahoma in Lincoln. He retired right after routing Notre Dame 40–6 in the Orange Bowl. Continuing as Nebraska's athletic director, he promoted 35-year-old assistant Tom Osborne, who led the program for a quarter century (1973–97).

Pruitt did not win the Heisman, which went to quarterback Pat Sullivan of Auburn; the announcement came only hours after the conclusion of the Nebraska-Oklahoma game. The Sooners ended the regular season by destroying Oklahoma State in Stillwater 58–14.

By coincidence, Auburn was Oklahoma's opponent in the Sugar Bowl, and the Sooners won 40–22. (By another coincidence, these two arch-rivals, Nebraska and Oklahoma, played each half of another rivalry, Alabama and Auburn, and beat them both.)[17]

Despite the loss, Oklahoma's program was also relaunched by this game, and were a perennial national contender throughout the 1970s up until Barry Switzer's departure in the late 1980s. Head coach Chuck Fairbanks left the Sooners after the 1972 season for the NFL's New England Patriots, and offensive coordinator Barry Switzer was promoted. Over the next 16 seasons (1973–88), he compiled a 157–29–4 (.837) record and guided the Sooners to national championships in 1974, 1975, and 1985.

The top three teams in the final AP poll for the 1971 season were from the Big Eight: Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado. The top two teams had never been from the same conference, and this year had three.[18]

Nebraska vs. Oklahoma, considered a minor rivalry before the Game of the Century (of 1971), became one of the biggest in the country, usually played on the day after Thanksgiving. Oklahoma still played Oklahoma State after playing Nebraska until 1979, when the game vs. the Cornhuskers became the Sooners' regular season finale (except in 1985, when Oklahoma played Oklahoma State and SMU after the Nebraska game due to television commitments).

A scandal caught up with Oklahoma in the late 1980s, sending it into a decline and forcing Switzer's resignation in June 1989. That coincided with the rise of the football program at Colorado, which replaced Oklahoma as Nebraska's Thanksgiving Friday opponent in 1996.

The Big Eight added the four most prominent Southwest Conference schools (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor) to become the Big 12 Conference in 1996. Since one of those four was Texas, already a major non-conference rival with Oklahoma, the UT-OU rivalry game in Dallas grew in importance as they became division foes. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were put in the Southern Division, while Nebraska and the other six Big 8 teams went into the Northern. Now in different divisions, NU and OU only played each other twice every four seasons, which significantly diminished the rivalry, while the OU-OSU rivalry game was returned to the end of the regular season and became more competitive.

Oklahoma bottomed out in the second half of the 1990s, going 5-5-1 under Howard Schnellenberger in 1995, then suffering three consecutive losing seasons under John Blake. The Sooners returned to glory under Bob Stoops, who replaced Blake in 1999. Stoops guided Oklahoma to the 2000 national championship and compiled a 190-48 record in 18 seasons, winning the Big 12 championship nine times.

Nebraska left the Big 12 in the summer of 2011 to join the Big Ten Conference. The Sooners and Huskers met in the final Big 12 championship game in 2010, with OU winning 23–20 on December 4. The schools agreed in 2012 to play a home-and-home series in 2021 and 2022. The 2021 game is scheduled for Norman to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the 1971 classic, with the following year in Lincoln. The Sporting News named the 1971 Cornhusker team as the greatest team of the 20th century in 1988.

References

  1. ↑ "Nebraska slim pick". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. November 24, 1971. p. 11.
  2. ↑ Oklahoma Sooners Official Athletic Site - Football Archived 2010-06-27 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. 1 2 "'Huskers dump Sooners". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 26, 1971. p. 3B.
  4. ↑ "Kinney leads Nebraska triumph". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 26, 1971. p. 42.
  5. ↑ Jenkins, Dan (December 6, 1971). "Nebraska rides high". Sports Illustrated. p. 22.
  6. ↑ "Hype was exceeded by performance". ESPN Classic. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  7. 1 2 "Top offense to meet No. 1 defense". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. November 24, 1971. p. 11.
  8. ↑ 1971 Oklahoma vs. Nebraska Game Recap - SoonerStats.com - Oklahoma Sooners Football, Basketball, and Baseball Scores, Records, and Stats
  9. ↑ Jenkins, Dan (November 22, 1971). "This year's Game of the Decade". Sports Illustrated. p. 32.
  10. ↑ "Nebraska's 1971 National Championship Team". The Official Web Site of Nebraska Athletics. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  11. ↑ "OU Football Tradition : All-Conference Players". SoonerSports.com. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  12. 1 2 3 "Oklahoma 31, Nebraska 35". SoonerSports.com. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  13. ↑ "#76: Johnny on the spot". SI.com. (100 greatest moments in sports history). March 2, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Nebraska rips Tide, still No. 1". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 2, 1972. p. 1, sports.
  15. ↑ Jenkins, Dan (January 10, 1972). "All yours, Nebraska". Sports Illustrated: 8.
  16. ↑ "Huskers the greatest?". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. January 3, 1972. p. 2B.
  17. ↑ Grimsley, Will (January 3, 1972). "College grid power switches to Big 8". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. (Florida). Associated Press. p. 18.
  18. ↑ "Huskers solid No. 1". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. January 4, 1972. p. 20.
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