Battle Lines: 1971 Nebraska vs Oklahoma

[Music] welcome to ESPN classics battle eyes I'm Rich Eisen on Thanksgiving Day 1971 with America sorely in need of a diversion the football teams from Nebraska and Oklahoma played a game for the ages the Vietnam War spilled from television sets and campuses boiled with unrest but for one afternoon the country was spellbound an estimated 80 million watched and listened some of them from rice paddies a half a world away as the corn Huskers and Sooners went after each other with a desperate ferocity we were in the midst of Vietnam and some of our friends were involved that game that sport at that time was a stabilizing factor in a lot of people's lives it served a purpose for a lot of people to put some of the frustrations the concerns the politics everything aside for that one day and just say here's two great teams meeting on the football field the two teams looked across the calendar at each other and seemed to sense what was to come in three months from the very first week we knew exile Oklahoma was going to be the team to beat and that the national championship game would be played at Oklahoma when we got there we grasped it was ranked number one country we write in two but both teams were on collision course others had been on this same course before most notably army and Notre Dame in 1946 and the Irish again against Michigan State in 1966 each had been hailed as the game of the century in 1971 that drumbeat echoed again we were blowing everybody on Oklahoma was everybody out and about halfway through the season it was hard to take a lot of the teams serious anymore I really didn't think in 1971 that anyone any place anywhere good stops bring them all on I don't think we ever thought that we could lose there was just a tremendous amount of confidence by early October you could tell hey nobody's gonna stop these two until they play each other so you had really five six weeks talking about it and analyzing it and predicting it we started off preparing for that game at the beginning of the season the coaches always say don't look past one game to get to the next game but you know they don't believe that themselves anybody that says well I waited I took them game by game give me a break I'd like to tell you if we did but we did all year long you know when we weren't playing we're watching Oklahoma play after every game they had Nebraska and Oklahoma and who they played and how many points were scored and you know the Nebraska beat their opponent by more than Oklahoma beating their opponent we were rated 1 and 2 in the country and by wide margin it wasn't any question about being 1 and 2 in the week leading up to the game of the century the media hyperventilated first of all you got to remember that was an era when there was only one game show in a week in 1971 ABC was the only game in town you either watched our game that day or you read the funny papers we were up in the dorm Monday Night Football and here comes Howard Cosell hype in the game and of course that's enough to put shivers up your spine for a bunch of twenty-year-old kids there was just intense national interest in the doggone thing an average Prudential request for a week's game at Oklahoma would probably fifty or sixty but for the Nebraska game it was just overwhelming I think we counted something like five hundred requests I don't recollect being interviewed by The Washington Post in new york times and in the same weak sense so I mean it was pretty intense I remember getting interviewed by Sports Illustrated and never even seen a Sports Illustrated reporter before I like that think oh my god I want to be playing that thing that's when I got started getting nervous they disconnected our phones in the dorms because they were saying you know you got to be getting Carl smile all over the place I don't know how many people know this but Nebraska took its own food to Norman they were worried about somebody poisoning the food I saw George solving her head trader decided they would fly all the food down for our pregame meals and that just to be on the safe side well they'd partner Paul Schneider stayed in the dining room when I stayed in the kitchen and watch the preparation and the whole works it was almost comical because we'd actually brought our own salad dressing our own meats and potatoes it's like boy this must be a pretty important if we're gonna bring our own food down here to feed our players all the rankings number one versus number two Thanksgiving day I mean what could be more American football than that the huge see on television from through Friday was that game coming at you and you saw that all year long because they keep flashing up Thanksgiving Oklahoma and Nebraska well every week everyone would see one Oklahoma Nebraska was accomplishing so everybody said boy that's gonna be something the 1971 Nebraska Oklahoma game would pit two teams at the pinnacle of the college football landscape for the Huskers they had been taken to the top by Bob Devaney fired up florid-faced coach with a confidence that was contagious I went to Nebraska when Bob started in 1962 I was a graduate assistant Bob felt he could win he believed in the players there was a whole new environment at Nebraska and once he got there Bob Devaney understood the people of Nebraska understood how to talk to him how to walk with him nobody captivated the state horror and then old Bob did he could be friends with a farmer a shoe clerk a lawyer he just had a knack of relating to people in the early 60s when Coach Bob Devaney kingdom' Orosco really instilled a lot of pride Coach Devaney was the kind of guy that would get you so psyched up that you'd rather slide bare booty on a razor blade than to disappoint him the team had a certain little swagger like Bob did see Bob didn't ever figure anybody could beat us the season that cemented Nebraska and Devaney status turned out to be 1970 the Huskers went undefeated but still needed help from two schools to reach number one during that season we were number three and a New Year's Day Texas got beat by Notre Dame and then Ohio State got beat in the afternoon out in the by Stanford and all of a sudden we walked on the field in the orange but we're playing for the national championship Nebraska beat LSU in the Orange Bowl earning to banning his first national title and it made the Huskers hungry for more the 70 team was a good team but in 71 was a little different mentality it was kind of like we're the best and nobody's gonna beat us when you're 21 years old you feel you're invincible we just had a good team with a lot of speed and we had best player in the nation Johnny Rodgers we were there just to win football games we were there to try to make an impression because now we've got a testament at the national championships that we were really weren't going to go back to being just a big a champ or just being just another football team what would really mark that 1971 team as something special was the fact of just the the leadership on the team we knew every week there was really a privilege to go out and play football for University of Nebraska Nebraska scored virtually it will but it was the marauding defense ranked number one in the country that ran like a steel spine through the entire team we were the black shirts we were the toughest guys on the team nobody could run us over we could stop just about anybody I give a lot of credit to the Scout teams our scout team was better in almost every position than most every team we played and so if we could whip those guys you can handle anybody one Saturday we knew that we were pretty tough some of our scrimmages against the first team offense in the first team defense were pretty much Wars so we just had a real sense that we had something special going Nebraska barely broke a sweat in its first seven games winning them all by an aggregate score of 277 240 opponent number eight was supposed to offer some resistance with a Colorado beer a really good test Colorado and here a good football team so I knew we were destined while Nebraska rushed towards what it considered the inevitable Oklahoma tried to rekindle an old flame Oklahoma had a winning tradition the bar was kind of high from an expectation standpoint of what they expected from you as an athlete to continue that tradition during the coaching tenure of bud Wilkinson Oklahoma football gained mythical status in the 1950s Wilkinson's team stitched together a forty seven game winning streak and earned three national championships his success established a tradition and a standard that every Oklahoma coach has to try to meet Barry Switzer put it best he said bud Wilkinson created the monster and everyone who followed him has defeated bud spoiled him with all the great winning that he had well when I arrived they had a downturn we came in in 1966 to change that in 1967 which was my first years head coach at Oklahoma nobody really expected a lot from us then yet we had a great season and went on to win the conference championship the Sooners play incredibly enough the next two seasons but with limited success after losing the third game of the 1970 season Oregon State the Oklahoma coaching staff scrapped its offense and started over start with we were desperate and we were fixing it fired we were trying to run an offense that relied very heavily on passing and we found out we weren't capable of passing the ball as good as we needed to make that work Greg Pruett the children Jo Whiley here's three of the greatest players in played college but we struggle with Pat James who was our defensive coordinator and Pat said in the press box Woodman he says hey guys we can't win running that crap you gotta hold a feel there and I said Pat I know that so he took me into the film and we're getting ready to play Texas and this is back to the Texas were hanging half a hundred everybody in the wishbone and I said you know we need to be doing this getting ready to play Texas and showing them this is the offense we're going to run and Joe in Texas film and they probably thought we were crazy coach Switzer had convinced coach Fairbanks to switch to the wishbone but yes making a switch in the middle of the season we thought they were crazy I remember thank you know I know that everybody kind of had their doubts but Switzer he's gonna make you leavin anything and and that's just the way he approached it it was one of the most gutsy moves a college football coach has ever made we're gonna go out and line up against Texas who founded this baby those guys you know I don't know they had a smirk on their face you couldn't really see through their helmets but we did Surprise them we weren't very successful we went down there and got beat beat bad headlines you know oh you runs the bone Texas shows him how we got creamed but even that game you could tell that there was there were moments that hey this might work regardless water fans felt like all they'd look at the score they couldn't see what we would accomplished out there the important things to meet ball control with a team that hadn't been able to make a first down in previous game the 70 season was was a step by step process and we played Colorado up there and game in the wishbone and we start to open a few eyes whatever doubts are may have been about the wishbone I think they were answered because we certainly should have been on the football field with Colorado the big game in 1970 was the Nebraska game and Nebraska was unbeaten and on its way to the national championship the Senators played them tough lost 28 21 and that game more than any other assured Oklahoma fans that hey this is going in the right direction finally the Sooners finished the 1970 season by demolishing Oklahoma State 66 to 6 and then playing to a 24 all tie with Alabama in the Bluebonnet Bowl the change in attack and finished success this was the offense that gave us the best chance to play at the very top level and it took huge courage for a coach to switch an offense at a university like oh you in the middle of a season great credit to to berry and to get in Hall amongst others for going through that process and teaching us in 1971 the Oklahoma wishbone swallowed up ground and great goals was rolling up and down the field every week it was a track meet yeah I never seen anything like it in college football it had never seen anything like it I don't think our players thought anyone could stop them we beat Southern Cal we didn't complete a pass can you imagine nearly 500 yards rushing I remember John McKay at the game making some comment about the wishbone being a rinky-dink offense well if that's the case then give me that rinky-dink anytime anyplace anywhere because he couldn't stop it Texas was next what do you say we don't like Texas they don't like us they've got their wishbone win failed ours Texas thought they knew how to defend the wishbone and that was a game where I'm not sure they ever stopped us Oklahoma hung 48 points on Texas and avenged the 32 point humiliation of the previous year for the 21 point stomping I remember the headline our wishbone is the greatest not only will be good against Texas offensively but we had a great defensive day Texas had just kicked our ass for so many years and we just went down there just did a number on them and that really gave us a whole lot of confidence Colorado went down like wheat before a combine and that gave Oklahoma consecutive wins over three ranked opponents we just ran like rollerskating in a buffalo herd we just took it to him and they couldn't stop us no one could stop Nebraska either the Huskers were number one in the polls but they could hear the onrushing Sooners the 1970 game when we played Oklahoma you could see this young quarterback Mildred there running back through it and we were in for a battle they almost beat us so I knew right then I'm looking at our team I'm looking at their team the South Moore's juniors and I said wow this is going to be a heck of a game next year Oklahoma was no stranger to an intense rivalry but the 1971 game with Nebraska the 51st did their series approached border war status the Texas Oklahoma game is one of the great classics of college football but the öyou Nebraska game without question was the most important game because more national championships have come out of that game than any other national rivalry Texas was a war it was vicious and it still is to some extent Nebraska was somebody that we honored Nebraska people were good in every respect well one of the things has always struck me about the Oklahoma Nebraska rivalry is that there's not that hard edge there's not that bitterness that I would associate with other well-known rivalries I have to believe they respected we certainly respected them would be crazy not to a team of that talent we had a great respect for Nebraska it was two great teams gonna beat him up on the playing field to determine who was the best in the country each team had its own personality and each was distinctive and dominant Nebraska is a culture built on Scandinavian immigrants they're strong persevering teamwork barn raisers they're the Cornhuskers their football team reflects their culture power football consistency Oklahoma on the other hand is a melting pot culture based on the individual spirit recklessness renegade maverick and this is all reflected in our football program Nebraska had a composed scheme very few wrinkles are offenses it was explosive we had an explosive personality at quarterback they were in it for the big players with Pruit running through the outside and milder running up and I was used to just grinding out we were just a bunch of farm kids or small town kids and we just played football all the way they played it in the old days they were always very flashy they may be represented cockiness or self-confidence we were always the workman like type people in the papers you know that kind of made didn't look like a little Cocker than we were because basically they'd been there Oklahoma had always been a great program Nebraska being a good program also but Oklahoma noise seem to be better maybe Nebraska feared our confidence because we had players that believed they could play with anybody had the hellogoodbye shirt hello on the front goodbye on the back I mean we laughed at that stuff we were cocky we were confident we thought we had the best team in the country as I'm sure they thought they had the best team in the country we had our swagger too and we had they had their Greg Pruitt we had our Johnny Rodgers cocking this is when you talk mess and you can't back it up Oklahoma and Nebraska can talk mess and they both can back it up this is like a heavyweight championship fight you know I don't believe you can beat me and you don't believe I can beat you so let's go find out on November 25th 1971 the country carved Thanksgiving turkeys and prepared to watch the Cornhuskers and Sooners kick the stuffing out of each other in Norman Oklahoma we weren't a team that showed a lot of emotions before games and I guess that was kind of the character of Bob Devaney but this one time he said we can beat these guys you just make up your mind we can beat these guys and you can just feel something swelling up in you at that time and we took that onto the field we had a distinguished University professor give the prayer and it was total silence at the conclusion of the prayer you hear some fans stand up and say let's keep Nebraska's but but from the start Oklahoma would find out that kicking Nebraska's butt would not be an easy ordeal as Nebraska's rich Glover in Oklahoma's Tom drew Haney knocked heads on the Sooners first play from scrimmage now remember rich hit me with a forearm shiver and shoved me I guess kind of like a real Nebraska farmer with shuck corn if I had a great game against this guy because he was the number one center in the country the top lineman that I could be the number one knows God in the country the givers to Crosswhite he got a couple that didn't get the game off to hurt you start for me Glover's hit was just the start after three plays Oklahoma's potent wishbone had gouged out only five yards against the black shirts the Sooners were surprised they had to punt it was suddenly shock and putt I don't think we put it at times all season whenever they play back the Nebraska point of view the play back always starts with and the Oklahoma punter Jo Whiley is back to punt Jo Whiley in to kick here's why these kick gets high and awaiting that punt was the explosive Johnny Rodgers who was still a year away from winning the Heisman Trophy I do not know that Gregg was gonna be right down on top of me as soon as I got the ball Johnny I became real good friend a lot of people to know that we talked every week about what we were gonna do in games of course he said he was gonna run back down our throats and that gonna happen I'm on that coverage team when I caught the ball he grabbed me I wanted to get him so I could tell him I smashed him in front of the nation and he made a move he actually dictated which way I was actually going to go from there because I fall off and I fell to my right actually we had the punt return going left I grabbed him and kind of made him miss three guys couldn't hold it grade you should wear that shirt said hello and then goodbye all the time that first thing I could think of what I should happen we hello and goodbye I had a pretty good shot at him but he duped and I just missed a man crosses my face that makes me cut back to my left we gets me downfield a little bit more your heart goes to your throat whenever Johnny had the ball because he never knew where he was gonna wind up we always had agreements that no matter what I say or what we return I might call just meet me down the field because I might have a very awkward way of getting there at the point I've tried to make my tackle he cut to the sidelines when I was getting ready to turn on I realized I had just got a telegram for rigor mortis and I really wasn't able to turn off I was the last person in pursuit of Johnny Rodgers I just made it look good for TV purposes it was just kind of like watching you your life kind of passed by in front of you and hope that stops so didn't stops it again to the end I'm in the end zone with Johnny we just kind of hug each other and we go off the field and he was so excited that he kind of kind of barf to us I didn't see that I don't get excited to your love till it's over but yeah I went to the side and I had to throw up he had all that nervous energy in him that was his way of I think of relax and getting it out of him several Sooners felt sick to their stomachs as well as they search the field frantically for bits of yellow cloth that would bring back Rodgers return the only place that run ended up wasn't legend I remember saying to three clips and I thought I felt somebody hit me from behind I was trying to make my play let me tell you some Joe while he was a preacher and if Joe Wiley said he was clip then he was clipped he is hoping something would stop it and I wished I'd been the guy made the tackle instead of the guy who got clipped John's got the angle the contact is made right here just like this forward huh and he falls face down and I fall on the top of him I get up off of him and like all the Oklahoma players and although Oklahoma coaches are standing right through clip clip clip and I stand they throw a flag somebody there says no and I go well then it wasn't a clip and turned around and ran off I look at it like if I had done what I was supposed to do he don't get that far and that ref don't have to make that call you don't realize how good somebody is till you're face to face with it on the field and you see I mean this guy's really normally those plastic plays our game enters like Flutie's Hail Mary throws it down Boston College ano believe it or Cal running through the band to win the game on the last play [Applause] Johnny's touchdown was very early in the game and so it was different in that respect that it really set the tone for the game rather than being the clincher of the game we had just come to somebody else's house and we really came to play we set the stage for what was gonna be happening that day after an Oklahoma field goal Nebraska followed up Johnny Rodgers lightning-bolt punt return with another touchdown early in the second quarter the Sooners were behind 14 to 3 had to play catch-up game with which they were neither familiar nor equipped I don't know that we'd ever been behind in 14 to 3 is we were to start these guys only give up five points in game how's Oklahoma who can't pass how are they going to even score a touchdown now the wild-card in this thing was that Oklahoma had started playing the wishbone and early on nobody had seen it before and we had a very good defensive coach Monte Kiffin the biggest thing we're gonna do is make the quarterback keep the ball we had to take great food out of the game we knew that Jack couldn't have the speed that the other guys in the backfield had I'd made the quarterback care of the ball and then I pound him and it's what they did they made it real hard for us to get the ball and to prove it and Nebraska put the reins on him it really created the tiny seed of doubt and the Sooners thinking you know what's going on if Pruitt can't get loose you know who can what happened then is that Mildred ended up carrying the ball so we took Pruitt away but we still never still too many weapons to stop in that wishbone Mildred kept getting knocked down and he kept getting back up he carried six times in a 13 play touchdown drive that got Oklahoma to within four he wouldn't back down you give him just as hard to give him he can back up maybe ready to go again you choose the way you want to die when defensing the wishbone and they chose to take away our outside game which allowed jack Mildred to have a great day trailing 14 to 10 almost everyone assumed that with only 29 seconds left until halftime and with the end zone 67 yards away Oklahoma a running team would run out the clock but assumptions can be dangerous things we were really told to run after Clarke I'm not sure if England Eve was going on sighs Jack and I well who want to past and coach Fairbanks doesn't want to do something dumb and it was the right strategy Jack just looked at me and said what what do we need to throw and I told him hey I'm beating my poster out on get inside of the thing that always scared me to death about the wishbone was not the running game it was the passing game because in order to stop the wishbone you your secondary so involved and stopping the run the coach has decided to come up let's do something different this year let's switch behind cush Billy plate safety all year where he really never played much man-to-man coverage bill ended up playing John Harrison pretty much one-on-one Billy couldn't push him to a safety couldn't push him to a linebacker it was a very lonely position that bill is in Oklahoma's tradition over the years is you hang in there you hang in there and then bang they hit you with a big play and you go what the hell happened Mildred back there to throw again he gets his pass away Harrison boom sooner boomer guns go off and looking for a place to crawl into the bench all of a sudden Nebraska's behind for the first time all year we thought we were in pretty good shape there and all of a sudden instantly in two plays they had gone the length of the field scored and that's the end of the half that was a real devastating moment I think we were too excited it had we felt like what we were doing was working we knew that we were in command of the game at that point I am I was worried that we had scored a couple touchdowns pretty easy and I didn't want to have our team have any false sense of security about how well we had played in that first half of it more there was a lot of football yet to be played even though we were behind I felt really good way we were beginning to take control of the game we were in the first half I think we were trying to be a little cute and going sideways and Oklahoma's speed and pursuit was good enough to keep us from doing anything very well our adjustment at halftime was certainly decide to run straight ahead Adam I Kenny at halftime just said you know I need to be more determined myself I need to run harder I need not to be afraid of following the football and making mistake and just go lay it on the line down 1714 early in the third quarter the Cornhuskers reverted to character and simply overpowered Oklahoma we just picked up the intensity a little bit and Jeff started breaking a couple tackles and all of a sudden we started to move the ball like we we'd really done all year long all of us kind of fed off each other when I had some success they blocked harder we all became more motivated and we all played a lot harder than second half second half they just came right at us which accomplished two things one they could outmuscles I get a lot of big strong guys and two you know I kept the ball out of our offenses hands Nebraska sent the pile-driving Kitty into Oklahoma's midsection again and again and pounded out to third quarter touchdowns opening a 28 17 lead we never thought that we didn't have time here we were down 11 again after already having dug out of that hole once desperate to get back in the game Oklahoma unfurled one of those plays reserved for dire straits we had practiced a reverse to Harrison all week in practice and we saw it coming and we all went up to play the reverse we basically called Nebraska completely by surprise they thought it was a n run [Music] [Applause] we kept them from the rotting flies those crazy pass players just kept killing Mildred on his way to 267 yards of total offense kept the ball on four straight snaps and in the final minute of the third quarter Oklahoma had pulled within 2824 if you think about Oklahoma had to start resorting to tricks trick place we didn't ironically it was an attempt and trick play on its next drive that boomerangs on Nebraska we were rolling along pretty well until we got a little cute with a play and fumbled Oklahoma cashed in the turnover but again the running team did it on a pass on fourth down Mildred hooked up with Harrison his high school teammate for a 31-28 lead it was Mildred's fourth touchdown to buy land to buy air here's a guy that's the wishbone quarterback and terrible pass for all year long everybody makes fun of wobbly passes well that's what they were and here he is you know hitting people in stride some quarterbacks or pure passers some quarterbacks are the throwers Jack with a grenade thrower but Jack passed like a surgeon that day Mildred busting one out hero now down 3128 Nebraska found itself with 3/4 of the field to negotiate and seven minutes and five seconds remaining in which to do it I can remember thinking I'm not gonna be stopped I'm not gonna let him stop me I'm just gonna let it all hang out at this point [Music] twice the Sooners had trailed by 11 points twice they rallied to seize the lead when the Huskers turn came they were behind by three and started at their own 26 when you're facing taggi and Kenny and Rogers you're just worried sick he gives took two Rodgers on the reverse to the outside of the right the difference between the Nebraska offense and the other offenses we had faced up till that time was their cohesiveness and their ability to execute he makes his cot at the line of scrimmage he gives to kitty kitty Brian sit on the line go about the 35 yard line Jeff was one of those guys were yes the king of game goes on the more carries against the better he gets and the flip is optically he's running the left side he's to the 40 he's to the 45 he's to the 50 he's I can remember a 1st and 10 and being tackled out of bounds and both of my legs cramped up and so I'm on the sidelines are watching the next two plays and realize we don't get anything and so they quit cramping up and they put me back in the game it's 13 8 it was 38 for my 46 I knew they were gonna throw the ball and I was very much concentrated on getting a good rush on the quarterback I had four receivers out there hook and about 10-years beat my guy pretty fast like I thought I would I just have to be flushed out of the pocket Hamilton came in and flushed me out Gerry's my friend but if I said he was the most nimble quarterback I'd ever seen he would know how that's not true and and Gerry I'm sorry but that's not true he wants a receiver he's still looking there's a linebacker line back and I had to throw the ball right between he throws complete Johnny Rodgers that was the biggest play of the game that was far more significant than the partner turn people remember that punt return very few people remember that play but from the defensive side of the ball there's a biggest play of the game we did not think that was the end of the game by any stretch of the imagination they still had a long long way to go to score a touchdown with on five minutes to play the Huskers stood 35 yards away from grabbing the lead back from the Sooners it gives the kitty-kitty running outside of a lap 30 he's the 25 he's the 22 and down he goes at the 22 I remember the look and Jeff's eye and talked about being in his own Jeff was in his own that would not be denied Jeff was the possessed man that day you weren't gonna stop him I didn't care what happened to me physically I just wanted to go in I wanted to score a touchdown Kenny the indestructible at the top of the eye Agee calls his body count at the blindest image flips to kitty can you running the right side for a couple yards we had to hope for a big play fumble or something close to that somebody's got to make a play we gotta get this ball on it they can't school we've got to stop this dry have some counterweight for one giddy moment the Sooners thought they had the ball I don't think the referee saw they didn't see the fumbles the Steve a CAC recovered it and it was definitely a fumble I know lots of people think I fell with the football which I didn't I was down I think there's more wishful thinking on our part Anissa the ball was ruled down no fumble and it was placed at the Oklahoma to 3rd and goal for Nebraska taking a long con te gusta Kenny Kenny over the left side touchdown on his seventh carry of a 12-play drive and on his fourth consecutive run the six-foot to 210 pound Kenny scored his fourth touchdown of the day it was obviously a tremendous tremendous moment but at the same time we were we didn't want to get too excited because they were gonna get the ball back I obviously felt down without a doubt but we thought that with a minute in 38 seconds we still had a chance to win the game all the numbers were against Oklahoma 81 yards away from the end zone 93 seconds away from the end of the game trailing Nebraska 35 31 you're still concerned obviously about the big play but the wishbone isn't really designed necessarily to go the length of field in a minute 30 Bowie in the position where everybody in the stadium knew we had to throw a pass we were the best defensive team in the nation you know this was a slam dunk and so I'm stay on certainly the helmet off and here's the Meldrum drive back to pass here comes his pass here's her sir hunt down the middle I looked up and everyone the safety in the middle of field I thought I really had a chance [Applause] talk about a sigh of relief that was it that plate would have been a killer thank God Jack wasn't a great passer finally come through you know he missed Donnie catches it he's going 80 yards for touchdown and then is that close it took everyone's breath away every year during the time of the Oklahoma Nebraska game this past would come up but every year it would Lowe closer a little closer a little closer and I heard Jack say once he said you know about another three years John's gonna catch that fast Mildred tried to run on second down but gained only four yards the Sooners were left with third and six at their own 23 children takes the ball fakes it off back to throw Jacobson got him unless you know miracle happened we knew we had him so we were excited but we knew what an overhead fourth and 14 we're no we're not gonna run the ball everyone in stay in those we're not gonna ride Nebraska knew it I remember thinking you know this is virtually impossible now our defensive lineman could just lay their ears back there was no question they had to pass Harrison Mildred fakes he's back there throw I got around my guy almost without even touching it came in on Mildred Mildred kind of gave me a little bit of a Juke he got away from I know how to go gimmick was he's back getting ready to wind up to throw the ball [Applause] [Music] you just knew that you know at some point in time the miracles had to run out for somebody and they ran out for Oklahoma birch Glover you know what a way to end really kind of exemplified the kind of game he played Glover's knocked down of Mildred's pass would not be counted amongst his game-high 22 tackles but there was no play bigger rich had a great game and my head hits the large man off to him and so as the game of the century was ending Nebraska was left with only tidy up work draining the clock to clinch its 21st consecutive victory and extend its unbeaten streak to 30 I was as dejected as I've ever been up to that point in my life I start playing organized football in the fourth grade and for now one of those dreams was never going to be realized the feeling of losing that game yeah it probably never will leave but the pride you have in the type of team we had I never forget that either Nebraska knew that they were in a adult fight this was a championship fight you had two outstanding boxers if you will who went toe-to-toe Nebraska knew they were bloodied and battered and we were also but they were the victors that day it just like somebody took a terrible load off you showed you were so happy for the kids you're happy for the fans and probably the happiest for Bob Devaney we get back to Lincoln and they dropped the the rear gate at 7:27 there are 35,000 people waiting for us to get off the airplane that's when it really started to soak in that yeah that we really got to stuff Nebraska claimed its second consecutive national championship by beating Alabama in the Orange Bowl but it was the Oklahoma game that validated the Huskers ascension had elevated Nebraska from a good team to a great team and somewhat that team that had to some degree captured the national imagination because it's one thing to be well-known in Nebraska it's something else to get the national stage and and certainly that game I think did put us among the better teams nationally it was a historical game to draw your power in your sprint you know from a group of people and they understand that you don't win Heisman trophies by yourself you don't win national championships by yourself Zeca Johnson with others that you make your greatest accomplishments and that's what we did together this was much bigger than the national championship the year before that we won on the last day we were number one from start of the season right through to this game we took on Oklahoma the Wilkinson tradition and we took the game and this game really put the foundation for Nebraska football for years and years to come for Oklahoma time has eased the sting of that defeat being part of history has its compensations I realized I was so hurt that I didn't even like playing the game it took me three four years and I was having lunch with somebody and they said gee you played the seventh one Oklahoma Nebraska game yeah what would a great game and at that point I good yeah you know it was really a great game to play it the universe of Oklahoma has one of the best college football records in any place anywhere and yet a game that we all talk about is a game that we lost that strikes me as a little bit unusual and I think we do is because of hudes against and because of how we both played Jack Miller was a class guy I remember after the game going out and he was over shaking hands with everybody he respected what we did and we respected him for him the game that he played I was college football could use that as an example of how great games should be conducted and the way players should act and no hot dog and then no trash-talking it'd be a pleasure to see another game played like that both teams deserved to win and I don't think either team really lost in our hearts I mean both teams gave the effort we played one of our best games ever Nebraska did the same thing and so you had the two best teams in the country coming together on a day that they both played at their very best I was elated to have been on the winning team but you always feel bad you know for four great opponents who lose because Oklahoma was a great team a lot of character and then we had a lot of respect for them the next year we went up to Lincoln we win the game we're coming off the field their fans are leaned over the fence good job Sooners way to go if it had to be anybody we're glad it was you so that's the type of respect there was it was a great football game number one versus number two and whenever they talk about the greatest teams ever they always mentioned Nebraska team I mean Oklahoma's got to be right there to it the greatest college football teams of all time because they had a great football team and played a great game [Music] when it was all over after Nebraska driven those finals 74 yards to victory setting up a second straight national title the winning coach took the locker room phone call from the president and Bob Devaney told Richard Nixon they sold a lot of popcorn today nobody left no nobody left if they had they would have missed a contest that lived up to its hype as the game of the century for ESPN classics battle lines I'm Rich Eisen [Music]

Channel: cacable7

Views: 8,756

Rating: 4.9578948 out of 5

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Id: yXEBkSeHblY

Length: 42min 40sec (2560 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 03 2019