Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry

The Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry was an American college football rivalry between the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team of the University of Nebraska and Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma. The rivalry continued in the Big 12 Conference until 2010, though the rivalry was more prominent when both teams were members of the former Big Eight Conference before 1996. The annual rivalry was effectively ended when Oklahoma was lined up in the Southern division of the newly formed Big 12 to maintain its rivalry with Texas and also its recruiting hotbeds in Texas. As a result, the 2009 meeting turned out to be the last regular-season scheduled meeting. As both teams won their respective divisions in 2010, they met one last time, in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game. Following the 2010 season, Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten Conference, leaving the future of the rivalry in doubt. The two teams have agreed to play a home-and-home non-conference series scheduled for 2021 in Norman (to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 classic) and 2022 in Lincoln.

This traditional college football rivalry between Nebraska and Oklahoma, formed over the decades as these teams played annual contests in what would become the Big Eight Conference, had been less intense since the 1996 forming of the Big 12 Conference. This was due to the split-division nature of the Big 12 that scheduled the Cornhuskers and Sooners to meet only twice every four years. Prior to the beginning of Big 12 play in 1996, the Cornhuskers and Sooners had met for 71 consecutive seasons.

The 1923 game, only the fifth time these teams met, marked the first game played in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

These teams have been involved in several historic match-ups, such as the Game of the Century, where the teams came into the game ranked one and two in the Associated Press Poll, often making these games of great importance in deciding the national championship. Historically, the rivalry's most distinguishing quality had been the grudging respect and appreciation between the two tradition-rich programs. Also of note is the game's former status as the premier Thanksgiving Day game for the middle of the country.

The Sooners gave the Cornhuskers their only regular-season losses in the 1964, 1966, 1975, 1979, and 1987 seasons, while the Cornhuskers had done the same to Oklahoma in 1971 and 1978. In the 1978 season, Nebraska and Oklahoma met two times; once in the regular season with a Cornhusker victory, and then later at the 1979 Orange Bowl with an Oklahoma victory.

The 1959 meeting between these teams is often considered Nebraska’s biggest-ever upset win. On that day, unranked Nebraska defeated #19 Oklahoma 25–21 in Lincoln, ending Oklahoma's 74-game conference win streak.

Current Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini served as an assistant at Oklahoma in 2004, and Nebraska Linebackers Coach Mike Ekeler was a Graduate Assistant with the Sooners in 2003 and 2004.

End of the rivalry
On June 11, 2010, the University of Nebraska announced that its regents had unanimously voted to end the university's affiliation with the Big 12 Conference, and would be joining the Big Ten Conference beginning with the 2011 season. The two teams met one final time in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game before NU joined the Big Ten, which OU won 23-20. Neither NU nor OU are scheduled to meet at any point in the foreseeable future, however Oklahoma has offered to schedule Nebraska for a home-and-home series for 2020 and 2021, but Nebraska has not been able to commit to the games. Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne cited the unknown status of future Big Ten Conference future schedules as the cause, explaining that Nebraska could not commit to an away game in a year where there may not be enough conference home games. Although a two-game Nebraska-Oklahoma series in 2020-2021 had yet to be confirmed, both schools indicated that it remains a possibility.

On November 29, 2012 an agreement was reached between the two schools to play a home a home series during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Game results
''Nebraska victories are shaded in ██ cream. Oklahoma victories are shaded ██ crimson.'' Ties shaded in grey. 1 First game played at Memorial Stadium, Lincoln 2 1979 Orange Bowl from 1978 season 3 2006 Big 12 Championship Game 4 2010 Big 12 Championship Game