Even Zac Taylor knows the value in this story.
“It’s something fun to write about,” Taylor said, “me being from Norman.”
That’s right. Taylor gets to face the home team, again.
In a game that reunites old Big Eight rivals, it also reunites a player with his boyhood football crush. Taylor, the Nebraska senior quarterback who was named the Big 12 offensive player of the year, grew up in Norman. And yes, he grew up an Oklahoma Sooners fan.
He knows of the historic Nebraska-Oklahoma clashes, because for a time he lived and died with each one of them. He wanted to play for the Sooners, as his father, Sherwood, did in the late 1970s.
But the Sooners didn’t want him. By the time Taylor had grown up and played well enough to be recruited, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops had other plans.
It might have been viewed as a slight at the time, but now it seems everyone has benefited.
“I don’t think anything could have worked out better for me if I’d have gone to Oklahoma,” said Taylor, who had stops at Wake Forest and Butler (Kan.) Community College before going to Lincoln. “This is the perfect situation for me. I’m glad things worked out the way they did.
“I’ve never been bitter at Oklahoma for not recruiting me. That’s just how it is. I’m happy where I am, and they have been successful without me. It will just be fun to play each other on Saturday.”
If it is in fact more fun this time around, that will be a 180-degree turn from the last time. Taylor was still getting comfortable in coach Bill Callahan’s multifaceted offense when the Sooners visited Lincoln last season and walked out with a 31-24 win. Taylor completed 25-of-45 passes for 249 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions that day.
Now, Taylor enters Saturday’s Big 12 championship game having thrown just four interceptions all season. He has completed 196-of-315 passes for 2,789 yards and 24 touchdowns. In two seasons as the starting quarterback, Taylor has broken most of the Nebraska career and single-season passing records.
“He’s done an outstanding job of handling everything we’ve given him,” Callahan said. “He’s allowed for the offense to grow and mature and take another step in the progression. And it has progressed at a much faster rate than any other quarterback that I’ve been around in my history.”
Taylor’s play allowed Nebraska to navigate the unpredictable Big 12 North with a 5-0 record and 9-3 overall mark, the Huskers’ best since 2003.
Oklahoma’s arrival on the scene – due in part to its solid play down the stretch, coupled with Texas losing a two-game South Division lead in the final three weeks – started a flood of Taylor’s friends and family wanting to get to the game.
“I think everybody back home knows that there are probably a lot of people coming to this game that don’t normally come,” Taylor said. “A lot of people that normally wouldn’t come if it was just Nebraska are now going to come just because it’s Nebraska-OU.”
And that’s just fine with him. As long as his new favorite team – NU – wins.
“It’s a great way to go out,” Taylor said. “We’re playing a team I grew up rooting for and that’s fun to talk about during the week. I don’t know any of those guys, so for me it’s just like playing against Colorado or Texas.
“Maybe 30 years from now I’ll look back on it and think it was special, but right now it’s just another team.”
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
