Mauer guides Huskers to win in Norman
Coach Tom Osborne’s Cornhuskers survived two early Oklahoma scares and went on to ease years of frustration with a 37-14 win on the Sooners’ home turf that sent the Huskers to Miami with an unbeaten Big Eight record.
It looked like a familiar script at first, when the Sooners went 80 yards in six plays after the opening kickoff to take a 7-0 lead. OU was moving again after a Husker field goal, but was stopped by the first of five fumbles, and when Nebraska scored TDs on its next three possessions to take a 24-7 halftime lead, the game was all but decided.
With quarterback Turner Gill out, Mark Mauer filled in with a classic performance. Much-maligned early in the season, Maurer completed 11 of 16 passes against the Sooners for 148 yards and one TD, and directed a Husker offense that out-rushed the vaunted OU wishbone for the second straight year, 314-277.