2010 Big 12 Championship
Nebraska vs. Oklahoma
By Pete Fiutak
Of course it’s Oklahoma vs. Nebraska in the last Big 12 Championship game for the foreseeable future.
Up until the creation of the Big 12 in 1996, Oklahoma vs. Nebraska was the rivalry of rivalries. Even though the Sooners hit some hard times in the 1990s, and even though the juggernaut Huskers applied a 73-21 pasting in the first year of the league, the theory was that the enormity of the matchup would survive and that the two powerhouses would soon be playing on an even bigger stage for the conference title on a regular basis. Instead, the two teams played just nine times over the last 15 years and the greatness of the game was killed. Even in the monster battle in 2001, with national title implications back on the table for both teams, it wasn’t quite the same, while the 2006 Big 12 Championship meeting felt more like a high school reunion. Everyone kind of looked the same, and it was nostalgic, but the magic was gone.
For younger fans, it’s hard to adequately describe what Oklahoma vs. Nebraska meant to college football a few decades ago. In some way, it used to be the game the college football season revolved around, since it almost always determined the national title, or at least it made a big difference in the overall pecking order, and it was always a battle of heavyweights. For example, in 1987, Nebraska had outscored its Big 8 opponents 173 to 15 in the five conference game before the OU showdown, while the Sooners were even more dominant outscoring their opponents 462 to 75 in the first nine games of the season while not allowing more than 14 points until the Orange Bowl loss to Miami. OU won a 17-7 classic, and that was just one chapter in the story.
However, as is almost always the case, the memories tend to be a bit better than reality. Both programs might have been tremendous, but they also fattened up on a steady diet of creamy-soft Big 8 teams. It wasn’t like the Big 12 is now. Kansas State was miserable, Kansas and Iowa State weren’t on the map, Missouri had a decent year here and there, but wasn’t consistent, and Colorado didn’t become Colorado until the late 80s. But each team almost always played a few decent non-conference games to flex a little bit of muscle, and almost no one could match the athletes amassed in Norman or the power in Lincoln. And now, these two will go out with one final bang.
For Nebraska, parting is hardly sweet sorrow. Quickly, the program became unhappy as the Big 12 became all about Texas and the Big 12 South. Depending on who you believe, either Nebraska wasn’t getting its butt kissed enough for being Nebraska, or it was simply a case of Texas and Oklahoma becoming better. When the Big Ten came calling, the truth started to spill about how happy the program was to get out. A win would be a particularly nice parting shot to the old league, while Big Ten fans could quickly start to talk about how they have three teams in the BCS.
This has been a good year for the Huskers, but even with the possibility of a Big 12 Championship, it’s not going to quite meet the hopes and dreams of Big Red fans who thought this might be a year when the program made a national title return to glory. After coming within a missed field goal of shocking Texas in last year’s title game, the bar was set higher this year with a loaded defense returning, an improved offense, and a dream schedule with all the supposedly big games at home.
The home loss to Texas was a complete and utter disaster, while the penalty-fest in a 9-6 loss at Texas A&M was a major disappointment. Even with the nice record, the league’s No. 1 running game, and the nation’s fifth best defense, this hasn’t been a dominating team. The wins over Oklahoma State and Missouri were excellent, but that’s been about it, and it’ll take a win against the Sooners for the season to be special.
It’s the fourth Big 12 Championship game in five years for OU and the seventh in nine years. Considering how prominent Texas has been, and how much noise it makes on a national scale, the Sooners have owned the conference for the last decade. Now they’re looking to carry the torch of Big 12 pride before next year’s configuration kicks in. The last thing the league wants is for Nebraska to leave as the reigning Big 12 champion, and that, along with missing out on the title game last year, should add a little extra incentive. 6-1 in Big 12 title games, Bob Stoops is on the verge of taking his legendary status to another level with a win. He still has a long way to go to match Barry Switzer’s 12 titles or Bud Wilkinson’s 14, but a reasonable argument could be made that he’s been the best coach of the last decade.
This year’s team needed half the season to find its groove, but it did just enough when it had to. Early games against Utah State, Air Force and Cincinnati were a bit too rocky, and a blowout of Florida State seemed like a bit of a tease. But when the team was on, it was really on, blasting away on Iowa State, Colorado, Texas Tech and Baylor. A strange, uneven loss to Texas A&M was the only blip over the last five weeks scoring 43 points in four of the last five games since the loss to Missouri knocked OU out of the BCS No. 1 spot. There’s no denying the explosiveness of the talent, but the consistency hasn’t been there and it took a while before Oklahoma became Oklahoma. It took a tie-breaker in the Big 12 South to get to this point, and now the Sooners have the look of a hot team ready to take advantage of the opportunity.
OU or Nebraska has been a part of 12 of 15 title games, and out of the 30 teams that have played in the championships, these two have accounted for 14. Considering how much of a factor Texas is, with this game, Nebraska will have played in as many Big 12 Championships as the Longhorns (5), while OU will have played in three more. The historical problem for Nebraska is that the South has owned the game, going 10-4 overall and 6-0 since Kansas State’s shocking 35-7 drubbing of the Sooners in 2003. Last year’s game was an aberration; the Big 12 Championship is usually a crashing dud.
Only four of the 14 games have been decided by fewer than ten points, and while the first one, a 37-27 Texas win over Nebraska, was a thriller, and the 1998 Texas A&M double overtime win over Kansas State and the 39-37 Colorado win over Texas in 2001 were all-timers, the title game has been defined more by the dominant wins. Before last year, the previous seven games were decided by a final score of 297 to 65, or an average of 42 to 9, with the closest battle the OU 21-7 win over the Huskers in 2006. The bigger problem for Nebraska is the upset factor. Over the last 11 games, the lower ranked team is 3-8, and one of those wins was in 2007 when OU beat a No. 1 Missouri team that few thought could win.
For it is, what is was, and what it could be as a fascinating non-conference game if the two teams ever try to get together in the future, and enjoy the official end of the Big 12 Championship. And enjoy the end of Oklahoma vs. Nebraska.
