Fifty years ago, No. 1 Nebraska invaded Norman to play No. 2 Oklahoma on Thanksgiving Day in what has been tagged “The Game of The Century.”

The Cornhuskers scored a late touchdown and squeaked by 35-31 in 1971. This Saturday, the No. 3 OU will host unranked Nebraska in a nationally televised game on ABC that kicks off at 11 a.m.

In 1971, Nebraska had the best defense in the nation and OU’s wishbone was the most productive offense under Coach Chuck Fairbanks (Barry Switzer was the OU offensive coordinator.)

Former OU quarterback Jack Mildren teamed with running back Greg Pruitt, who averaged 9.5 yards per carry. Flanker Johnny Rodgers, who later won the Heisman Trophy, led Nebraska along with quarterback Jerry Tagge.

Fifty-five million Americans watched that game on ABC-TV, which at that time was the largest TV audience to watch a college game.

At time, OU and NU were both in the Big Eight Conference and later were charter members of the Big 12 Conference. But Nebraska bolted to the Big Ten Conference in 2011 and the rivalry ended. The last OU-Nebraska game was in the Big 12 Championship game in 2010, which OU won 23-20.

Oklahoma leads the overall series, 45-38-3.

In this century, OU has dominated the Big 12 while Nebraska has fallen on hard times.

“I know it’s a big rivalry, was back in the day,” OU quarterback Spencer Rattler said. “It’s gonna be a big, fun atmosphere, especially being at home. It’s just another game, though. We’ve gotta go in and prepare this week and see what they do on the defensive side and practice it to perfection and then come out Saturday and play our best for four quarters. It sounds boring and bland, but that’s how it is.”

OU is ranked No. 3 and is undefeated with wins over Tulane and last Saturday’s 76-0 victory over Western Carolina.

Nebraska is unranked with wins over Fordham (52-7) and over Buffalo (28-3) last Saturday. Nebraska opened the season with a conference loss at Illinois, 22-30.

The Cornhuskers need to improve in a hurry.

“It is little things,” said Nebraska coach Scott Frost. “I think we have a good enough team that we could win about any game we play, and we can lose about any game we play. It is going to come down to a few plays. I have to figure out how to have our players stop getting called for penalties on scoring plays and explosive plays. I have never seen anything like it so we will review those and find out what is going on.”

The game Saturday is important to a lot of former players, fans and coaches.

“It’s important, been an important game in our game’s history,” said OU coach Lincoln Riley. “So…I think you have to appreciate it, especially ones like these that you don’t get every year. This is a one-offer right now, so I definitely think we have to appreciate it for what it is and I think for what it can become, as far as bringing so many people back that were a part of this for years and years and years, coaches and players. It’s a special one, no two ways about it.”

Riley wasn’t born in 1971 and neither were any of his players.

Can his players appreciate the historical importance of the renewal of this rivalry?

“Honestly, week to week, we don’t even look at the opponent,” said OU defensive lineman Perrion Winfrey. “We just focus on us. We don’t even try to downplay the opponent or think too much about the opponent. We truly focus on us so that when it comes to the game, we’re not thinking, oh, this is an easy game, we’ve got this. We truly just focus on us so no matter who the opponent is, we’re gonna give it our all and go hard every single play”

The Sooners were close to being upset in their first game and coaches emphasized consistent play after OU nearly blew a big halftime lead.

“I’ll rewind the clock to throughout the course of the week,” said OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. “Preparation was better — regardless of the opponent. I don’t believe as coaches we changed this week. What changed over the last five days was our players. We prepared with intent. We were willing to do the hard stuff over the course of the week.”

Rattler threw five touchdown passes in the first half and was replaced by freshman Caleb Williams at the start of the third quarter.

Rattler hit 20 of 26 passes for 243 yards and five TDs with no interceptions (218.9 passer rating), all in the first half. He is only the second Sooner QB to throw five TD passes in one half. The other was Jason White vs. Texas A&M in a 77-0 win over Texas A&M in 2003 (also first half).

“A lot of growth for Spencer from game one,” Riley said of Rattler. “I mean, he looks so much better. I think he was just more patient. Really just a mindset to just go execute and really never got off of that and that’s what the best ones do. They can get in that kind of high level of focus and be able to maintain it and he was much better there today.”

Oklahoma’s 76 points tied for the fifth-most in program history and were the most since a 79-10 win over North Texas in the 2007 season opener. The 76-point margin of victory tied for the second-largest in school history.  The largest victory margin in school history is 77 points, which has been done twice (77-0 vs. Texas A&M in 2003 and 77-0 vs. Missouri in 1986). The win was the Sooners’ 10th straight, good for the second-longest streak in the country.