• The game's outcome could serve as a tiebreaker for the College Football Playoff selection committee when comparing the SEC and Big Ten. • Both coaches, Brent Venables of Oklahoma and Sherrone Moore of Michigan, face pressure to secure a significant win. • The matchup features a quarterback battle between Oklahoma's John Mateer and Michigan's freshman Bryce Underwood.

The last and only meeting between Oklahoma and Michigan had a national championship on the line, though that wasn’t known until right before kickoff.

Not long before the start of the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day 1976, Oklahoma learned that UCLA - as a two-touchdown underdog - had polished off top-ranked Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Combined with a Texas A&M loss to Southern California at the Liberty Bowl in late Decem

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