This year the University of Oklahoma is playing Nebraska in football to renew the 50th anniversary of the 1971 “Game of the Century”. At that time they were both in the same conference of the Big Eight, they had a competitive rivalry and their all-time series record is lead by Oklahoma 45-38-3. The game was majorly hyped up but met all of it in its 35-31 thriller because Nebraska was the defending National Champions from the previous season and held the number one ranking going into Norman to face Oklahoma who was second-ranked in the country.

This year the storylines are nowhere the same. Nebraska has not won a single conference title since joining the Big Ten in 2012, and since then Oklahoma has won seven Big 12 titles. The two teams this come in with Nebraska having a 2-1 record, and Oklahoma is being 2-0. Nebraska is not ranked at all, while Oklahoma is number 3 and is the overwhelming favorite.

So yes in 1971 of the “Game of the Century” between at the time two great premier football schools is purely a more important nostalgic game, I look at this as something that can be compared to the Alabama v Clemson rivalry of today. 50 years later after having to see them play in the national title game four years in a row now, things will probably be different. Programs and schools change conferences for many reasons, and recruitment to stay at the top is extremely difficult especially in a rural area like Nebraska where if your team doesn’t look like it’s going to be a title contender plenty of prospects probably look towards schools that are elevating more up.