According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly (ESPN+), the 1974 Oklahoma Sooners are the 13th most influential college football team of all time.
Connelly released the second half of his list of the 30 most influential college football teams on Thursday, unveiling teams ranked 1-15. The 1974 Sooners landed at No. 13.
Of course, this team was coached by [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag], and was perhaps “The King’s” best team. The Sooners went 11-0 (7-0 in the Big Eight) and won the national championship. It was the first of two straight titles in the mid-1970s for Switzer.
Oklahoma was on probation from 1973 to 1975. However, 1974 was the only year out of that stretch that OU didn’t appear on television or in a bowl game. In those three seasons, the Sooners lost just one game and were tied just once.
The Sooners boasted a dominant roster on both sides of the ball in 1974. Only one opponent played the Sooners within two touchdowns and four foes failed to find the endzone at all. Meanwhile, Oklahoma led the country in scoring offense with an average of 43 points per game, led by [autotag]Joe Washington[/autotag] at running back
A few years before 1974, with Oklahoma having won just 20 games in three seasons, embattled head coach [autotag]Chuck Fairbanks[/autotag] sent his bright, young offensive coordinator Barry Switzer to Austin to learn the Wishbone from its inventor, Texas coordinator Emory Bellard. (That Texas head coach Darrell Royal allowed this speaks to an almost foolish level of generosity on his part.)…With both the secrets of this revolutionary offense and Oklahoma’s limitless speed in tow, OU proceeded to destroy Texas with its own invention. – Connelly, ESPN
The Sooners were named national champions by the Associated Press after the season. Oklahoma was not named the consensus national champion, however, as the Coaches Poll named USC as its national champion after the Trojans won the Rose Bowl.
Despite the probation and not being seen on television, the ’74 Sooners rolled through their entire regular season and didn’t need a bowl game to convince AP voters they were college football’s best team.
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