Owen Field's Biggest: OU-Alabama College Football Playoff Date Tops Them All

COLUMN

We need to make peace with a few things.

In college football, stability is an illusion. That has been the case since the sport came to be. Change is the status quo — not just on the chalkboard, but in the very DNA of the game itself.

And so, we come to a question that means nothing between the lines — but holds monumental value on the outside. Memorial Stadium will host No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 Alabama in the lone College Football Playoff game on Dec. 19 — the biggest home game in school history, perhaps? That question has been asked.

Now, let's answer it. Yes, it is.

Oklahoma Sooners — Fan holding a sign during pregame of Nebraska/Oklahoma in 2021 | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Remember that thing about change? Here's where we can make peace with it.

College football constantly evolves. If you watch any Sooner highlight reels from the 1950s where Bud Wilkinson's Split-T became a nightmare for anyone tasked with stopping it, you might notice there is a small army of Oklahoma players on the sideline. Not just players with staff members, analysts, donors in fancy suits and other VIPs — but a small army of padded-up football players.

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Scholarship limitations hit in 1973 as part of Title IX's quest for athlete equality. It also was an effort to level the playing field so the Oklahomas and the Nebraskas of the world didn't hoard all the talent. The limit was originally set at 105, but decreased quickly over the years to 95, then to 85. The sport reshaped itself.

That is where we come to the first culprit in the question of the biggest home game in Sooner history: The Game of the Century, Nebraska/Oklahoma, 1971.

That game lived up to the hype. The No. 2-ranked Sooners and No. 1 Cornhuskers were the best teams in the country and played like it. Someone had to win, and Nebraska prevailed 35-31.

What sealed that game's legend? Both teams steamrolled their bowls — Oklahoma crushing No. 5 Auburn 40-22 in the Sugar, Nebraska destroying No. 2 Alabama 38-6 in the Orange to claim the title. No doubt, they were the alphas of the sport that year.

Jack Mildren, Oklahoma Sooner — Nov 25, 1971; Norman, OK, USA FILE PHOTO; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jack Mildren | Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

Snapping back to the present — it is easy to fall under the novelty of the College Football Playoff and the era of the 1970s as incomparable. Spanning eras means embracing the mismatch — pollsters vs. brackets, virtually unlimited scholarships vs. the volatile rosters of today. Make peace with change, and judge these games by what they meant.

Sketch the Venn diagram between Oklahoma’s Dec. 19 College Football Playoff date with Alabama and the 1971 Game of the Century, the overlap is simple enough: with a win, Oklahoma keeps chasing a national championship.

It’s tempting to remember that ’71 clash as the de facto title game. Especially with how that season's story ultimately ended. But it wasn’t the finish line. Oklahoma and Nebraska still had one more regular-season Saturday to navigate before they ever left to prepare for their bowl trips.

Back then, fans liked to say every week felt like a playoff. The truth is, they weren’t. They were obstacles, and obstacles sometimes have the pesky ability to trip one up on the way to a trophy. But we will never know that what-if scenarios. What we do know is this: the one Oklahoma faces on Friday is actually a playoff game, with a trophy distantly beyond a victorious result.

Win, and you survive in a bracket for a national championship. Lose, and the season’s title chase ends on Owen Field. The Sooners having the privilege to continue pursuing a national championship initially in their house — now decided on the field and not by pollsters and voters, as was the style in '71 — gives this game the juice necessary to dethrone the Game of the Century as the biggest home game in school history.

Before you argue that the playoff didn't exist, recall the sport's DNA: scholarship caps, BCS dawn, NIL, portal chaos. Change rules.

Let's try another.

Chris Brown, Oklahoma Sooner — Oklahoma Sooners running back Chris Brown | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

The "Jump Around" game between No. 2 Texas Tech and No. 5 Oklahoma. Maybe the opponent doesn't hold up to time like Nebraska does, but in 2008, Mike Leach had his program firing on all cylinders — having defeated No. 1 Texas a few weeks prior, the only team to dent OU that year. Stakes? Beat Tech, and your Big 12 title hopes are alive, then maybe the national stage. Lose? Cotton Bowl or BCS consolation.

Well, Oklahoma destroyed Tech. They did so in such emphatic fashion that the energy going into the game boiled over with every explosive play and turnover forced. Tech's misery was frequent and unrelenting — and the Sooner crowd salivated in their sorrow. Chaos ensued within Memorial Stadium and the team fed off it.

If the question hinges on the atmosphere or the excitement within the game being played, 2008 Texas Tech may take a backseat to only one — 2000 OU/Nebraska game in Norman that capped off Red October.

Yet like '71, it was another hurdle en route to the stage. The playoff against Alabama? That is the stage itself — on Owen Field, earned by a Venablesesque grimey 10-2 grind.

Manuel Johnson, Oklahoma Sooner — Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Manual Johnson catches a touchdown pass against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Oklahoma's pedigree demanded road tests — national title showdowns, mega-bowls and rivalry bloodbaths in enemy territory. Now? The Sooners host a true playoff showdown underneath the suddenly oddly-placed Memorial Stadium lights.

This Dec. 19 stage — Owen Field as playoff coliseum — dethrones them all.

Make peace with change.