The 1970's-Decade of the Sooners

[Music] the 1979 football season for the university of oklahoma ended in 1980 their first night of the new year at the orange bowl in miami florida [Music] oklahoma didn't win just another big a championship in 1979 and earn a fourth trip to the orange bowl in the last five years it won the decade the decade of the 70s the decade of the sooners [Music] when oklahoma's final team of the decade took the field on the first night of 1980 it had a lot behind it in the 1970s oklahoma won 102 football games only alabama also would make it to the 100 win mark in the 10 years of the decade in the 1970s oklahoma won back-to-back national championships and finished in the top 10 in the final football polls nine times including three seconds and three thirds the sooners won or shared eight big eight conference titles and had a 28-game win streak in the 70s individually ou had 39 all-americans 72 all-conference players a heisman trophy winner two player of the year award winners two outland trophy awards for the best lineman and a lombardi trophy winner when ou's 1979 team stepped into the 1980s it had a decade of greatness behind it 1970 the sooner's fourth season under coach chuck fairbanks oklahoma began the decade of the 70s with a seven four and one record and a trip to the astro blue bonnet bowl it'll be remembered best as the year the sooners switched to the wishbone newly named assistant head coach young barry switzer was put in charge of the sooner offense and he helped map out the change from the pro set in vrt option to the wishbone an offense that would go on to help oklahoma lead the nation in rushing for five of the next 10 seasons and set standards that still stand ncaa single season records of 566.5 yards per game of total offense and 472.4 yards per game rushing in 1970 on the running of greg pruitt leon crosswhite and joe wiley and the leadership of jack mildren oklahoma met alabama in the new year's eve astro blue bonnet bowl greg pruitt would be named the game's most valuable player with 97 yards on just eight carries as the sooners and the tide ended 1970 with a 24-24 tie [Music] 1971 the year of the game of the decade between oklahoma and nebraska and the sooners 11-1 season and sugar bowl trip ou played three straight games against teams ranked in the top ten to start the season they beat usc 33-20 in norman [Music] then a 48-27 route of arch rival texas [Music] and a 45-17 win over powerful colorado great fluid rushed for nearly 1700 yards in 71 and was the first back in ncaa history to gain national back of the week honors for two weeks in a row with his 205 yards against usc and 216 yards against texas suddenly it was thanksgiving day the big eight bowl number one nebraska versus number two oklahoma and what a game when nebraska leading 14-3 the sooner started coming back jack mildred's pass to john harrison put ou on top 17-14 at the half starting the fourth quarter oklahoma trailed 28-24 when mildren and harrison teamed up again on this 16-yard scoring pass and the sooners led 31-28 with just 705 left to play but nebraska was not to be denied and won the game of the decade in the final minutes the huskers would only be able to defeat the sooners one other time in the 1970s oklahoma solidified its number two national ranking with a route of auburn in the sugar bowl 40 to 22. oh you rolled to a 31 nothing halftime lead with jack bilton scoring a record three touchdowns it was a good start towards 1972. the 72 season at oklahoma would be the season with the asterisk an 11-1 record on the field would be called eight and four because of an ineligible player offensively it was a season remembered for the passing of dave robertson to receivers like john carroll and albert chandler to greg pruitt coming out of the backfield for his final season and even to a young freshman named tinker owens [Music] the first of the salmons middle guard lucius was a full-time starter and he led the defense that shut off penn state 14 to nothing in the sooner's second straight sugar bowl trip [Music] it was the final game for chuck fairbanks as head coach as he resigned to go to pro football 1973 team had a new head coach in barry switzer it had lost 15 starters including 11 that went on to pro football and it had been placed on a two-year probation the sooners were picked to finish no better than fourth in the big eight the new head coach wasn't convinced [Music] the people around me are my football team and you know if you've got to take this approach our goal is to win the big eight conference championship and uh down from the nationals well they can't take that away from it you know we're going to still do that in the team that represents the big eight conference tv in the bowl game [Music] oklahoma and its new coach gained national recognition the second week of the season playing the defending national champion usc trojans at the coliseum in los angeles this improbable punt return by joe washington described not only that game which ended in a 7-7 tie but also the season that would follow for oklahoma [Music] two weeks later the sooners convinced everyone they were for real at the cotton bowl in dallas when the young oyu team and its new head coach handed texas daryl royal his worst loss ever a 52-13 thrashing with tinker owens catching two touchdown passes in the first half to start the route 1973 was the year for the defense led by the three selman brothers and in the game against nebraska the corn oscars would cross the 50-yard line only once and ou won 27 to nothing a 10 0 and one start for barry switzer who had made believers of the many doubters in 1973 and was on his way to a perfect season in 1974. the first of all u's back-to-back national championship teams oklahoma was a perfect 11-0 in 1974. another win over texas and a sweep of the tough big eight conference including two fourth quarter touchdowns that led to a 28-14 win at nebraska [Music] the second half of the sooners decade of the 70s began in 1975 as oklahoma set out to accomplish something no other team had done since the oklahoma teams of 1955 and 56 win back to national championships an 11-1 record and an orange bowl victory over michigan made it possible highlights in the season of 75 included a fifth straight win over texas and a dramatic run by joe washington and then the crucial two-point conversion in a 28-27 win at missouri [Music] the next week oklahoma earned the first of its orange bowl trips of the 70s by routing nebraska 35 to 10. and the second straight national title was locked up by the sooners defense as it held michigan to just six points in miami [Music] the string of national championships came to an end the next season but a team hit hard by injury still managed a share of the big a title in a bowl trip the 1976 season will probably be best remembered for the two big plays against nebraska in the dramatic winning drive in the fourth quarter it started with this halfback pass from woody shepherd to steve rhodes [Music] and then the pass and lateral play the pass from dean blevins to rhodes and the lateral to half back elvis peacock oh you won 20 to 17 in lincoln the win at nebraska gave ou a trip to the fiesta ball and the sooners crushed at outmann wyoming team 41-7 for its fourth straight bowl triumph [Music] 1977 will be known forever in ou football not just for the perfect big a conference season and another bid to the orange ball but as the year of the kick of the decade the kick by uber von shaman in the final seconds of that dramatic win at ohio state remember september 24 1977. 41-yard field goal to win it it is long enough it is good wow with three seconds to play in the game the oklahoma team and some of their fans have come onto the field in exhortation as one showman hit it on the money there were other big moments in 1977 like the emergence of billy sims as a runner and a flyer thomas lot became a solid all big eight quarterback and the sooners enjoyed a 31 point victory over nebraska to wrap up the big eight title it was 11-1 in 78 a sixth straight big eight conference championship and a revenge victory over nebraska in the orange bowl it was also the year of billy sims as the junior halfback led all of college football in rushing and scoring to win the heisman trophy the third sooner in history to be named the best player in all of college football and sim's roommate offensive guard greg roberts won the outland trophy as the nation's best lineman and now 1979 september 15th against iowa you know you started as everybody expected heisman trophy winner billy sims rushed for over 100 yards all-american linebacker george cumby led the defense with 10 tackles and three sacks jc watts at quarterback made his debut with some good plays and some bad plays and the sooners fumbled seven times losing five oh you won 21-6 and everybody expected more the sooners rolled the next two weeks as they crushed the university of tulsa 49-13 in the renewal of an in-state rivalry dating back to the early 1940s their first road game produced the biggest point total of the season as oklahoma popped rice 63-21 and all-american george comby made the defensive play of the season where i was on the left side left side was the strong side and they ran weak and i came across field and i hit him at an angle where i just kind of just bounced him further to the sideline i didn't wrap him up and he just kind of shook me off you know and i kind of just rolled over you know and got back up you know it was just something that you know they teach us up here i always uh fought you know pursue the ball you know and so you know i just kind of just ran after him you know i didn't really think that i would catch him but you know i started gaining on him and just having to catch you george comey just happened to catch a lot of opponents in his great career at oklahoma [Music] he's been uh you know just an excellent example of an all-american on the field off the field he's a super person [Music] now probably as good as any boy we've ever had here he's a very intelligent player very intense player and he has ability to make big plays he's probably made more big plays in his three year three years at linebacker than the young fellow we've ever [Music] up to had every day george campbell probably plays defense as well as billy sims plays offense you know that's the best player in the united states so george has got to be certainly one of the best players on defense in the united states outstanding football player great career three-time all-american the next week former sooner coach chuck fairbanks returned the norman with his colorado football team the warm greeting from his former assistant barry switzer was the last friendly gesture the buffs would receive oklahoma jumped to a 35-7 halftime lead and piled up 444 yards of total offense there is nothing quite like it an oklahoma texas football weekend for the fans it begins on friday night in the streets of dallas and ends sometime sunday morning for the teams it's all decided in four quarters and in 1979 the texas defense won the day for the next four weeks the sooner's magic number was 38 oklahoma's offense got untracked and scored 38 points on the road at kansas state 38-6 [Music] at home against iowa state 38 to 9. at archrival oklahoma state 38 to 7. and for homecoming against kansas 38 to nothing [Music] so the final two football saturdays of the season the biggest two for ou the first at missouri it was all offense and all billy sims [Music] the finest day of his fantastic career 282 yards rushing the most ever against a missouri football team and every yard needed in a 24-22 victory [Music] and then it was nebraska in norman the next week and for the eighth time in the decade of the 70s it was for the conference championship nebraska's defense was supposed to dominate the game after all it was the best in the big eight and the nation allowing opponents just 62.7 yards a game billy sims went after that in the sooner's first series on offense in the game [Music] the 68-yard run would be called back though by a clipping penalty that nullified the touchdown and the first quarter ended at nothing nothing oklahoma had a drive going though at the end of that opening quarter from its own 38-yard line to the nebraska 14 with again sims making the big plays [Music] this time a 31-yard field goal by michael killing put ou on top three-nothing nebraska took the lead nine plays later on an 11-yard scoring pass from jeff quinn to ibac jarvis redwine 7-3 nebraska at the half on its first possession of the second half oklahoma would regain the lead starting from its own 13-yard line the sooners moved out to the 42 where j.c watts surprised nebraska with the pass [Music] oklahoma 10 nebraska 7. the sooner defense held off two more nebraska challenges in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter with ou pinned back on its own six yard line billy sims again made the big play 71 yards the longest run of his career as sims would finish the day with 247 yards against the best defensive team in college football fourth down and goal now at the nebraska three and ou decided to go for it j.c watts scored to give oklahoma a 17-7 lead with 7 55 left to play but nebraska came back on one of the wildest plays of the college football season the quarterback quinn touched the ball after the snap and then left it on the ground while everyone in the backfield ran to the right the right guard then picked up the ball and ran to the left for a 15-yard touchdown there would be no more tricks for nebraska though as oklahoma beat the corn oscars for the ninth time in the 70s to earn a third straight trip to miami and the orange bowl new year's night [Music] 1980. oklahoma 10-1 and again the big eight champions [Music] the nebraska game on november 24th marked the final home appearance for one of the university of oklahoma's greatest players of all time [Music] we're about outstanding football players at the university of oklahoma they're not ordinary people but billy soon certainly has to rank with the big play guys that have ever played here the the power that he possesses and the uh the strength that the speed he's just the ability to back that's got everything he's the backers got it all there's nothing showing about his ability he is the finest football player in the country without a question today and i'm probably more disappointed he did not win the heisman trophy than he is [Music] the 1980 orange bowl oklahoma's 11th appearance in miami more than any other school the bowl for the sooners is always a reward a time to enjoy the payoff for a successful season and there's always a lot to enjoy in sunny miami [Music] [Applause] but when it came time for the game with unbeaten and fourth ranked florida state the team that had every advantage going into the contest the sooners got serious it was time to show again the difference between oklahoma football and other football on new year's night in miami [Music] [Applause] so the 80s have begun for oklahoma football built on the strong foundation of the 1970s a decade worth remembering the decade of the sooners [Music] [Applause] so [Music] and now the 1980s and the sooners are ready for another decade of greatness at oklahoma nothing less is expected or accepted [Music] you

Channel: Grey Beard

Views: 441

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: College Football, Oklahoma Sooners, Orange Bowl, Barry Switzer, Big 8 Conference, Big Eight Conference, Wishbone Formation

Id: Oqbm3zQaQO4

Length: 30min 56sec (1856 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 01 2021