Nebraska and Oklahoma Are Rivals?
7 comments so far
October 29, 2008 by
Fans of Big 12 football all know that the two biggest rivalries in the North and South are the Border War, oops, I mean “Border Showdown� between the Jayhawks and Tigers and the Red River Shootout – err, Rivalry between the Longhorns and Sooners. Everyone knows that the Huskers don't have a rival (Colorado fans – go away. You don't count. Just because we play the day after Thanksgiving every year, and one of our seasons is usually ruined by that game, doesn't make us a rivalry. You too Kansas State people. Even if we had any reason to consider you rivals, it's gone now that Prince is in charge – who I hope you guys keep around for a long time).
Let's face it, these two teams have no reason to be rivals right now. It's not as if Oklahoma's best tackler had been stolen away from Nebraska the day before Letter of Intent Signing Day [editor's note: this actually happened]. If something like that were to happen, I mean, don't you think Husker fans wouldn't really make a big deal out of it [editor's note: see Travis Lewis story]? Anyway, no high school player would really do that because everyone knows that Scarlet and Cream is like forty times better than Crimson and Cream. Isn't it just maroon? Come on now.
The fact that Bo Pelini and Bob Stoops came from the same hometown and are BFF should have no bearing on whether these teams should be pumped up for this game. You shouldn't even bring up that Pelini was a defensive coordinator for Stoops when Bo was spurned for the head coaching job at Nebraska. What with tradition not being that important to the fans of either team, this probably won't be hyped up by ESPN at all. They probably won't even bring up the fact that our last Heisman winner probably sealed his trophy by catching a pass for a touchdown against Oklahoma. By the way, I think he was a quarterback, which begs the question, what was he doing so far down field like a receiver? Quarterbacks aren't supposed to leave the pocket. And who was throwing the ball?
And who cares that the last time we played them was in the Big 12 Conference game where we outgained them in yards, but they forced 5 turnovers to seal the deal against us. It's not like we have a three game losing streak to them after winning the previous seven games [editor's note: we actually do]. Well, apparently, there's this conference called the Big 8 (very original, right?).
Believe it or not, the Huskers used to play the Sooners every year! What a crazy idea! In fact, it sounds like we played for 71 straight years, with nicknames to some of the games like “Game of the Century�! I would be surprised if Oklahoma had bested us in a majority of those games [editor's note: OK, I'm sick of this. Sooners are 43-37-3 against us]. Since this year's game really isn't a big deal, let's just flip over to ABC and watch the Texas v. Texas Tech matchup. That one should be interesting.
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darren Oct 29 08
Tom,
Who are these "Sooners" you speak of? They sound interesting. Maybe the Huskers should play them on a regular basis. Just an idea...
Seriously - I would give almost anything for 'lil and younger Huskers (age 10 to 22) to care about the NU-OU game the way I did growing up and still do. But...are those times creeping past us??
Nate Oct 29 08
Well I care..But I live in Oklahoma and am tired of a lot of the OU fans! But I know a lot of the history of their matchups.
Dan Oct 29 08
It's simple ... If we want to play OU every year we just need to with the North every year. Then the rivalry will be restored. Until we earn it, we get MO and KU as rivals.
Dan Oct 29 08
It's simple ... If we want to play OU every year we just need to win the North every year. Then the rivalry will be restored. Until we earn it, we get MO and KU as rivals.
Matt Oct 30 08
actually... we've lost 3 in a row & 4 of last 5 times. I think you missed the '00 loss OU's title year.
The seven year run started prior to that...
great post otherwise!
Jeremy Oct 30 08
Losing the annual OU-NU game is by far the worst (and maybe only) bad thing about the conference expansion. But once the Huskers return to being a dominant player in the North, the rivalry aspect of this game will not be forgotten and will actually have heightened importance (as it did in '00 & '01) due to the decreased frequency. For OU/UT the game is obviously huge, but the bragging rights only last a year. Not so important is the outcome of the game this year for NU (new coach, getting NU back on track) but a win in '09 could be the catalyst that launches the Huskers back into the elite of the North & Big 12. Two more years to build on that and I figure the Gameday crew is on-site for OU/NU 2012.
tom Oct 30 08
Sorry for the inaccuracies. It's hard to rant very very very early in the morning. They have not been corrected because I am lazy.