247: Rivalries That Should Be Played Every Year

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
2. Nebraska-Oklahoma

Series: Oklahoma leads, 45-38-3

Last game: Oklahoma won 23-20 in Big 12 Championship game in Arlington, Texas on Dec. 4, 2010

The good news is that these teams have a home-and-home series scheduled for 2021 (at Oklahoma) and 2022 (at Nebraska). The 2021 game in Norman will commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the best college football games of all time - the 1971 "Game of the Century." No. 1 Nebraska won 35-31 over the second-ranked Sooners and went on to win its second consecutive national title. The teams were conference mates in the Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12. Big showdowns between Tom Osborne and Barry Switzer were series highlights. Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten and that conference’s nine-game league schedule might be a deterrent to renewing this rivalry annually, but we hope 2021 and 2022 are the start of a new streak.
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For at least three of these teams the listed rivalries may have ended because the team has a bigger rival.

1. Texas-Texas A&M: OU is a bigger rival for the Whorns than aTm (Or not? Maybe the aTm/Whorns game ended solely because of the SEC move.)

2. Nebraska-Oklahoma: Apparently the Whorns are a bigger rival than NU. Friggin' Hillbillies.
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4. Notre Dame-Michigan: USC is a bigger rival for Neuter Dame than Meechicken.

 
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There are good rivalries, then there are great rivalries. Like the NU - OU rivalry is great. So it is Auburn - Alabama, Clemson - South Carolina, Army - Navy, Ohio St - Michigan and Oregon - Oregon St.

I guess being a bit biased, when I've had to describe the NU - OU rivalry to folks that don't understand, I have to say Yankee's - Red Sox's, Packers - Bears, and for the hardcore soccer fans, Arsenal - Tottenham.

 
Naaa....I've been told by many OU fans that Nebraska was never their real rival. I guess getting their azzes handed to them through the 90s was enough to make them not want to play us every year.

Time to move on.

 
BigRedBuster said:
Naaa....I've been told by many OU fans that Nebraska was never their real rival. I guess getting their azzes handed to them through the 90s was enough to make them not want to play us every year.

Time to move on.
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This was pretty much the same arguement made by Texass fans on why we went to the B1G. - That is not the reason for either.

Nebraska was never a rival because of OU recruiting in Texas.

 
It could be that I'm just too young to remember more competitive, nastier days, but my feelings toward OU-NU during the 2000s was the sensation of old friends getting together for beer and friendly competition. I've never felt any animosity toward OU whatsoever, and I sense many NU fans are the same, which makes it a very strange rivalry, even before conference realignment broke it up.

 
Rivalries are made by games that mean something.. When NU-OU was the day after Thanksgiving with a shot @ the Orange Bowl on the line it didn't get any bigger.. With the changes in the Bowl Coalition all that changed essentially killing that rivalry.. After OU's fall post Switzer it really became a "friendly" for the most part..

 
huKSer said:
BigRedBuster said:
Naaa....I've been told by many OU fans that Nebraska was never their real rival. I guess getting their azzes handed to them through the 90s was enough to make them not want to play us every year.

Time to move on.
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This was pretty much the same arguement made by Texass fans on why we went to the B1G. - That is not the reason for either.

Nebraska was never a rival because of OU recruiting in Texas.
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It's funny how the story with them changed after the 80s. I remember being in Lincoln during the late 80s for those games. We would hate OU and they would hate us during the game. We would then be in the bars having a blast together after the game. Not a one of them ever talked about Nebraska not being a rival. It was always looked at as one of the best rivalries in the country and at that time, OU never denied that. We start kicking their azz in the 90s and then all of a sudden they are licking Texas's balls and more than happy for them to come join the conference. They then didn't want to play us every year.

I don't care what is said publicly, I will always believe that at that point, Texas appeared to be less dominant than Nebraska so they wanted to play them every year and not us.

Oh well....We are in a better conference now and they still get to lick Texas's balls.

 
The red river rivalry comes to mind. Oklahoma and Texas was always more important to them than Nebraska. Nothing for us was more important than beating Oklahoma when I was young kid. Spent many Saturday evenings in tears over that game. Never hated them, just wanted to win the game. I really have never understood the hating of another team. Oklahoma would lose to Nebraska every year if it made them win the Texas game.

I would love to see it played, we are now in the weaker side of the conference. As a fan I would love to play them, but on the other side, playing Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and Oklahoma every year would be a pretty daunting schedule for anyone. Ah hell bring them on.

 
NUance said:
For at least three of these teams the listed rivalries may have ended because the team has a bigger rival.

1. Texas-Texas A&M: OU is a bigger rival for the Whorns than aTm (Or not? Maybe the aTm/Whorns game ended solely because of the SEC move.)

2. Nebraska-Oklahoma: Apparently the Whorns are a bigger rival than NU. Friggin' Hillbillies.
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4. Notre Dame-Michigan: USC is a bigger rival for Neuter Dame than Meechicken.
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There was no reason for ND to drop Mich other than being chicken****. USC might be the biggest rival but Mich was still big and I'd say Mich is the most heated rivalry.

 
They had to drop one or the other with the ACC tie in. SC brings more recruiting power to them. Trips to California are a sales plus. Trips to Ann Arbor, although a great place are not the same. Playing in front of the talent in SoCal is the reason, I would think

 
I grew up with Nebraska vs. Oklahoma and nothing came close. When it's the last game of the season and you're both ranked in the Top 10 -- sometimes 1 & 2 -- it's college football at its finest.

But honestly? I'm just not feeling it anymore.

I'll enjoy watching the Johnny Rodgers punt return until I die, but I'll only get jacked for Oklahoma if it means something at the time.

 
To really understand what the NU-OU rivalry means to some of us older folk, I think a person had to experience the games of the 70's and 80's. If you're younger and only know about the 90's & 2000's, you're missing crucial base material for the rivalry. Yes, I understand that it has almost always been a bigger game for NU than it was for OU simply because of their Red River rivalry with Texas but, it was still one of the top CFB games year in and year out for a good 30 year period. It got ruined when the conference got split North-South and we quit playing them every year the day after Thanksgiving. That one game always had major bowl and national championship implications. They wrecked our chances on numerous occasions as we did theirs. During the Switzer years there was a bit of hatred and nastiness surrounding the game but nothing too out of control. "Hide your daughters, Switzer's coming to town"- stuff like that. Barry was loud and brash and Tom was quiet and stoic. It was the perfect good vs evil setup. But, there was also always respect. You respect teams that are consistently as good as Nebraska and Oklahoma were in the 70's, 80's, 90's.

 
JJHusker1 said:
To really understand what the NU-OU rivalry means to some of us older folk, I think a person had to experience the games of the 70's and 80's. If you're younger and only know about the 90's & 2000's, you're missing crucial base material for the rivalry. Yes, I understand that it has almost always been a bigger game for NU than it was for OU simply because of their Red River rivalry with Texas but, it was still one of the top CFB games year in and year out for a good 30 year period. It got ruined when the conference got split North-South and we quit playing them every year the day after Thanksgiving. That one game always had major bowl and national championship implications. They wrecked our chances on numerous occasions as we did theirs. During the Switzer years there was a bit of hatred and nastiness surrounding the game but nothing too out of control. "Hide your daughters, Switzer's coming to town"- stuff like that. Barry was loud and brash and Tom was quiet and stoic. It was the perfect good vs evil setup. But, there was also always respect. You respect teams that are consistently as good as Nebraska and Oklahoma were in the 70's, 80's, 90's.
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This is what I suspected. I'm 25, and my personal memories of Husker football really kick in with the Osborne to Solich transition. Thanks to my dad, I'm familiar with the history of NU-OU, seen the '71 game, etc, but that's not the same as actually living it.

 
NU-OU rivalry died a long time ago, in particular, 1996. Two funerals, NU-OU rivalry and R.I.P Big8 conference. Mass murder, whorns.

 
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