The Game of Games
Nebraska vs. Oklahoma, 1971.

By Geoffrey Norman
October 27-28, 2001

he World Series opens this weekend and that is good news for Americans. Someone in my family called the other day to report that her building had been evacuated and she had been tested for anthrax. Your throat gets tight with fear and rage and you have a hard time caring much about the games even though you are told, over and over, that if you stop doing the things that you've always done, then "the terrorists will have won." Hard not to think, sometimes, that while we haven't exactly "won," our side certainly isn't winning. Not yet, anyway.

But life, as we've all been told, goes on. And nothing most of us can do this weekend will help find bin Laden or, even better, kill him. It will be the same old thing. Rake the yard. Take in the bottles and stuff for recycling. Change the oil. Go to church. Watch a little television. Sports, of course, which is the only genuine "reality television."

And good as the series promises to be — Schilling and Big Unit against a team scripted for a Tom Hanks' movie — the item on this weekend's sports menu that I find myself anticipating most keenly is a football game. Nebraska-Oklahoma. I'm thinking that just maybe this one will be as good as the one those two schools played thirty years ago. The country was in a bad mood then, too, but that game took your mind off of things. It was so good that I believe it could have diverted someone who had an appointment, that midnight, with the hangman. The game was played on Thanksgiving Day and never in history have so many turkeys been overcooked.

Both teams came in averaging over 40 points a game, and they only fell off a little against great defenses. Nebraska had been giving up less than 9 points a game but couldn't stop Oklahoma's wishbone. Jack Mildren, the quarterback, took Oklahoma on four drives of 70 yards. At halftime, Oklahoma had gained 311 yards and led 17-14.

The teams swapped scores until, with some six minutes left in the game, it was Oklahoma's lead, 31-28, and Nebraska's ball with 74 yards to go. There was bedlam in the Oklahoma stands and in the living rooms from sea to shining sea, including the one where my brother and I sat, nearly faint with the tension. And we didn't like either team. We were Alabama fans. We knew that if the Tide beat Auburn on Saturday, then it would play the winner of this game for the national championship. But none of that made any difference at the time. We knew we were watching a game for the ages and you didn't need a rooting interest to appreciate it. This was like watching Titian work. You could pull for Tintoretto in a head-to-head match up and still appreciate the Assumption of the Virgin.

At the Nebraska 35, on 3rd and 1, Jeff Kinney broke one for 17 yards.

Whew.

Then, on 3rd and 8, at the 46, quarterback Jerry Tagge was flushed from the pocket and threw a desperation pass to Johnny Rogers (eventual Heisman trophy winner) who had defenders on either shoulder and he was practically laid out on the ground. But he caught the ball.

Mercy.

Finally, Nebraska was down to the Oklahoma 2. Field goal does you no good; you've got to put it in the end-zone.

I can't stand it.

Kinney took it for the touchdown.

Unbelievable.

It was a game that is on anyone's list of the ten best in the history of college football, and it would be a blessing and a patriotic service to the nation if Nebraska and Oklahoma could put on a show even half that good in Lincoln this weekend. Probably, it won't be that good. Neither team has the offense to match their predecessors'. The Oklahoma offense, back then, was probably the finest pure-wishbone attack ever. The wishbone isn't used much anymore, and that's too bad because it is perfect for the college game, requiring a good running quarterback, polished ball handling, and lots of speed. The formation took college football the same way the T had. Eventually, defenses figured it out (big fast corners help a lot) and only a few schools — the service academies, especially — have used it in the last decade or so.

The current Oklahoma offense is, in fact, fairly uninspired for a team ranked #1 and defending a national title. Oklahoma wins on defense. For that defense, stopping #2 Nebraska means stopping quarterback Eric Crouch who can beat you, as they say, running or throwing. The Oklahoma defense, led by linebacker Rocky Calmus, will try not merely to stop him but to hurt him. Oklahoma is a physical team. Not dirty. But certainly hardnosed and relentless.

But Crouch is plenty tough himself. Of all the college quarterbacks in the land, he is the one you would want if you were going to run the triple-option, wishbone offense. He is also the one you would want, whatever formation you ran, when playing a defense like Oklahoma's. The game may not be as dramatic as the 1971 copy — you only get one of those every century of so — but it will be strength on strength between two very strong teams. And, of course, there is always the possibility that it will turn out to be one of those epics.

Then, when the weekend is over, we can all go back to worrying about anthrax, hating bin Laden, and pulling for the Yankees, which has become almost a patriotic obligation.