On Oct. 20, 1990, Iowa State did the unthinkable and stunned 16th ranked Oklahoma 33-31 in front of 69,112 shell-shocked fans at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla.

The Cyclones entered the game as 24-point underdogs but were able to overcome a pair of 14-point deficits to claim their first victory over the Sooners since 1961.

“I was overwhelmed,” ISU head coach Jim Walden said after overcoming a bad case of the flu to grab his biggest victory to date. “[I was as] sick as I’ve ever been in my life Friday [and] didn’t want to come. It wouldn’t have taken much to talk me out of coming anyway, but now I’m glad I did.”

The key to the Cyclone shocker was an outstanding, hard-nosed performance by ISU quarterback Chris Pedersen. Pedersen completed only 5 of 17 passes for 102 yards, but gave Oklahoma a taste of its own medicine by rushing for a career-high 148 yards on 29 carries.

After Oklahoma jumped out to a 14-0 advantage, Pedersen ignited the Cyclone comeback early in the second quarter. He started it off with an 11-yard touchdown scamper, then hit Cyclone tailback Blaise Bryant with a 40-yard touchdown strike to even up the score at 14-14.

The Sooners bounced right back with a pair of Dewell Brewer touchdown runs to forge ahead 28-14, but Cyclone kicker Jeff Shudak kept ISU within striking distance with field goals of 21 and 33 yards. An R.D. Lashar field goal put the score at 31-20 in favor of Oklahoma heading into the fourth quarter when Pedersen and crew hit the Sooners with a little “Cyclone Magic.”

ISU pulled within 31-26 on a Sherman Williams touchdown run midway through the quarter, then Lashar missed a 23-yard field goal attempt with 2:50 remaining to give the Cyclones a golden opportunity.

Pedersen then directed ISU on a 10-play, 80-yard drive, capping it off with a one-yard touchdown plunge on third-and-goal with 35 seconds to play. He also came through big time on a fourth-and-eight play from the ISU 22-yard line when he took off on a quarterback draw and rambled 20 yards for the first down.

“Iowa State just kept running the quarterback draw and running it some more,” Oklahoma free safety Glenn Quasie said. “We couldn’t stop it.”

Following the touchdown, Walden elected to kick the point after attempt instead of going for a two-point conversion, giving Oklahoma a chance to steal a victory if they could get into field goal range.

“That was dumb,” Walden said. “We should have gone for two points.”

However, the mistake didn’t prove to be costly for ISU as it held the Sooners at their own 47 yard line. Pedersen and the rest of the Cyclones were ecstatic when the final gun sounded, as ISU had received some atonement for a disappointing 2-3-1 start by finally getting the Oklahoma monkey off of its back.

“This win was for last year’s Iowa State team, which we felt should have won, and for all the other teams that kept getting beat by Oklahoma,” Pedersen said.