Somebody Is Going To Be The Turkey

"But this is misleading," Fred Casotti pointed out. " Nebraska had better field position because of its defense. It did what it had to do to win just as easily, like Devaney teams always do. And Nebraska sure bruised us more."

The Colorado players, for their part, felt that Nebraska was a slightly better team than Oklahoma, simply on its balanced offense and superior defense. Colorado Coach Eddie Crowder, naturally, wouldn't say which he liked better.

Casotti came close, however. " Nebraska is a lot more physical than Oklahoma. When they play on Thanksgiving Day, I figure Nebraska will dominate the game for 53 minutes. I don't know which 53, but for most of the day. But for those other seven minutes Oklahoma might score six touchdowns without Nebraska even touching them. But is six touchdowns enough? Who knows?"

Both Nebraska and Oklahoma have two more Big Eight games before they get down to each other in what will certainly be a thrilling day in the history of Norman, Oklahoma, and maybe even the rest of the football-conscious country.

Nebraska has to play Iowa State and Kansas State, and Oklahoma must face Missouri and Kansas. None of these teams figures to do anything more than help the speedy Sooners and the growling Cornhuskers improve on their statistics.

Last week Devaney brought up an item or two about the Oklahoma game that should give all those red-clad Cornhuskers a reason for some serious worry, even though the whole state is painted red and No. 1 signs are practically in the wash basins.

"People forget that we played a heck of a game last year," Devaney said. "It was 28-21 here in Lincoln, and they didn't know that Wishbone near as well as they do now. Also we didn't see much of Greg Pruitt. Now we have to go to Norman and they'll have all the folks in the stadium. I know they're better than last year. That's obvious. But I think we are, too. That's our hope."

So they move on. And the anticipation continues. And if an injury beforehand to some key player—Tagge or Mildren, Rodgers or Pruitt, for example—doesn't spoil things, Nebraska and Oklahoma on Nov. 25 may collide in that most classic of football duels: speed versus power, big plays versus ball control.

Football brains say speed usually wins. But they say defense usually wins as well. Oh, well. Ho hum. Another game of the decade, folks.