Nebraska’s 73-21 Win Low Point for Sooners

Nebraska handed Oklahoma its worst loss ever Saturday.

There’s no telling how bad it would have gotten if the Cornhuskers’ offense had played better.

No. 5 Nebraska, after being held scoreless for a quarter and a half, went on to win 73-21 and beat Oklahoma for the sixth year in a row.

Nebraska totaled 387 yards, well below its 441-yard average. Its 208 yards on the ground were nearly 100 below average.

“I guess when you win 70-something to 21 and you say, ‘Well the key to the game was the defense,’ it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said. “But obviously we played very well defensively through most of the game.”

The Cornhuskers (7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big 12) limited Oklahoma to 89 yards through the first three quarters, 275 overall. They also intercepted four passes, one of which was returned 83 yards for a touchdown by freshman cornerback Ralph Brown.

The 52-point margin surpassed the Sooners’ 47-point loss to Oklahoma A&M; in 1945, and the 73 points were the most ever against Oklahoma. Kansas State held the previous mark, 59 in 1969.

“We struggled offensively all day. We got nothing done,” coach John Blake said. “Their defense beat us up. We thought our defense could play with them if we got some help from our offense, but we didn’t.”

Justin Fuente was sacked on Oklahoma’s first play, and things got no better for Oklahoma (2-6, 2-3). Fuente was replaced by Eric Moore, then returned again later and threw interceptions on two consecutive possessions.

Oklahoma scored all its touchdowns in the fourth quarter, on runs of 34, 17 and 51 yards by De’Mond Parker. Before that, Nebraska had gone 27 straight quarters without allowing a rushing touchdown.

Osborne left starting quarterback Scott Frost in the game to threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Lake early in the fourth quarter to make the score 52-0.