USA TODAY Sports' Paul Myerberg discusses the upcoming game between the two rivals. USA TODAY Sports
The wishbone led to the veer led to the flexbone led to Nebraska’s dynasty of the 1990s, and then the traditional option offense dropped off the map.
But for decades, starting in the 1960s and running through the turn of the century, option attacks could be found among scrappy upstarts and entrenched national powers alike. Then as now, talent was the deciding factor, followed by execution. Games between Nebraska and Oklahoma, for example, would be chess matches — full of moves, countermoves and halftime adjustments as the two rivals looked for weak spots against an opponent cut from a similar cloth.