Game Primer: OU vs. Nebraska

^3/3 Oklahoma

Nebraska

Saturday, Sept. 18 / 11 a.m. CT / Owen Field

OPENING KICK

• Former longtime conference rivals Oklahoma (2-0, No. 3 in both polls) and Nebraska (2-1) meet for the first time in 11 seasons Saturday at 11 a.m. CT at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman. The game will be televised nationally by FOX with Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft announcing.

• Oklahoma (919) and Nebraska (907) rank sixth and seventh in all-time wins among FBS programs. During the post-World War II era (1946-2021), OU ranks first nationally with its 675 victories while NU ranks sixth (598).

• The Sooners lead all FBS programs with their 50 conference titles (have won six straight Big 12 titles and 14 total), while the Huskers ranks second with 46 league championships. Remarkably, Oklahoma or Nebraska (or both) won or shared Big Seven/Big Eight titles in 44 of the conferences' 48 years (1948-95) and combined for nine Big 12 championships (seven by OU) before Nebraska departed the league in 2011.

• Oklahoma is 24-2 (.923) in home games under Lincoln Riley and has outscored opponents by an average of 49.0 points to 22.2. The 49.0 points per game are the most nationally at home during the period (starting with the 2017 season).

• OU enters this weekend a winner of its last 10 games, which is tied with Texas A&M for the second-longest winning streak in the country. Only Alabama (16) has a longer current streak. Just one other Power Five program (Iowa at eight) has a winning streak longer than six games. OU has registered winning streaks of at least seven games in each of the past six seasons.

• OU opens the season with four home games for the first time since 2004. That year the Sooners hosted Bowling Green (won 40-24), Houston (won 63-13), Oregon (won 31-17) and Texas Tech (won 28-13). The Sooners were ranked No. 2 in the AP poll in all four contests.

• Oklahoma is scheduled to play nine games to start the season before its bye week. That's OU's longest stretch at the beginning of a season without a bye since 1995 when it played 10 games before a week off.

• Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley turned 38 on Sept. 5. He was the youngest FBS head coach (33) at the time of his hiring in 2017 and is the seventh-youngest today.

• After a 30-22 season-opening loss at Illinois, Nebraska has responded with 52-7 and 28-3 home wins over Fordham and Buffalo, respectively.

KEY STORYLINES

• Saturday's contest will be the first in the storied Oklahoma-Nebraska series since the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game, which OU won 23-20 in Arlington, Texas. The contest represented the last for the Huskers as members of the Big 12. They joined the Big Ten Conference starting with the 2011 season, snapping a 90-year streak in which OU and NU were in the same league (started in 1921).

• Oklahoma and Nebraska played in 70 consecutive seasons (1928-1997). The string was broken in 1998 when the two rotated off each other's schedule as part of the Big 12's South and North Division scheduling.

• This season marks the 50th anniversary of the "Game of the Century" that saw No. 1 Nebraska edge No. 2 Oklahoma 35-31 on Nov. 25, 1971. The Thanksgiving Day game in Norman attracted a then-record 55-million-plus television viewers and featured 17 of the 22 first-team All-Big Eight selections that season (nine from NU and eight from OU).

• Including this year, 62 of the 72 OU-Nebraska games since the first AP poll in 1936 have featured at least one ranked team. In fact, either the Sooners or Huskers (or both) have been ranked in the AP poll in 45 of the last 46 matchups (neither were in OU's 31-24 win in 2005 in Lincoln). At least one team has been ranked in the AP top 10 in 50 of the 72 head-to-head meetings during the poll era, including 34 of the last 38 matchups. The series has featured a top-10 showdown 18 times, and a top-5 battle on eight occasions. Amazingly, at least one team was ranked in the top 5 in 18 of 19 games from 1970-87.

• Saturday will mark OU's 136th straight sellout of an originally scheduled home game, dating back to the start of the 1999 season (Bob Stoops' first as head coach). Only Nebraska (FBS-record 377) has a longer current streak nationally.

Rocky Calmus

HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS

• Oklahoma has won three more Big 12 championships over the last 22 years (14) than it has lost home games. OU is 125-11 (.919) at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium since the start of the 1999 season. It is the best home winning percentage among Power Five schools over the last 23 seasons (Ohio State is next at .888). OU has outscored its opponents by an average of 43-17 in those games.

FIRST-TIME STARTERS

• Nine players have made their first Oklahoma starts this season. Against Tulane, first-time OU starters were senior Chris Murray (OL; started 24 games at UCLA), senior Michael Woods II (WR; started 29 games at Arkansas), redshirt junior transfer Robert Congel (OL; started 13 games at Arizona), junior transfer Eric Gray (RB; started five games at Tennessee), redshirt sophomore Jadon Haselwood (WR), sophomores Reggie Grimes (DE) and Anton Harrison (OL) and freshman Billy Bowman (DB). Freshman Latrell McCutchin (CB) earned his first starting nod Saturday vs. Western Carolina.

YEAR THREE OF "SPEED D"

• Hired in January 2019, coordinator and safeties coach Alex Grinch, who was a 2019 Broyles Award semifinalist, has overseen major improvement on the defensive side of the ball in his two-plus seasons in Norman.

• Oklahoma ranked third nationally last season in interceptions (16), fourth in opponent third-down conversion percentage (27.9), sixth in sacks per game (3.6), ninth in rushing defense (105.1 ypg) and passing defense efficiency rating (112.9), 16th in tackles for loss per game (7.5) and 29th in total defense (350.6 ypg) and scoring defense (21.7 ppg).

• Grinch's unit was particularly stingy down the stretch in 2020. After Nov. 1 (five games), OU led the nation in interceptions per game (2.2) and ranked second in sacks per game (4.0) and passing defense efficiency rating (94.5), fourth in opponent third-down conversion percentage (25.0), sixth in scoring defense (15.4 ppg), eighth in passing yards per attempt (5.4), ninth in opponent passing completion percentage (51.4), 14th in rushing yards per game (112.2) and 18th in rushing yards per carry (3.4).

• Oklahoma's 1.45 interceptions per game last season were its second most in the last 17 years (1.53 in 2015). The team's 16 interceptions were its most in a season since registering 20 in 2015 (13 games) and were three more than it registered over the 2018 (six) and 2019 (seven) seasons combined. And from the second quarter of the Dec. 5 game vs. Baylor through the first quarter of the Dec. 30 Cotton Bowl vs. Florida, the Sooners registered eight interceptions over an eight-quarter stretch (two vs. Baylor, three vs. Iowa State and three vs. Florida).

• OU has allowed opponents to score on their opening drive of a game just five times in its 27 contests under Grinch (Oklahoma State and LSU touchdowns in 2019; Iowa State field goal [first meeting] and Texas Tech touchdown last year; Tulane TD this year). Eighteen of the 27 opponent opening drives have lasted five plays or less.

• Since the start of the 2019 season, Oklahoma has allowed only three opponent wide receivers to register at least 100 receiving yards in a game (Kansas' Stephon Robinson and LSU's Justin Jefferson in 2019; Iowa State's Xavier Hutchinson in last season's Big 12 Championship).

Reggie Grimes

OFFENSE HAS ROLLED UNDER RILEY

• Oklahoma owns the nation's most productive offense since the start of the 2015 season, which was Lincoln Riley's first year as OU's offensive coordinator. Riley still calls plays in his fourth year as head coach.

• Since the start of the 2015 campaign, OU ranks first nationally in scoring (44.8 ppg; next most is 41.9), total offense (546.0; next most is 500.7), yards per play (7.7), TDs from scrimmage (453), pass efficiency rating (185.8; next best is 173.5), yards per pass attempt (10.5) and completion percentage (69.2). It ranks third in passing offense (321.2) and ninth in rushing offense (224.8). No other program during the span ranks in the top 15 in passing and rushing offense.

• In 81 games since the start of the 2015 season, OU has registered at least 500 yards of total offense 55 times (next most is 46), including in 45 of the last 64 outings, topped the 600-yard mark on 27 occasions and gone over 700 yards seven times. Similarly, OU has scored at least 30 points in 71 of 81 games since Riley's arrival, at least 40 points 52 times, at least 50 points 30 times and at least 60 points 11 times.

• OU has registered at least 700 yards of offense 13 times in its history, and seven of those occasions have come since the start of the 2015 season: 854 at Texas Tech in 2016, 785 at Oklahoma State in 2017, 773 vs. Tulsa in 2015, 733 vs. South Dakota in 2019, 710 at Kansas in 2015, 702 vs. Kansas State in 2018 and 702 vs. Oklahoma State in 2018.

QBU CONTINUES

• Oklahoma's top two signal callers, redshirt sophomore Spencer Rattler (2019) and freshman Caleb Williams (2021), were each regarded as the consensus No. 1 quarterbacks in their recruiting classes and were named Elite 11 MVPs.

• A consensus 2021 preseason All-American and the Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Rattler was OU's fourth starting quarterback in four seasons (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray won the 2017 and '18 Heisman Trophy while Jalen Hurts was 2019 runner-up). Rattler was named national freshman of the year by CBS Sports last season after completing 67.5% of his passes for 3,031 yards (275.5 per game) and 28 touchdowns vs. seven interceptions. He also rushed for 160 yards and six TDs. His 92.5 passing grade by PFF ranked third nationally behind BYU's Zach Wilson and Heisman finalist Mac Jones of Alabama.

• Over OU's last seven games last year (all wins), Rattler threw 15 TD passes and only two interceptions.

• Rattler led the nation's freshmen in passing touchdowns, passing offense and total offense (290.1 ypg). Among all players who played at least six games, he ranked eighth in passing TDs, ninth in yards per pass attempt (9.6), 10th in pass efficiency rating (172.6), 14th in completion percentage, 15th in passing offense and 16th in yards per completion (14.2).

• Williams, a 2021 OU mid-year enrollee, was ranked as the nation's No. 1 overall player in the 2021 recruiting class by SI All-American, No. 5 by Rivals, No. 7 by 247Sports and No. 16 by ESPN.

• Williams' high school team did not play a 2020 fall season due to the pandemic, but he was a two-time All-Washington Catholic Athletic Conference selection and the 2019 MVP as a junior. That year he threw for 1,770 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior while rushing for 838 yards and 18 scores.

OU FOOT NOTES

• During Lincoln Riley's four-plus-year head coaching career, Oklahoma ranks fourth nationally with its 84.4% success rate on field goal attempts (81 for 96). Kansas State is the next best Big 12 school in the category during the span, ranking 20th at 79.3%.

• During the same period, the Sooners rank third nationally in PAT conversion percentage among teams with at least 150 attempts, converting 315 of 316 tries (99.7%). Only Georgia (222 for 222) and Virginia Tech (179 of 179) have a higher success rate.

• Redshirt sophomore kicker Gabe Brkic, who is a 2020 first-team All-Big 12 selection (coaches and AP) and a Lou Groza Award semifinalist, is 42 for 49 (.857) on career field goal attempts and has made all 112 of his PAT tries. The OU career record for field goal percentage is .833 (75 for 90) by Michael Hunnicutt (2011-14). Brkic ranked third nationally last season by averaging 2.0 field goal makes per game and is averaging 2.5 makes through two games this year.

• Redshirt junior kicker Gabe Brkic is 5 for 6 on field goal attempts this season and is 4 for 4 on tries from over 50 yards (including a pair of career-long 56-yarders). He is tied for first nationally with his eight makes (on 10 attempts) from 50-plus yards since the start of the 2020 season (LSU's Cade York is 8 for 11 while no other player has made more than four 50-yarders). Brkic's nine career makes from 50 or farther are the most in OU history (next highest total is four). He also sits atop the Sooners' career chart with 15 makes from at least 40 yards.

"AIR RAID" A MISNOMER

• Fans and media have often referred to Oklahoma's offense under Lincoln Riley as the "Air Raid." The label is not exactly accurate, however, as the Sooners have rushed more than they've thrown in each of the six years since Riley arrived in Norman, and that's counting plays in which the quarterback was sacked as pass plays (officially they are recorded as rushes). OU's rushing play percentage was 52.6 in 2015, 57.7 in 2016, 53.1 in 2017, 54.7 in 2018, 57.3 in 2019 and 50.6 last year.

• Since Riley joined the OU program as offensive coordinator before the 2015 season, the Sooners rank third nationally by averaging 321.2 passing yards per game and lead the country in passing efficiency rating (185.8; next best is 173.5) and yards per pass attempt (10.5). But during the same span, OU also paces the nation with eight individual 1,00-yard rushing seasons (Samaje Perine in 2015, Perine and Joe Mixon in 2016, Rodney Anderson in 2017, Kennedy Brooks and Kyler Murray in 2018 and Brooks and Jalen Hurts in 2019).

• OU also leads the country with 12 individual running back seasons of 6.0 or more yards per carry (min. 50 carries per season) during Riley's time in Norman.

RILEY'S FAST START

• The FBS's youngest head coach (33) at the time of his hiring, Lincoln Riley became just the fifth mentor in FBS history with no previous head-coaching experience at a four-year college to win at least 12 games in his debut season. At 24-4, 36-6 and 45-8, he also holds the OU record for most wins by a head coach in his first two, three and four seasons (Barry Switzer held the records of 21 and 32, and Bob Stoops held the record of 43). He needs nine more wins to set the outright record for most victories in the first five years of an OU coaching career (Stoops holds that standard with 55 [1999-03]).

• Riley is the only person to ever win an outright FBS conference title in each of his first four seasons as a collegiate head coach.

• No one in the previous 125 years won more games in their first three seasons as a college head coach than Riley did from 2017-19 (Penn's George Woodruff was the last from 1892 to '94).

• Riley is the third-fastest OU head coach to reach 46 wins (54 games). Only College Football Hall of Famers Switzer (52 games) and Bud Wilkinson (53) did it faster.

OU'S BIG 12 DOMINATION

• Oklahoma's win over Iowa State in the 2020 Big 12 Championship resulted in the Sooners' sixth straight Big 12 title and 14th since 2000 (no other program has won more than two during the span). For perspective, the two Power Five programs with the next most conference titles this millennium are Ohio State (11 in Big Ten) and Oregon (eight in Pac-10/Pac-12).

• OU's 14 Big 12 titles are 11 more than the program with the next most. Texas has won three Big 12 championships and is followed by Baylor, Kansas State and Nebraska (two each), and Colorado, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas A&M (one each).

• Since 2010, OU has won eight Big 12 titles and is followed by Baylor (two) and Kansas State, Oklahoma State and TCU (one each).

• The Sooners have as many Big 12 titles the last six seasons (six) as they have lost games against Big 12 opponents (51-6 record; includes four Big 12 Championship games).

• OU is 146-31 (.825) in regular season Big 12 play since the start of the 2000 season. That's 26 more wins than the program with the next most victories during that period (Texas; 120-57) and 46 more than the program with the third most (Oklahoma State; 100-78).

• Come Saturday, OU will have been Big 12 champ for 2,116 straight days.

• Oklahoma is the only program to win at least three straight Big 12 titles, and it has done so twice (2006-08 and 2015-20). Baylor (2013-14) is the only other program to win two Big 12 championships in a row.

• At 11-1, the Sooners are the only program with a winning record in Big 12 Championship games. Texas has the next best mark at 3-3.

• Since Lincoln Riley came to Norman as offensive coordinator in 2015, OU has posted a 47-6 (.887) record in regular season Big 12 play. The next best mark during the period is 34-20 (.630) by Oklahoma State.

Jadon Haselwood

MORE CONFERENCE TITLE TIDBITS

• Oklahoma and Clemson are each riding streaks of six outright conference championships. The last current Power Five program to win at least six straight outright league titles was OU when it claimed 12 Big Six/Seven crowns in a row under the legendary Bud Wilkinson (1948-59).

• Every OU freshman class from 1999-2019 has won at least one Big 12 championship and all but the 2011 freshman class have won at least two. The 2015, 2016 and 2017 freshman classes each won four Big 12 titles.

• OU leads the nation with its 50 all-time conference titles. It is followed by Nebraska (46), Michigan (42), Ohio State (39) and USC (37).

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S BEST

• During the modern era of college football (since the end of World War II), the Sooners are the nation's No. 1 team with more wins (675) than any other program (next most is 635 by Alabama).

• Oklahoma is the highest-scoring program in college football history with 36,972 points (in 1,301 games).

• OU leads all FBS programs with 50 all-time conference championships. The rest of the top five includes Nebraska (46), Michigan (42), Ohio State (39) and USC (37). The Sooners' 14 league titles since 2000 are the most among Power Five programs (Ohio State ranks second with 11).

• No program has more all-time 10-win seasons than Oklahoma, which is tied with Alabama with 40 (OU has a nation-leading 17 10-win campaigns since 2000). In addition, OU's 26 seasons with at least 11 wins are the most in college football history.

• Since former head coach Bob Stoops arrived in Norman in 1999, OU leads all Power Five conference programs in wins (237) and points scored (11,417).

EXTRA POINTS

• Former OU head coach Bob Stoops will be recognized on the field between the first and second quarters Saturday for his induction this December into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Sooners' all-time leader in head coaching wins (190), Stoops racked up 10 Big 12 championships and led OU to the 2000 national title.

• Several members of Oklahoma's and Nebraska's 1971 teams will be recognized on the field during halftime Saturday. The No. 1 Huskers beat the No. 2 Sooners 35-31 on Thanksgiving Day in Norman that season in a contest billed as the "Game of the Century."

• Oklahoma is 70-14-2 all-time as the No. 3-ranked team in the AP poll, and 32-5 at home. The Sooners are 5-0 against Nebraska as the No. 3 team in the AP poll (4-0 in Norman). That includes a 31-14 home win over the No. 1-ranked Cornhuskers in 2000. OU was the higher-ranked team in the other four such matchups. The Sooners are 11-3 against NU when they are ranked in the AP's top 3.

• Saturday's game will mark OU's first against a Big Ten Conference team since 2017 when the No. 5 Sooners won 31-16 at No. 2 Ohio State in the season's second game. Besides its 45-38-3 record against Nebraska, OU is 16-7 against current Big Ten teams (0-1 vs. Illinois, 0-1 vs. Indiana, 2-0 vs. Iowa, 4-0 vs. Maryland, 1-0 vs. Michigan, 2-0 vs. Minnesota, 1-3 vs. Northwestern, 2-2 vs. Ohio State, 2-0 vs. Penn State and 2-0 vs. Wisconsin).

• Redshirt senior defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas has recorded at least half a tackle for loss in 13 consecutive games going back to the start of the 2020 season. During the span he has OU highs of 15.0 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks. He has 2.0 TFLs this season (both sacks) and is tied for second nationally with his two forced fumbles.

• The Sooners have outscored Tulane (23-0) and Western Carolina (28-0) by a combined 51-0 margin in the second quarter.

• Co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach Cale Gundy is OU's all-time leader in victories (268) as a player (31) and/or coach (235). Barry Switzer ranks second with 215, as a coach.

• More so than any year in recent program history, the 2020 Sooners displayed offensive and defensive balance. Oklahoma was one of just three Power Five programs (CFP qualifiers Clemson and Notre Dame were the others) to rank in the top 30 nationally in both total offense (11th; 494.7 ypg) and total defense (29th; 350.6 ypg).

• Oklahoma went 4-0 against AP Top 25 opponents last season, marking the first time since 2002 it won every game vs. ranked AP foes.

• OU has won as many Big 12 titles the last six seasons (six) as it has lost games against Big 12 opponents (51-6 record; includes four Big 12 Championship games).

• The Sooners are tied with Clemson for the second-longest current streak of New Year's Six bowl appearances (six). They trail Ohio State (seven) and are followed by Georgia (four), Florida (three), Oregon (two) and six programs with one.

• In 81 games since Riley arrived in Norman in 2015, OU has punted more than its opponent just 12 times.

• OU is the only program that has produced at least four NFL Draft picks each of the last 14 years.

OPENING KICK

KEY STORYLINES

HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS

FIRST-TIME STARTERS

YEAR THREE OF "SPEED D"

OFFENSE HAS ROLLED UNDER RILEY

QBU CONTINUES

OU FOOT NOTES

"AIR RAID" A MISNOMER

RILEY'S FAST START

OU'S BIG 12 DOMINATION

MORE CONFERENCE TITLE TIDBITS

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S BEST

EXTRA POINTS

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Players Mentioned

Billy Bowman Jr.

Gabe Brkic

Kennedy Brooks

Robert Congel

Eric Gray

Reggie Grimes II

Anton Harrison

Jadon Haselwood

Chris Murray

Spencer Rattler

Isaiah Thomas

Michael Woods II

Sponsors

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