milesl
8/27/2006, 04:52 PM
Big 12 needs classic Huskers-Sooners clash
BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
Imagine the Yankees and Red Sox taking two years off from their series. They’d play the Devil Rays 18 times each, but not each other.
How about no basketball games between Kansas and Missouri until the 2008-2009 season?
Would not happen. Could not happen.
But a college football rivalry that stood with the best for nearly a century is once again in the first of a two-year hiatus. Nebraska and Oklahoma won’t face each other in the regular season this season or next.
In the 11th year of Big 12 football, 2006 will mark the fifth time these historic titans avoid each other in the regular season. It’s the biggest regret of the league’s cross-over scheduling policy that adds three other division opponents to the division scheduling to come up with an eight-game slate.
Everybody’s had a say in lamenting the situation: Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer, former players and fans from both sides.
But there is another culprit in this, two actually, that could have kept the series alive annually.
Nebraska and Oklahoma, themselves, by missing each other in the Big 12 championship game.
Remarkably, 10 title contests are in the books, and none of them have matched the Big Reds that are separated by Kansas wheat fields.
How is this possible? We’ve had a pair of Nebraska-Texas tilts and Oklahoma-Kansas State clashes. The Longhorns and Colorado have played twice.
But no Huskers-Sooners to feast upon, which is odd because these programs have met under every other circumstance.
In an epic streak-buster, when Nebraska ended the Sooners’ 74-game hex over conference opponents in 1959.
In a Game of the Century, won by Nebraska in 1971.
In a bowl game, won by Oklahoma in 1979.
In a second Game of the Century, won by Oklahoma in 1987.
How they’ve missed each other on the first Saturday of December over the past 10 years is a matter of atrocious timing. Nebraska dominated the first four years of the league, winning three North titles.
At the same time, Oklahoma flopped like a fish on the pier with not even a bowl game in the league’s first three years. Enter Bob Stoops in 1999, and the Sooners won a national title a year later, just as circumstances were lining up to push the Cornhuskers into their fall.
The result: Big 12 title games for Nebraska in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Four for the Sooners in five years beginning in 2000.
The programs were on a collision course for Texas Stadium in 2001, but both blew it in their final games — Nebraska at Colorado and Oklahoma to Oklahoma State.
Although neither appears to be a national-championship contender, this could be the year.
The Cornhuskers, clear favorites in the North for the first time in years, return eight offensive starters and in Zac Taylor have the league’s toughest quarterback. Nebraska’s offense has much room for improvement, but it’s all but certain this group will be capable of finishing higher than 107th in the nation in rushing and 96th in total offense.
Offense is Oklahoma’s concern at the moment. Quarterback Paul Thompson, the replacement for Rhett Bomar, has gotten nice reviews from teammates during fall workouts, but at the very least, it’s going to take awhile for Thompson to adjust to game speed.
Defense will rule at both programs. Half of the all-conference defense should come from these teams with players such as Sooners ends Calvin Thibodeaux and C.J. Ah You and linebacker Rufus Alexander. The Huskers are equally strong up front with ends Adam Carriker and Jay Moore, and a linebacker corps led by Corey McKeon.
The Sooners aren’t expected to win the South, especially after the Bomar incident. But Oklahoma has won five of the last six meetings with Texas, which is the favorite. Whichever team plants the flag after the Cotton Bowl bash usually ends up in the title game.
That same early October day, Nebraska visits Iowa State, and the North could become defined then.
It might add up to Huskers-Sooners on Dec. 2 at Arrowhead Stadium, the perfect neutral-ground setting to renew a series that should never have been interrupted.
BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
Imagine the Yankees and Red Sox taking two years off from their series. They’d play the Devil Rays 18 times each, but not each other.
How about no basketball games between Kansas and Missouri until the 2008-2009 season?
Would not happen. Could not happen.
But a college football rivalry that stood with the best for nearly a century is once again in the first of a two-year hiatus. Nebraska and Oklahoma won’t face each other in the regular season this season or next.
In the 11th year of Big 12 football, 2006 will mark the fifth time these historic titans avoid each other in the regular season. It’s the biggest regret of the league’s cross-over scheduling policy that adds three other division opponents to the division scheduling to come up with an eight-game slate.
Everybody’s had a say in lamenting the situation: Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer, former players and fans from both sides.
But there is another culprit in this, two actually, that could have kept the series alive annually.
Nebraska and Oklahoma, themselves, by missing each other in the Big 12 championship game.
Remarkably, 10 title contests are in the books, and none of them have matched the Big Reds that are separated by Kansas wheat fields.
How is this possible? We’ve had a pair of Nebraska-Texas tilts and Oklahoma-Kansas State clashes. The Longhorns and Colorado have played twice.
But no Huskers-Sooners to feast upon, which is odd because these programs have met under every other circumstance.
In an epic streak-buster, when Nebraska ended the Sooners’ 74-game hex over conference opponents in 1959.
In a Game of the Century, won by Nebraska in 1971.
In a bowl game, won by Oklahoma in 1979.
In a second Game of the Century, won by Oklahoma in 1987.
How they’ve missed each other on the first Saturday of December over the past 10 years is a matter of atrocious timing. Nebraska dominated the first four years of the league, winning three North titles.
At the same time, Oklahoma flopped like a fish on the pier with not even a bowl game in the league’s first three years. Enter Bob Stoops in 1999, and the Sooners won a national title a year later, just as circumstances were lining up to push the Cornhuskers into their fall.
The result: Big 12 title games for Nebraska in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Four for the Sooners in five years beginning in 2000.
The programs were on a collision course for Texas Stadium in 2001, but both blew it in their final games — Nebraska at Colorado and Oklahoma to Oklahoma State.
Although neither appears to be a national-championship contender, this could be the year.
The Cornhuskers, clear favorites in the North for the first time in years, return eight offensive starters and in Zac Taylor have the league’s toughest quarterback. Nebraska’s offense has much room for improvement, but it’s all but certain this group will be capable of finishing higher than 107th in the nation in rushing and 96th in total offense.
Offense is Oklahoma’s concern at the moment. Quarterback Paul Thompson, the replacement for Rhett Bomar, has gotten nice reviews from teammates during fall workouts, but at the very least, it’s going to take awhile for Thompson to adjust to game speed.
Defense will rule at both programs. Half of the all-conference defense should come from these teams with players such as Sooners ends Calvin Thibodeaux and C.J. Ah You and linebacker Rufus Alexander. The Huskers are equally strong up front with ends Adam Carriker and Jay Moore, and a linebacker corps led by Corey McKeon.
The Sooners aren’t expected to win the South, especially after the Bomar incident. But Oklahoma has won five of the last six meetings with Texas, which is the favorite. Whichever team plants the flag after the Cotton Bowl bash usually ends up in the title game.
That same early October day, Nebraska visits Iowa State, and the North could become defined then.
It might add up to Huskers-Sooners on Dec. 2 at Arrowhead Stadium, the perfect neutral-ground setting to renew a series that should never have been interrupted.