Oklahoma Threads: Georgia’s Roots With OU Run From the Courtroom to the Rose Bowl

Most college football fans enjoy bringing up the College Football Playoff matchup at the Rose Bowl between Georgia and Oklahoma.

It was an instant classic that pitted Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield and future NFLers like CeeDee Lamb and Hollywood Brown on one side and Sony Michel and Nick Chubb on the other. Both teams exhausted everything they could before the Bulldogs walked it off in double overtime with a 54-48 victory.

For Georgia, it was the beginning of what was to come — a modern dynasty under Kirby Smart.

On the other side, it is a painful echo of Oklahoma football’s enduring struggle. The repeated climb toward greatness and the same hard ceiling that has refused to give way. One that the program is still trying to break through.

Despite the 11 national championships shared between the two programs, the generations of legends they have produced and the dust-ridden tomes of college football history each have helped shape, Saturday’s showdown in Athens will mark their first regular-season meeting — and only the second time they have ever met.

Oklahoma has gone into Georgia for other battles — recruiting. 23 players have come from the Peach State to make a name for themselves in the Sooner State.

Current OU players Peyton Joseph (Georgia Tech via Fort Valley, GA) and Jacob Ulrich (Kennesaw State via Dacula, GA) hailed from Georgia. Recently, Oklahoma won recruiting battles out of high school and the transfer portal for Jadon Haselwood (2019-2021) and Wanya Morris (Tennessee via Savannah, GA, 2021-2022).

Orlando Brown (Suwanee, GA, 2014-2017) and Trey Sermon (Marietta, GA, 2017-2019) also came from Georgia to have stellar careers in the Crimson and Cream.

The most notable Georgian to play for Oklahoma? The quarterback who finished with a 19-3 record, a Big 12 championship and a Rose Bowl victory/MVP in Nate Hybl.

"I think a lot of people have that game circled on the calendar this year," Hybl told Sooners On SI in July. "I think OU is undoubtedly a true blue blood and Georgia is a modern-day Goliath. Fans can debate what that means those mean, but to me it feels like a badass old guard coming into the backyard of the thoroughbreds who have been the kings of college football recently."

After Quincy Carter emerged as Georgia’s starter in 1998, true freshman Hybl transferred to Oklahoma — the only Bulldog ever to do so — in search of a fresh start. He was drawn to Norman, Bob Stoops and the opportunity waiting after his required transfer season.

Hybl, who was born in Hazelhurst, GA, still has trouble equating the conference he grew up knowing with his alma mater.

"It’s going to be odd, because when I hear the SEC music, it's still weird to see the OU logo attached to it. I know that we will represent the OU on our helmet and the Sooners on our chest, but it is one of the hardest places to win in the last 10-15 years," he said.

Hybl does not know if he's going to be able to make it to the game Saturday — his son's birthday is the Friday before. He's keeping busy with his Atlanta-based restaurant gusto! but is always wired into Oklahoma.

"No matter where I am, it's 100% Boomer Sooner from me," Hybl said. "This is a chance for a really bad-to-the-bone rivalry to start."

Oklahoma and Georgia share little football history, and few players have traveled between the two programs. Still, their relationship reaches beyond the field and into the courtroom.

On March 20, 1984, the Board of Regents for the University of Oklahoma filed suit with the NCAA over the television plan the governing entity of the sport held in place.

OU felt the NCAA's plan violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which prohibits monopolies and unfair business practices that restrain free trade. The NCAA? They believed that by controlling what programs were on TV and how many (very few in those days) helped protect live attendance to sporting events.

Even in the 1980s, the NCAA held shaky ground the second they slumped their way into a courtroom.

Oklahoma was eventually joined by the Board of Regents from the University of Georgia in the suit. After three months, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the schools over the NCAA. Shortly after, more games became televised, paving the way for the way modern college football fans consume the sport on Saturdays in the fall.

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