Primetime College Football: Sooners vs Huskers
TALENT
The Battle of the Big Reds has been a bit unbalanced lately. While Nebraska has been rebuilding, Bob Stoops has been able to win four straight games in the series and keep the Sooners (5-3, 3-1 Big 12) among the nation’s top teams headed into the game with the Huskers.
Instead of the rivalry determining the conference champion – as it did 31 times in 36 years in the Big Eight – and even a national championship, the game has had less panache in recent years. There was the series’ second “Game of the Century” in 2000 and the teams met for the Big 12 title in 2006, but it’s been nothing like the days of Barry Switzer vs. Tom Osborne in the 1970s and ’80s.
This time, both teams are just trying to make up ground in the divisional standings. It’s the fourth straight time Nebraska (5-3, 2-2) enters the rivalry unranked and, before that, Oklahoma was outside the Top 25 for six of eight meetings in the 1990s.
Oklahoma won 62-28 last year in Bo Pelini’s debut in the rivalry. Dominique Franks intercepted Joe Ganz’s first pass and returned it for a touchdown, and Oklahoma opened a 28-0 lead in the first 5 1/2 minutes. The Sooners’ final point total was their highest ever in the series.
This time around it will be the debut of Landry Jones and his future with the Sooners.
PICK: University of Oklahoma Sooners
