OU comes face-to-face with an old nemesis: Todd Dodge

Few games haunt Barry Switzer more than No. 2 Oklahoma's clash with No. 1 Texas in 1984.

In the waning seconds and OU ahead 15-12, Longhorns quarterback Todd Dodge floated a pass to the end zone.

OU's Keith Stanberry dashed in and appeared — live and on replays — to have intercepted Dodge's pass. But officials ruled Stanberry out of bounds. On the next play, Texas kicked a field goal to the tie the game as time expired.

"Those games are hard to win, especially when you have Texas take one from you,” Switzer said. "The catch was obvious to everyone, but we didn't get the call.”

This Saturday, Switzer may have recurring nightmares of that game when Dodge meets OU again, this time as the first-year coach of North Texas.

"He was ruled out of bounds,” said Dodge, who accepted the Mean Green job in the off-season after a successful seven-year stint as coach at Southlake Carroll (Texas) High School. "I really didn't have a whole lot of feeling about it afterward — Oklahoma fans have had more bitter feelings about that play than Texas fans.

"Obviously, the call didn't go in OU's favor, and I'm sure that's reason why that game gets brought up north of the border a lot more than south.”

In 1985, the Sooners got revenge, holding Dodge and UT's offense to 70 yards and four first downs — including minus 24 yards and no first downs in the second half — as OU defeated the Longhorns 14-7.

"The 1984 game came down to two good teams,” Switzer said. "It was a good game, but most of what I can remember was that play was hard to miss.”

Even after how that game ended, Switzer has kept up with Dodge's achievements.

Dodge's Carroll teams have won 48 straight games to go along with four state championships in the last five years.

Dodge's son, Riley, a senior at Carroll, who will play for his dad at North Texas next season, earned Class 5A offensive player of the year honors, the fifth consecutive year a Carroll quarterback — which includes OU's Chase Wasson and Missouri's Chase Daniel — won the award.

"I'm interested to see his system,” Switzer said. "Coach Dodge was outstanding at Southlake Carroll.

"What he did in high school was unbelievable.”

But even after all he has accomplished since, Dodge said the 1984 game occasionally still follows him.

Four years ago, a Dallas television station brought Dodge and Stanberry together to tape a mock reenactment of that play.

"We had a good time with it,” Dodge said. "But I think the official still ruled him out of bounds.”