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| Oklahoma tight end Keith Jackson makes what would be the catch to set up the Sooners' game-winning field goal over Nebraska in 1986. |
During head coach Barry Switzer's tenure as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners from 1973 through 1988, the Sooners were known for their wishbone offense and would rarely put the ball in the air as their quarterbacks often attempted only a handful of passes throughout the season.
However, the Sooners would need their passing game to defeat the Nebraska Cornhuskers in their final game of the 1986 regular season where the winner would win the Big 8 conference championship ane earn a berth to the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Oklahoma entered the game ranked #3 with a 9-1 record behind their dominant defense led by All-American linebacker Brian Bosworth that had only given up 56 points during the entire season with half of those points coming a 28-16 loss to the Miami Hurricanes.
On offense, quarterback Jamelle Holieway led the wishbone attack which featured a secret weapon in All-American tight end Keith Jackson, who had only caught 12 passes in the season, but four of them for touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the Huskers also came into the game with a 9-1 record and ranked #5 under head coach Tom Osborne, who had never lost more than three games in a season since he became the Nebraska head coach back in 1973.
Like the Sooners, Nebraska's offense was predicated on the run as it was an I-formation option offense led by quarterback Steve Taylor, which going into the Oklahoma game averaged nearly 40 points per game.
Nebraska was hoping to win the Big 8 title for the first time since 1983 when the Huskers famously went for two instead of going for the tie in their heartbreaking 31-30 loss to Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl.
The Huskers avoided disaster on the second play of the game when Taylor tried to pitch the ball to running back Keith Jones only to have the ball go over Jones' head and bounced toward the Nebraska end zone until Taylor was able to fall on the football before Oklahoma safety Sonny Brown could recover it at the four-yard-line.
Nebraska would be forced to punt from the four-yard-line as the Sooners would take over at the Huskers' 44 and drive 30 yards to the 14-yard-line where they faced a 4th & 1.
Switzer decided to go for the 1st down instead of kicking a 31-yard field goal which backfired on the Sooners as Holieway fumbled the snap from center leading to running back Spencer Tillman recovering it for an one-yard loss and a turnover on downs.
Nebraska would take over at its 15-yard-line where it took six plays for the Huskers just to drive to their 35-yard-line when Taylor put the ball in the air and completed a 39-yard pass to wingback Dana Brinson for a 1st down at the Oklahoma 26-yard-line.
Taylor followed this up with a 11-yard completion to Rod Smith for another Nebraska 1st down at the Sooners' 15-yard-line.
From there, Jones would get the ball on three of the Huskers' next four plays, culminating with a two-yard touchdown to complete the 12-play, 85-yard drive to give Nebraska a 7-0 lead with 6:27 left in the first quarter.
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| Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor completed nine of 20 passes for 131 yards and ran for 44 yards on 23 carries. |
The Sooners would get the ball back at its 30-yard-line but seemed poised to go three & out as running back Patrick Collins was stopped for no gain on 3rd & 6, only to have Nebraska be called for a five-yard face mask penalty to give Oklahoma another chance on converting the 3rd down when Nebraska cornerback Brian Davis was called for a late hit after Sooners fullback Leon Perry was stopped for no gain, giving Oklahoma 15 yards and a 1st down at the Nebraska 46-yard-line.
After two runs for no gain, the Sooners went to the air on 3rd down as Holieway was able to find Jackson for a 29-yard completion and a 1st down at the Nebraska 17-yard-line.
Three plays later, the Sooners were in the end zone as Holieway kept for a four-yard touchdown that with the extra point tied the game at 7 with 2:36 left in the first quarter.
Both teams would trade punts as the game moved into the second quarter still tied 7-7 when the Huskers got the ball at their 28-yard-line where they put together a 12-play, 58-yard drive which saw Taylor complete three passes for 38 yards to set up a 32-yard field goal by Dan Klein to give Nebraska a 10-7 lead with 4:48 remaining in the second quarter.
Neither team would mount another scoring threat in the final minutes of the first half as Nebraska went to the locker room with a 10-7 halftime lead as the Huskers finished the first half with 164 yards of total offense, barely eclipsing the 163.7 average that the Oklahoma defense had allowed per game.
The Sooners got the ball to start the second half but were forced to punt the ball back to Nebraska who would take over at the Oklahoma 28-yard-line following a 48-yard punt return by Brinson.
Taylor would run for three yards on 1st down, then went back to the air as he fired a 25-yard touchdown pass to Rod Smith to increase the Huskers' lead to 17-7 with 10:48 left in the third quarter.
Following another Oklahoma punt on its ensuing possession, the two teams would trade turnovers as Sooners linebacker Dante Jones intercepted a Taylor pass to give Oklahoma the ball back at its 29-yard-line, only to have Holieway throw an interception to Nebraska linebacker Marc Munford, whose 15-yard return gave Nebraska the ball at the Oklahoma 40-yard-line when Bosworth made his presence felt as he jarred the ball loose from Jones, leading to a fumble recovery by Sooners defensive back Scott Garl at the Oklahoma 35-yard-line.
The Sooners would stabilize things with a 11-play,58-yard drive which did not end until 10:39 left in the fourth quarter when kicker Tim Lashar kicked a 22-yard field goal to cut the Nebraska lead to 17-10.
It looked like "Sooner Magic" was going to strike again especially after Bosworth forced another fumble when his hit of Keith Jones led to a recovery by defensive back Derrick White to give Oklahoma the ball at the Nebraska 33-yard-line with 8:36 left in the game.
However, the Sooners would give it right back to the Huskers when Holieway lost the football after he was hit by Nebraska defensive tackle Neil Smith as Munford would fall on the fumble to give the ball back to Nebraska at its 25-yard-line.
The Sooners would force a three-and-out to get the ball back at their 27-yard-line when Switzer went into his bag of tricks and called for a hook-and-ladder play as Holieway completed a pass to Derrick Shepard who was supposed to lateral the ball to running back Anthony Stafford.
But Shepard and Stafford could not make the connection leading to another Sooners fumble that was recovered by Nebraska strong safety Brian Washington at the Oklahoma 44-yard-line.
The Huskers would go three-and-out to punt the ball back to the Sooners who would take over at their six-yard-line with 4:10 and needing a touchdown plus extra point to win the Big 8 title.
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| Oklahoma quarterback Jamelle Holieway accounted for 222 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. |
Three running plays picked up nine yards to set up a 4th & 1 at the Sooners' 15-yard-line as Switzer decided to go for the 1st down instead of punting the ball away and hoping for another stop by his defense.
Holieway kept the ball and ran around the right side for five yards until he fumbled the football which was recovered by Davis to give the ball back to the Huskers only to have the turnover nullified by a face mask penalty on Nebraska defensive end Broderick Thomas which allowed the Sooners to keep the football and a new set of downs at their 25-yard-line.
An eight-yard pass from Holieway to Carl Cabbiness would set up 3rd & 2 from the Sooners' 33-yard-line when Holieway found Shepard for 35 yards to give Oklahoma a 1st down at the Nebraska 32-yard-line.
The Sooners would keep on the ground for the next four play totaling 15 yards to set up 2nd & 7 from the Nebraska 17-yard-line Holieway dropped back and connected with Jackson for the 17-yard touchdown to bring Oklahoma to within a point.
Knowing a tie would clinch the Big 8 title for his team, Switzer sent in the field goal unit to kick the extra point instead of potential attempting a two-point conversion which if failed would keep the Sooners out of the Orange Bowl as Lashar successfully made the kick to make it 17-17 with 1:22 left in the game.
The Huskers would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line hoping to drive down the field for a potential game-winning field goal that would send them to Miami for the Orange Bowl.
But after two runs by Taylor four yards and an incomplete pass later, the Huskers were forced to punt the ball away to the Sooners who took over at their 35-yard-line with 50 seconds left on the clock.
Holieway handed the ball off to Carr who ran for 12 yards and a 1st down at the Oklahoma 47-yard-line which was followed by an incomplete pass and a holding penalty that pushed the Sooners back 10 yards to their 37-yard-line where Holieway ran for eight yards to set up 3rd & 12 from the Sooners' 45-yard-line.
That is when "Sooner Magic" struck again as Holieway threw a pass for Jackson, who made a spectacular one-handed catch and then ran down the sideline until he was knocked out of bounds at the Nebraska 14-yard-line with nine seconds to go.
Switzer decided not to take any chances and sent in Lashar to attempt the game-winning field goal, which the fifth-year senior calmly made to give Oklahoma a 20-17 lead with six seconds to go.
A 15-yard excessive celebration penalty on the Sooners following the field goal plus a short kick on the kickoff that was returned 15 yards by Doug Dalton gave the Huskers the ball at the Oklahoma 42-yard-line with one second on the lock, just enough time for one last play.
However, defensive tackle Steve Bryan would sack Taylor to end the game and secure the 20-17 Oklahoma victory for the Sooners as they clinched their third straight Big 8 conference championship.
The loss to Oklahoma sent the Huskers to the Sugar Bowl where they would defeat the LSU Tigers 30-15 as Nebraska would finish the season with a 10-2 record and top 5 ranking in both the AP and Coaches polls while the Sooners would dismantle the Arkansas Razorbacks 42-8 in the Orange Bowl to finish with a 11-1 record and #3 ranking in final AP & Coaches polls.
One year later, Oklahoma would return to Lincoln to haunt the Huskers once again as the #2 Sooners defeated #1 Nebraska 17-7 in the "Game of the Century II"(To read all about that game, click on the link which is highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2021/09/college-football-old-school-game-of_15.html)to win the Big 8 conference for the 4th year in a row.
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