OU edges Nebraska 23-20 for Big 12 Championship

Sooners 23, Huskers 20.

“It was a championship fight,” OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said as the postgame celebration swirled around him Saturday night.

Red and white confetti littered the Cowboys Stadium turf.

“We put everything into that one,” Castiglione said.

You’d expect no less in a game of this magnitude from a rivalry this storied. This was the 21st time that these two programs have met when both teams had a chance to win a conference crown.

It was also the last time for the foreseeable future. Nebraska is leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten, so the next time these two storied programs meet would likely be as non-conference opponents. Officials from both schools are discussing the possibility of a home-and-home series that would include a game in 2021, the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Century.

If these programs and their fans have to wait that long for another game between these two teams, they’ll have great memories of this classic.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Husker coach Bo Pelini said. “We had our opportunities, and we didn’t get it done. They earned it.”

The Huskers made sure of it. They jumped out to a 17-0 lead, dominating the first quarter-plus on both sides of the ball.

Worse news for the Sooners, an OU team hadn’t come back from a three-score deficit since 1983.