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I don't think it was fixed, I just think it was poorly officiated. I've seen two games that I thought were fixed. One was an Oklahoma game with Nebraska when Switzer was coaching. Oklahoma was not in the title hunt, Nebraska was. A Nebraska win meant an Orange Bowl berth and a chance to play for the national title. That meant a LOT of money for the Big 8. Oklahoma was down on the goal line, and Nebraska players clearly interfered on three straight plays. Nebraska went to the Orange Bowl. They were Big 8 refs. There was another game I didn't see, but it involved UNLV.

I forget the exact circumstances, but there had been a lot of money bet on one side, so the Vegas bookies would have lost a fortune. In the second half, it became obvious the game wasn't going the bookies way, and the stadium lights went out. They called the game. Vegas declared it "no game" and refused to pay.

Watching the NBA playoffs, it became obvious that Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan could have shot people and not fouled out of a game.

As to the NFL, I've seen some AWFUL officiating, but nothing to make me suspect a game was fixed.

I think that was 1979*, when Nebraska beat us in regular season, but then lost to another Big 8 team. So the Orange Bowl invited us both to duke it out.

Nebraska pulled some really squirrely plays in the first half--I can't remember exactly what--faked punt or FG and a hidden ball that really, really was out of play, but ruled in -- and then some more late in the game. No, wait, we (OU) won that one.

Need to put my thinking cap back on. I just remember Mildren was QBing and the Huskers threw oranges on the field too early, like we usually did. Then we scored in the last minute. Wrong game. I'm getting two games mixed up because that was Buster Rhymes. Gotta google this, I guess. All my OU reference books are in storage.

*Sorry, disregard. Leaving it so I can correct it later.

All right, now I'm thinking it was the "College Game of the Century" on Thanksgiving, 1971. Nebraska beat us 35-31.

After 50+ years of Sooner games, I tend to mix some of them up. That was back when we ran the wishbone and fumbled A LOT ... I think we had 9 fumbles in this game. Gave some people heart attacks, but we youngsters eventually learned to take it in stride.

Nebraska did go on to the National Championship after winning the Orange Bowl. Here's a partial squib:

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" ... In the second half, the fumbles continued to haunt the Sooners as Mildren fumbled the ball away at midfield for their third lost fumble of the game. The wishbone was working on the No. 1 defense, but the fumbles were killing them. Nebraska quarterback Jerry Tagge took advantage as he ran the option for 32 yards to set up Kinney's second touchdown run of the game. When they got the ball back again, the Huskers utilized their superstar as Tagge connected with Rodgers on two passes to get down to the OU one where Kinney punched in his third touchdown run to take a 28-17 lead. Then the Sooners struck.

With the wishbone bogging down, it was third and five on the OU 33. Mildren ran to his left, but he pitched the ball to Harrison who was running the opposite way. Harrison then let it fly to Al Chandler who caught the ball at the Husker 45, broke a tackle, then took it down to the 16 for a 41-yard play. Mildren closed out the third quarter with a touchdown run to get the Sooners to within four.

The wishbone finally got rolling as they were able to march down to the Husker 23. Mildren threw his second touchdown pass of the day to Harrison as he was wide open coming across the goal line to give the Sooners a 31-28 lead.

With 7:05 to play in the game the Huskers were 74-yards away. Slowly but effectively, the Huskers marched. On third-and-eight on the OU 48, Tagge dropped back to pass, eluded one defender scrambling to his right then hit Rodgers on a curl pattern for the first down...and maybe the ball game. Rogers dipped and dove his way on two straight running plays to get down to the 15. It was then up to Kinney who went back to work carrying it four straight times finishing with a touchdown. On the third of those carries, Kinney fumbled the ball but it was correctly ruled that he was down. After the touchdown, Lyell Bremser proclaimed, "Man, woman and child I never thought I would live this long to see this kind of a football game."

The Sooners had one final chance. With the ball on their own 17 and just under two minutes to play, Mildren had Harrison wide open at midfield, but the pass was overthrown. On third and six, Larry Jacobson sacked Mildren to make it fourth and 14. Mildren scrambled but was smothered by Jacobson and Rich Glover to give the Huskers the win.

The Huskers would go on to the Orange Bowl and blowout No. 2 and undefeated Alabama 38-6 to win their second straight national title. Oklahoma beat Auburn 40-22 in the Sugar Bowl. ..."
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