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LINCOLN, Neb. — It had been a while since Oklahoma fans had seen the real Adrian Peterson carry the football. So all
eyes were on last year’s Heisman Trophy running back when he took a handoff
on the Sooners’ third play from scrimmage Saturday.


Five seconds and 36 yards later, Peterson raced across the goal line to answer any and all questions about his ailing ankle. The touchdown staked the Sooners to an early 7-0 lead and they held on to beat Nebraska 31-24.

By the end of the day, Peterson had run for 146 yards and added another touchdown to his stats, in helping his team hand the Cornhuskers their second straight home loss, the first time that has happened in one season since 1968. The Huskers dropped a 34-31 decision to Texas Tech at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 8.

Meanwhile, the Sooners (5-3, 4-1 Big 12) won their third consecutive game and extended their regular-season winning streak over Big 12 North opponents to 12 straight. The last OU loss to a North team occurred during the
2001 season, against Nebraska.

After a 4-0 start this fall, the Huskers (5-3, 2-3) have now lost three of four to fall to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in league play.

Saturday’s matchup marked the first time in 40 years neither OU or Nebraska entered the game ranked in the top 25.

Peterson made sure those numbers were irrelevant with his stellar performance in front of a sellout crowd of 77,438 and a regional television audience. Coming off an ankle injury that limited his mobility for over a month, the
sophomore ran hard all afternoon against a Nebraska defense that was No. 1 in the nation against the rush. Peterson added a 2-yard TD run in the second quarter and had well over 100 yards by the intermission, as Oklahoma rolled out to a 24-3 lead in the third quarter.

Nebraska tried to rally later, cutting the lead to 24-17, but the Sooners answered with an 85-yard scoring drive that was capped off by a 17-yard run by Kejuan Jones.