Neither team scored in the first quarter when fifth-ranked Nebraska football played Oklahoma in Norman Nov. 2, 1996. The Huskers managed one first down, minus-7 yards rushing and 7 total yards. The Sooners out-yarded Nebraska with 19 yards, 15 of them rushing.
“When you look at the final score, it’s kind of amazing,” Coach Tom Osborne said.
“Kind of amazing?” What word would you use?
The Huskers won 73-21.
And the score was only 17-0 at halftime. Nebraska scored 28 in the third and fourth quarters. The Huskers’ first touchdown in the fourth quarter came on a 51-yard pass from Scott Frost to split end Jeff Lake, causing some in Soonerland to question if Osborne was trying to run up the score.
“It was very early in the fourth quarter,” said Osborne. “They were crowding us … we didn’t try to embarrass them. I hope people don’t read anything into that.”
Calling the pass play, with Frost, the starting quarterback, still in the game, was “maybe” something he shouldn’t have done, Osborne said. “If so, I apologize.”
With Nebraska’s defensive reserves in the game, Oklahoma scored 21 points and gained 186 yards in the fourth quarter. But the Husker offensive reserves responded with a touchdown each time the Sooners scored. Nebraska’s fourth-string I-back Jay Sims rushed for a team-high 98 yards and two of the touchdowns, on only seven carries.
Oklahoma redshirt freshman DeMond Parker rushed for 144 yards and the three touchdowns, all in the fourth quarter. The Husker defensive reserves should have done a better job, defensive tackle Jason Peter said, noting: “If they’re put in the game, we expect them to do the same thing we do.”
Peter was playing with a cast on his broken right hand, suffered against Texas Tech. “We were worried when he broke the hand that he might not be the same player,” Osborne said.
“But he didn’t miss a beat.”
That was immediately obvious. Peter sacked quarterback Justin Fuente for a 7-yard loss on the game’s first play from scrimmage and led the Huskers with eight tackles.
Though Oklahoma was 2-5, the Sooners’ first-quarter defensive effort seemed evidence of a better team. They “didn’t play the standard 4-3 (defense) we’d seen,” said Osborne. “They used a little different defensive alignment than we were ready for. We were sort of searching the first quarter.”
The second quarter was better, but not dramatically. Nebraska had 82 total yards, including 31 rushing on 23 attempts. Jesse Kosch punted six times, averaging 42 yards.
The Husker offense picked up in the second half and finished with 387 yards, 208 rushing.
Nebraska’s defense was stifling. Oklahoma’s net yardage in the first half was 20 and 89 through three quarters. Terrell Farley had seven tackles. And in addition to Peters’ on the first play from scrimmage, Jared Tomich had two sacks, Ryan Terwilliger and Derek Allen one each.
Mike Brown, Jay Foreman, Mike Minter and Eric Warfield intercepted passes. Brown returned his 83 yards for a touchdown, the first in the third quarter.
Besides the Lake pass, Frost threw touchdowns to Lance Brown, 41 yards, and Jon Vedral, 10 yards. Kris Brown opened the scoring with a 25-yard field goal, and the other touchdowns besides Sims’ in the fourth quarter, came on runs, two, by DeAngelo Evans and Ahman Green.
Kenny Cheatham scored the game’s final touchdown on an 85-yard kickoff return. Kris Brown also kicked six extra-points. Back-up Ted Retzlaff kicked four.
That should add up to 73.
Going in, he thought “it could be anybody’s ballgame,” Osborne said.
That was typical of Osborne. And for a quarter, it appeared it would be.
