Sooners hang on
Rattler, No. 3 Oklahoma find a way to escape Cornhuskers
NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma and Nebraska played as if they were trying to uphold the history of the rivalry.
Spencer Rattler passed for a touchdown and ran for another, and No. 3 Oklahoma held on to beat Nebraska 23-16 on Saturday.
Celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the “Game of the Century” — No. 1 Nebraska’s 35-31 win over No. 2 Oklahoma in 1971 — the teams rewarded their nostalgic fans with a competitive contest. The programs had a fierce, yet respectful rivalry in the Big Eight and Big 12, with Nebraska winning five national titles and Oklahoma claiming four between 1970 and 2000.
“It was just a hard-fought game,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “You knew it would be. There’s a lot of pride in these two programs. Both these programs have won a lot of games, a lot of championships. To bring this game back — I think everybody sensed how special it would be. Both teams rose to the occasion and gave us a great college football game.”
It was their first meeting since 2010 — right before Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten — and it was memorable and much closer than expected. The Sooners were a three-touchdown favorite and there were even reports during the offseason that Nebraska looked at possibly trying to reschedule the game for its rebuilding program to another year.
Turns out the Huskers were more than game.
Nebraska got the ball trailing by a touchdown with 57 seconds remaining and no timeouts. The Sooners sacked Adrian Martinez twice on the final drive, and the Cornhuskers could not manage a first down.
Eric Gray ran for 84 yards on 15 carries and Kennedy Brooks added 75 yards on 14 attempts for the Sooners (3-0), who gained 408 yards.
Martinez passed for 289 yards and a touchdown for Nebraska (2-2), which sought its first win over a ranked team since 2015.
“Our guys aren’t into moral victories,” Martinez said. “We want to win games. Simple as that. There are definitely a lot of positives to take away from today, and we will do that once we watch the film. But at the end of the day, we lost the game. So that is that.”
Oklahoma opened with an old-school 14-play, 75-yard drive. Rattler sneaked in from the 1 to give the Sooners a 7-0 lead.
Nebraska responded with a 14-play drive, but the Huskers were derailed by four penalties. Connor Culp’s career-long 51-yard field goal put the Cornhuskers on the board.
Oklahoma led 7-3 at halftime. In the third quarter, Oklahoma’s Mario Williams took a pitch and threw backwards to Rattler, who found Marvin Mims open for a 23-yard gain. The Sooners cashed in and took a 14-3 lead when Rattler connected with Jeremiah Hall in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown pass.
Nebraska appeared to gain momentum when Martinez scored from 4 yards out. Nebraska’s large visiting crowd roared, and a loud “Go Big Red” chant followed with eight seconds left in the third quarter.
Oklahoma quickly responded. Isaiah Coe blocked the extra point, and Pat Fields returned it 100 yards for two points. It was Oklahoma’s first blocked extra point return for a 2-point conversion since Zack Sanchez ran one back against TCU in 2014.
Brooks scored on a 2-yard run early in the fourth quarter, and the extra point put the Sooners up 23-9.
Nebraska coach Scott Frost said he was proud of the way his team played.
“We’re going to get more opportunities to win a big game,” he said.