OU escaped by the skin of its teeth, beating Nebraska 23-16 at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday during a game that decreased to the wire. It finally ended when DaShaun White and Jaden Davis hauled down Rahmir Johnson just in need of the first-down marker at the Nebraska 25 on fourth down. Here are five quick takeaways from the win: OU’s offense looked shaky for much of the sport, as Spencer Rattler had several questionable passing decisions within the half especially and therefore the Sooners struggled to seek out much of an offensive rhythm. within the last half, OU leaned far more heavily on its run game, with Eric Gray finishing with 84 yards rushing and Kennedy Brooks 75 yards and a score.
The Sooners’ offensive line struggled sometimes against the Cornhuskers’ front and Bill Bedenbaugh made a move, replacing center Robert Congel with Andrew Raym within the half . The Sooners picked things abreast of the bottom after Raym’s entrance. OU finished with 408 total yards. Just shy of the midpoint of the fourth quarter, Sooners’ cornerback D.J. Graham leaped to tug down an interception that was the foremost impressive catch in years by an OU defensive back. The catch drew “ooohs” and “aahs” from the gang and lit up social media with reaction to the play, but it wasn’t within the Sooners’ favor for Graham to end off the catch. Graham’s interception came on 4th and 17 for the Cornhuskers from the Sooners’ 24.
Had Graham knocked the ball to the bottom, OU would’ve had the ball there. Instead, the Sooners’ started from their own 3 and eventually had to punt from there. Nebraska then started the subsequent drive on the OU 38 and three plays later, Adrian Martinez hit Omar Manning for a 21-yard touchdown to chop the Sooners’ cause 23-16 with 5:38 remaining. After Adrian Martinez cut the Sooners cause four together with his 4-yard touchdown within the waning seconds of the third quarter, Isaiah Coe came up with a huge play that helped tip the momentum in OU’s favor.
Coe bullied his way through the road, raised his hands, and swatted the ball, which fluttered back to Pat Fields a few yards deep within the end zone. Fields caught the ball just inside the hash marks to his left and immediately went wide toward the sidelines before heading upfield. Justin Broiles and Jaden Davis picked up Fields and were soon joined by Shane Whitter and D.J. Graham in escorting Fields into the other end zone for a two-point conversion. it had been the Sooners’ first defensive two-point conversion since Robert Barnes returned an interception for conversion within the 2018 game at Texas Tech.
The Sooners hadn’t returned a blocked kick for conversion since Zack Sanchez did it in 2013 at TCU. The Sooners got off to a robust start offensively, with a 14-play, 75-yard drive that led to 1-yard touchdown travel by Spencer Rattler. Rattler was strong on the series, completing 7 of 8 passes for 55 yards on the drive. But from there, OU’s offense struggled for the remainder of the half, with just 120 yards combined on their four other first-half drives. Rattler was just 6 of 11 for 50 yards on those drives — 34 of these yards approaching his four completions on the ultimate drive of the half when the Sooners got the ball back at their own 10 with just 57 seconds left.
OU’s seven first-half points were its fewest since going into half during a 3-3 tie on Sept. 9, 2017 at Ohio State. At halftime, players and coaches from each side from the 1971 “Game of the Century” were honored on the sector . The game was scheduled to coincide with the 50th anniversary of that game, the 35-31 Cornhuskers win Nov. 25, 1971. The 50-yard lines on each side, normally painted in white on the sector, were within the teams’ colors — the side in OU’s crimson and therefore the side in Nebraska’s scarlet. Both were outlined in white. Friday night, at a reunion dinner for players from each side, the planning of the planned statue honoring the Selmon brothers — Lucious, Dewey, and Lee Roy — was unveiled.
The statue is scheduled to be dedicated a while next season. Not all of the OU-Nebraska history call-backs within the game were centered around the 1971 game. Former Sooners basketball star Trae Young was on the sidelines, wearing a 70s/80s-era hat and a Malcolm Kelly. It was after 2006 Big 12 Championship Game — a 21-7 OU convert the Cornhuskers — that Kelly embarked on his famous freestyle rap.
