Nebraska 29
Oklahoma 20

Nov. 23, 1963 • 2 p.m. Central
Memorial Stadium •Lincoln, NE • KOLN
1st2nd3rd4th F 
Oklahoma0002020
Nebraska3071929
First quarter
NU: Dave Theisen 27 field goal, 4:19
Third quarter
NU: Rudy Johnson 2 run (Theisen kick) 8:47
Fourth quarter
NU: Dennis Claridge 1 run (Theisen kick) 14:29
OU: John Flynn 22 pass from Ronnie Fletcher (George Jarman kick) 12:43
NU: Kent McCloughan 2 run (kick failed) 7:15
NU: Fred Duda 1 run (kick failed) 5:43
OU: Wes Skidgel 27 run (Jarman kick) 1:57
OU: Skidgel 26 pass from Tommy Pannell (PAT pass failed) 0:42

                           OU       NU
First downs ............    9       14  
Rushing net ..........  30-98   60-194
Passing net ............  115       60
  Comp-Att-Int........ 5-14-2   6-16-1
Total offense  ....... 44-213   76-254
Punts .................. 6-25     6-27
Fumbles lost ...........    5        4
Yards penalized ........    6       30

RUSHING
OU: Page 1-minus-6; Shields 6-4; Boll 2-2; Grisham 5-16; Rentzel 6-14; Brown 8-36; Flynn 1-5; Skidgel 1-27

NU: Duda 5-15; Claridge 12-23; McCloughan 4-19; Hohn 5-8; Ross 12-53; Smith 9-24; R.Johnson 11-50; Young 1-2; Vactor 1-0

PASSING
OU: Pannell 3-6-0 57; Page 1-5-1 36; Fletcher 1-2-1 22; Shields 0-1-0 0

NU: Claridge 4-9-0 33; Duda 2-6-1 27; Theisen 0-1-0 0

RECEIVING
OU: Porterfield 1-36; Flynn 2-38; McCurdy 1-15; Skidgel 1-26

NU: Jeter 1-8; McCloughan 1-18; Tomlinson 2-10; White 1-9; Hohn 1-7

More individual stats

Attendance: 38,362

Coverage

Recap

Win clinches Big 8 crown, Orange berth

Nebraska thoroughly shocked the powerful Oklahoma Sooners and claimed the Big 8 championship in a game played one day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was 17-0 in the fourth quarter, and 29-7 with two minutes left in the game before the Sooners battled back to make the final score 29-20.

Friday night, university officers and officials in both states had conferred at length. They were counseled by the NCAA and Big 8 officials. Neither state nor school wanted to play the game because of the national tragedy — but Oklahoma had a game the following week, Orange Bowl officials were on hand and needed to know about a representative, the game was a sell-out, thousands of people had traveled into Lincoln, and TV staffs were on hand.

Finally, late Friday night, it was the decision of all officials concerned that the game be played. However, all pre-planned festivities were canceled and the huge crowd stood in silent tribute to Kennedy prior to the kickoff. Flags were at half-staff.

Dave Theisen’s 27-yard field goal got the Huskers going in the first quarter. Nebraska made it 10-0 in the third period on Rudy Johnson’s 2-yard run after Bob Brown forced the Sooners’ Lance Rentzel to fumble at the OU 15 on a punt return . A fumble recovery on the OU 32 set up the next NU score, Claridge scoring from the one.

After Oklahoma scored on a 22-yard pass from Ronnie Fletcher to John Flynn, Theisen intercepted a Sooner pass on the OU 36 and ran to the 15. Four plays later Kent McCloughan scored and it was 23-7 with 7:15 left in the game. On the first play after the kickoff, McCloughan grabbed another Sooner pass and Willie Ross dashed 19 yards to the one, setting up a Duda dive to make it 29-7 with 5:43 left.

Oklahoma refused to quit and after a Husker fumble, the Sooners cashed in with a 27-yard TD run by Wes Skidgel with 1:59 left. Another NU fumble set the stage for Tommy Pannell’s 26-yard pass to Skidgel for the final tally with 42 seconds left.

Nebraska held OU All America fullback Jim Grisham to 16 yards and blunted the No. 2 rushing offense in the country, allowing only 98 yards. Meanwhile, the No. 1 rushing Huskers chalked up 194 yards and had a final yardage edge of 254-213.

With the victory came the invitation from the Orange Bowl Committee to be the Big 8 representative in Miami on New Year’s Day. Nebraska, 9-1 for the season, 7-0 in the Big 8, was booked to meet a fine Auburn team.

Recap source: 1964 Nebraska football media guide

Game stories
Retrospectives
Photos/Audio/Video
Pregame & team info
1963 schedule
05/11Reds 21, Whites 15
09/21South Dakota St.W 58-7
09/28@ MinnesotaW 14-7
10/05Iowa St.W 21-7
10/12Air ForceL 13-17
10/19@ Kansas St.W 28-6
10/26ColoradoW 41-6
11/02@ MissouriW 13-12
11/09KansasW 23-9
11/16@ Oklahoma St.W 20-16
11/23OklahomaW 29-20
01/01AuburnW 13-7
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