There is a lot of history, a lot of nostalgia surrounding the Oklahoma-Nebraska game this weekend, and it’s OK to celebrate and embrace that.

The mindset is still one game at a time for the Sooners and focusing on doing your job and finishing, but nobody is upset about reliving past classics, memories between the Sooners and Huskers.

Talk about one of the greatest rivalries in the history of this game or the most influential rivalries, to get a chance to bring that game back to life here this year is a great opportunity,” said head coach Lincoln Riley at his Tuesday press conference.

The teams haven’t met since the 2010 Big 12 championship game, won by OU. And it hasn’t felt like a real OU-Nebraska game since their top-three clashes back in 2000 (won by OU) and 2001 (won by Nebraska).

But in commemorating the 50th Anniversary of The Game of the Century from 1971 (won by Nebraska), though, it should make for a memorable weekend.

“We have talked with our team a little bit about the significance of this rivalry, what it means, the history behind it, because we do take a lot of pride in our program and all the players, coaches, everybody that came before us and what they did to build this,” Riley said. “We know how significant it is to those people, was to those people, throughout those years, and so we want to do a great job of honoring that by putting our best foot forward.”

Numerous former players and coaches from both schools are expected to be in Norman this weekend.

Still finishing, all the time

Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch loves to point out it’s a one-week evaluation, and OU’s one-week result from Western Carolina says a lot of positive things.

However, what worked vs. the Catamounts isn’t gonna cut it against the Huskers. The same type of mentality OU approached last week must be only full display once again this time around.

“The reality is there's a lot of plays from that game the other day that we didn't do very well, that we were successful on because we're better players,” Riley said. “And our guys can't look at it, say, ‘Well, coach, I was successful, so even though I didn't quite do this right, look it still worked.’ We know the margin of error is going to get smaller as we go, and the competition is going to get better.

“We're going to have to get better. So as coaches and players, we've got to look at it with the exact same eye that we did the Tulane tape, and there's got to be a lot of improvement there. It was better, but it's far from where we want to be.”

Morris making strides

Two games in, OK, maybe getting a little clearer of a picture for the offensive line. Or might have been making it even tougher with the play of Wanya Morris in his first game as a Sooner.

“I thought Wanya came in and played pretty well for his first action. We worked him at both right and left tackle,” Riley said. “I think he’s handled it pretty well, is starting to get more settled in with our mentality and our scheme. Knowing it when you draw it up on the board is one thing. Going out in a game full speed and trusting it and executing at a high level is two different things.”

The internal competition still goes on, and it does appear as though OU is confident with eight offensive linemen to play five spots. Offensive line isn’t a position you see a lot of rotating, so something to absolutely watch Saturday and the next couple of weeks.

To go with the same five starters as last week, OU played Morris, Erik Swenson and Andrew Raym some substantial snaps.

Darby out; injury report

Riley gave updates on two players as it pertains to Saturday in saying wide receiver Brian Darby will miss the game, while cornerback Woodi Washington is doubtful.

“And then we got a handful of other guys are questionable,” Riley said. “We’ll see how they do throughout the week and make those decisions a little bit later on.”

The two immediate names that come to mind are linebacker Danny Stutsman and nickelback Billy Bowman. Stutsman injured his elbow in the fourth quarter. Bowman injured his hamstring during the very first drive of the game.

Riley declined to comment about their status on Monday’s teleconference call as well.

Knowles, Hudson earn trust

Eventually, what you see in practice is something you need to see in a game. Now Riley can check that off when it comes to walk-on running backs Jaden Knowles and Todd Hudson.

The duo combined for four rushing touchdowns in the second half Saturday. OU has a great thing going with the one-two punch of Eric Gray and Kennedy Brooks, but there’s definitely just a bit more trust going toward Hudson and Knowles for their response to game action.

“They both did a good job the other night, made a couple plays, ran hard with the ball, ball security... I thought they saw everything well,” Riley said. “Yea, we’re going to need those guys at some point this year. I can’t tell you when it’s going to be, but we’re going to need them.”

Riley gave a lot of credit to Gray for his improvement in Week 2, saying Gray trusted himself and the offensive line a bunch more. The results reflected that.