1987 OU-Nebraska is still my favorite example of "Sooner Magic" that I ever saw. It was all starting to fall apart when key players like Lydell Carr and Jamelle Holieway got hurt two weeks before this game. OU struggled to beat Missouri the next week, and lost their #1 ranking the week that they were to play a great Nebraska Cornhusker squad. The weight of the game rested on Charles Thompson, a lightning quick jitterbug of a quarterback, who's second start of his college career was against the Huskers. As expected Oklahoma struggled to hold onto the football early, and Nebraska made them pay. Nebraska drove down the field with nifty moves by Steve Taylor scrambling for first downs, and ended it when Keith "End Zone" Jones ran the ball in from 25 yards out. From that point on though, OU's defense stuffed everything Nebraska had to give them. Great players like Dante Jones and Ricky Dixon simply wouldn't allow OU to lose. That left the burden up to the offense, which responded with a long drive that was capped off by Anthony Stafford hurdling a Nebraska defender into the end zone. With the score tied at 7 throughout the rest of the 1st half it was shaping into a defensive grudge match. But late in the 3rd quarter Patrick Collins took an option pitch and sliced right down the left sideline 65 yards for the go ahead score. I'll never forget that play as long as I live. It sent the message real quick to the Huskers. OU went on to win 17-7.
Sooner Magic has not just picked on Nebraska either. In 1996, OU was the decided underdog to the Texas Longhorns after losing their first 4 games of the year under John Blake. Things started off pretty much the way everyone had thought, with Texas jumping out to a lead early. Then OU's offense came to life with great runs by Demond Parker and James Allen and, Justin Fuente's passing. Texas kept jumping back up on top but the Sooners kept fighting the whole way. Just when things looked like Texas was gonna hold off OU and win the game, the Longhorns punted to a little known freshman named Jarrail Jackson who found a massive wall down the left sideline and followed Brandon Daniels into the end zone. James Allen then took over the game as if he were a man possessed. With the ball late in the 4th quarter and down by 3, OU started to drive right down the field with James Allen making some spectactular runs and even scoring from a long way out, but it got called back. And so with time expiring OU kicked the tying field goal. Unlike the year before though, Texas didn't escape Dallas with a tie, instead this was the first year of overtime being used in college football. This year they was going to be a winner. Texas took the ball first and did little with it, and ended up kicking a field goal for a 27-24 lead. OU then got the ball and marched down to the 2 yard line. This struck back our memories at this time, remembering 2 years before James Allen had a chance to win the game for OU but got knocked backwards by Stonie Clark at the goal line. This time Clark wasn't there and Allen was not going to be denied, with a pitch right James Allen dove for the goal line... TOUCHDOWN OKLAHOMA! Strike another one up for "Sooner Magic" but more importantly, James Allen finally got his deserved revenge.
