Tag: Barry Switzer

Oklahoma Sooners to honor Bob Stoops Saturday night

Oklahoma Football set to honor Bob Stoops during Saturday’s home finale against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Oklahoma Sooners will be honoring one of the greatest coaches in program history on Saturday. [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag], the winningest coach in OU Football history, will be celebrated on Owen Field as Oklahoma hosts the Alabama Crimson Tide.

He’s the final coach to be honored during home games this season, as [autotag]Bud Wilkinson[/autotag] and [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] were also celebrated earlier this year.

Stoops took the reins of the program at a tumultuous time in Norman. Following Switzer’s resignation a decade earlier, the Oklahoma football program experienced a decade of darkness, looking nothing like the Sooners of old. For ten years from 1989 to 1998, OU cycled through three head coaches and failed to get close to winning at the level that the program was accustomed to.

But that all changed when Stoops was hired. Beginning in 1999, he brought the program back to its former glory, going undefeated and winning the national championship in 2000 in just his second year on the job. For his 18-year career as OU’s head coach, the Sooners were typically in the title hunt, as Stoops coached in three more national title games.

Oklahoma won 10 Big 12 championships, dominating the conference with Stoops at the helm. He produced two Heisman Trophy winners ([autotag]Jason White[/autotag] and [autotag]Sam Bradford[/autotag]) and coached two more who won later in their careers ([autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag] and [autotag]Kyler Murray[/autotag]).

From 1999 to 2016, Stoops amassed more wins than any other coach in the history of the program. His time in Norman was marked by a number of big wins and the rebirth of one of college football’s blue blood programs.

The legendary head coach decided to retire in the summer of 2017, passing the baton to [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag], his offensive coordinator for the previous two seasons. He would dabble in tequila sales, college football studio analysis and coaching in the XFL over the next few years.

But when Riley decided to head west for Southern California in 2021, athletic director [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag], who had hired Stoops way back in the winter of 1998, turned to Stoops again as the Sooners suddenly needed an interim head coach for the 2021 Alamo Bowl.

In addition to taking over as the interim head coach and leading OU to a bowl game victory over Oregon, Stoops was a calming force at a time of great uncertainty. Riley’s move was a shot across the college football landscape and Stoops was once again a steadying force for Oklahoma.

He passed the torch to Oklahoma’s current coach, [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag], after the win over Oregon and has returned to coaching in the XFL and UFL over the past couple of seasons with the Arlington Renegades, winning a championship in 2023. He’s stayed very involved with OU over the years since he retired, and his son [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag] enjoyed a long, productive career as a Sooner.

Now, Stoops will be honored for his accomplishments as Oklahoma’s winningest head coach.

It’s been a rocky season for the Sooners, and the best way to honor Coach Stoops would be with an upset win at home on Saturday. After all, he went 3-0 against the Tide, and would love to see OU earn bowl eligibility on national TV on the same night he’ll be celebrated on Owen Field.

Former Sooners head coach tells Paul Finebaum ‘We’re short in a lot of areas’

On the Paul Finebaum show, Barry Switzer shared concerns that the Oklahoma Sooners are falling behind the Texas Longhorns.

The Oklahoma Sooners have taken a step back. While the Sooners have taken a step back, the Texas Longhorns look to be a contender in the SEC and for a College Football Playoff spot. They also dominated the Sooners for the second time in three years.

There are a number of reasons why Oklahoma is struggling in 2024. The biggest reason is that the offense has failed to produce since entering SEC play. But beyond the Seth Littrell hire and the struggles on offense, Sooners legend and Hall of Fame coach [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] believes the issues are bigger than that.

The former three-time national champion and Super Bowl champion joined Paul Finebaum after Switzer was selected to the SEC Legends class for 2024 and shared his concerns about the growing gap between Oklahoma and Texas.

“We’re short in a lot of areas, Paul,” Switzer stated on the show. “We need help all across there. Defensively, we’re probably better than we are offensively. We’re short offensive line, with running backs, receivers, quarterback. Every area of the offense needs help, and it’s gonna take a while to get there. But I think they can. I don’t know. I question sometimes with NIL whether we can or not, whether we can compete against Texas every year. They can raise more money than we can. We’re a small state, we’ve only got 3.5 million people and it’s gonna be more difficult than it is for the Unversity of Texas, where they’ve got 35 million people. A wealthier state and people to be able to support the programs. We’ll have to wait and see.”

The Oklahoma Sooners have some issues along the offensive line. Misses on the recruiting trail before 2024 and the transfer portal acquisitions not working out this year have set that unit back.

Certainly, wide receiver has been an issue. Still, any team would struggle without its top five wide receivers and with inexperience at quarterback.

Texas will likely always have a bigger influence in the name, image, and likeness world. However, Oklahoma has always been able to do more with lower-ranked recruiting classes than Texas until the last couple of years.

Yes, there are more people in Texas, but there are also more Power Four programs in the state of Texas that the Longhorns are competing for eyes and dollars with. Schools like Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Houston, TCU, and SMU eat into the influence that Texas has in the state. Even as the biggest brand, the Longhorns have more programs to deal with. Considering that much of the population in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metro areas includes transplant residents such as Oklahomans, college football loyalties reach far beyond the borders of the state of Texas.

Oklahoma may have fewer people, but it is just one of two Power Four programs in the state. The Sooners have long been considered the top brand and their reach, like Texas’ goes beyond its border.

The Sooners have done a great job rebuilding the defense. It’s proven to be ready for the grind of the SEC. Now, the offense has to catch up. Brent Venables’ next offensive coordinator hire could very well define his tenure with the Sooners.

You can watch Barry Switzer’s full interview with Paul Finebaum below.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.

Former Oklahoma coach named to 2024 SEC Legends class

Barry Switzer has been named to the 2024 SEC Legends Class.

Former Oklahoma Sooners head football coach [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] has been named to the 2024 [autotag]SEC[/autotag] Legends class, the school announced via a press release on Tuesday.

The SEC Legends are a group of former football standouts who will be honored at events surrounding the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta in December.

The 2024 class comprises 16 former stars who excelled on the football field and helped write the rich history of the sport at their respective institutions. As OU joined the conference on July 1, Switzer will become the Sooners’ first SEC Football Legend.

As a head coach from 1973 to 1988, Switzer led Oklahoma to three national championships (1974, 1975, and 1985) and finished his head coaching career with a 157-29-4 record, good for a .837 winning percentage. His teams posted a winning record in each of his 16 seasons and won 12 Big Eight Conference titles during his tenure. Switzer joined the OU staff in 1966 and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1967.

Under Switzer’s leadership, Oklahoma’s wishbone attack produced some of the most prolific rushing offenses in college football history and his teams routinely ranked among the nation’s best defenses. His 1986 and 1987 teams led the nation in scoring offense and scoring defense.

Switzer was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1999, OU’s football operations facility at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (The Barry Switzer Center) was named after him.

https://twitter.com/OU_Football/status/1848818649085182422

He was also the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, leading the 1995 squad to a Super Bowl title. He is one of only three coaches to win a college national championship and a Super Bowl, along with Jimmy Johnson and Pete Carroll.

According to the press release, the 2024 SEC Football Legends class will be honored at the 2024 SEC Football “Weekend of Champions” Dec. 6-7 in Atlanta, highlighted by the annual SEC Legends Celebration at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. The group will also be recognized prior to the SEC Championship Game, which will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 7.

Legendary Oklahoma coach questions if Sooners can compete with Texas

Barry Switzer joined the Paul Finebaum Show to discuss his beloved Sooners and how they measure up to Texas on the NIL front.

The college football world isn’t that far removed from the Texas 34-3 thumping of Red River rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners. This is the second time in three seasons under head coach Brent Venables that OU failed to score a touchdown in their biggest regular season game of the year. In 2022 and 2024, Texas outscored Oklahoma 83-3. That is a tough pill to swallow.

The Sooners did get a measure of retribution last season handing the Longhorns its lone regular season loss of the year. Texas would eventually go on to win the Big 12 and earn a spot in the College Football Playoffs, while Oklahoma was relegated to playing in the Alamo Bowl.

These Sooners don’t look like the teams under head coach Bob Stoops or Barry Switzer.

On the “Paul Finebaum Show” Switzer alluded to the fact that the Texas Longhorns are far ahead of Oklahoma and it may be difficult for the Sooners to catch up.

“We’re short in a lot of areas, Paul,” Switzer stated on the show. “We need help all across there. Defensively, we’re probably better than we are offensively. We’re short offensive line, with running backs, receivers, quarterback. Every area of the offense needs help, and it’s gonna take a while to get there. But I think they can. I don’t know. I question sometimes with NIL whether we can or not, whether we can compete against Texas every year. They can raise more money than we can. We’re a small state, we’ve only got 3.5 million people and it’s gonna be more difficult than it is for the University of Texas, where they’ve got 35 million people. A wealthier state and people to be able to support the programs. We’ll have to wait and see.”

You can see the full interview below:

Casey Thompson’s long journey highlighted in Washington Post article

Casey Thompson is battling for Oklahoma’s backup quarterback job.

The quarterback room has changed a lot for the Oklahoma Sooners entering 2024. [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag], [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] and [autotag]Steele Wasel[/autotag] make up the unit this season. They’ll be coached by [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag], who will serve as co-offensive coordinator along with [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag].

As OU enters Year 3 of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era, the head coach has been hyper-focused on building up every part of the roster. He found what could be a key walk-on transfer in a veteran journeyman who has been all over the college football map.

Ideally, a backup quarterback isn’t something that is ever a big part of your season. Arnold is the starting quarterback for the Sooners in 2024 and will stay in that role as long as he is healthy enough to do so. If the worst does happen and Arnold falls with injury, Thompson and Hawkins Jr. would be the first options to replace him, with Zurbrugg and Wasel behind them.

While Thompson’s fellow backup quarterbacks are all youngsters (as is the guy playing in front of him) he’s the outlier. Thompson is entering his seventh year of college football and playing for his fourth different school.

It’s part of the reality of the new world of college football. The transfer portal, COVID-years of eligibility, and injury waivers provide the opportunity for players to play six or seven seasons at this level. The Sooners may benefit from Thompson’s final year of eligibility.

The Washington Post’s Kent Babb featured Thompson in a detailed article that dove deeper into the quarterback’s journey.

His father, Charles, was a star QB for the Sooners from 1986-1988, the final three seasons of the [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] era. His older brother Kendal was a backup QB at OU from 2011-2013, before transferring to Utah for the next two seasons. However, Casey chose a different path out of high school, committing to play for the rival Texas Longhorns and head coach Tom Herman.

He spent three seasons as Sam Ehlinger’s backup before replacing him in the 2020 Alamo Bowl. He played under new head coach Steve Sarkisian in 2021, facing off against the Sooners in the fabled [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag] game that season and diced up Alex Grinch’s defense. He helped the Longhorns jump out to a huge first half lead.

But after battling all season with Hudson Card for the starting gig in a 5-7 year, and with Quinn Ewers on the way to Austin in 2022, Thompson transferred to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He again met rival Oklahoma in a blowout loss in Lincoln, and his time as a Husker didn’t go as planned.

“Once Casey started the 2022 season as the Cornhuskers’ starting quarterback, the offers poured in,” Babb said “He endorsed a protein doughnut brand, an apparel company, a barbershop. He spent $1,800 on a pair of off-white Air Force 1s, and when a group of high school buddies wanted to go to Austin on a weekend trip, the group stayed in a 10-bedroom mansion. Life was good, but Charles kept issuing warnings. Casey and his two brothers had grown up hearing them almost constantly, the echoes of their father’s trauma reverberating through every stage … In the Huskers’ first game of 2022, Coach Scott Frost opted to try a surprise onside kick against Northwestern. It failed, the first domino that ended in a blown double-digit lead. Two weeks later, Frost got fired, and players were left to flail. Casey got sacked 19 times and says now that he was hit 137 times in six weeks, at various points suffering injuries to a shoulder, a calf, his hip, his left wrist, an AC joint, even his jaw. Thumb surgery had weakened his grip on the ball, and yet another collision damaged nerves in his elbow.”

But that wasn’t the end of the rough season, according to Babb.

“In a game against Illinois, a defender crashed into Casey as he threw a pass, leaving him without feeling in his fingers. He had torn his labrum but, after missing two weeks, returned to the lineup and again played through it. Even running a makeshift attack, behind one of the nation’s worst offensive lines, Casey was among the nation’s most effective passers. Then, more dominoes. Nebraska hired Matt Rhule, the former Baylor and Carolina Panthers coach. A fourth playbook in two years and a fifth offensive coordinator. The winter transfer portal opened, and by the time it closed, 6-foot-4 quarterback Jeff Sims had departed Georgia Tech and was signing with the Cornhuskers. With his shoulder still healing, Casey couldn’t practice all spring. He and Rhule agreed that the new system, based more on power rushing than prolific passing, wasn’t a perfect fit. Though the portal had closed to football players, its gray areas include an exception for players with a new head coach. In April 2023, Casey’s future was again draped in uncertainty. Rhule hadn’t named a starter, but after their conversation, Casey knew the score. The only thing he could be sure of was that, 72 hours after the spring game, the portal would close.”

Thompson’s journey continued, ending up at Florida Atlantic for the 2023 season.

“During his third game, Casey fell to the turf while evading a Clemson defender. The pop in his right knee was the shredding of his ACL, his season finished in the blink of an eye,” Babb said.

After things didn’t go as planned at FAU, he had a decision to make about his future.

“When the NCAA approved his request for a medical exemption, granting him a chance to be a seventh-year college senior, he decided to continue only if one program welcomed him,” Babb said. “It’s the same one that recruited, excommunicated, and eventually forgave his dad. Casey had gone on a winding journey only to wind up back where he started. It had taken him traversing the country and multiple injuries for him to realize that, deep down, it was neither profit nor glory he had been chasing. It was stability. He yearned to belong, as his father does, and remember how it feels to be home.”

Thompson transferred and walked on at OU to batlle true freshman Hawkins Jr. for the back up job behind Arnold and has been rehabbing his injury, missing spring football. However, if his number is called upon in 2024, he could be ending his college football career, helping out his fourth-different team in seven seasons.

This time, it would be one close to home.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Oklahoma to honor Switzer era national championship teams during season opener

Sooners to celebrate Barry Switzer’s 1974 and 1975 national title teams during the first game of the 2024 season

The Oklahoma Sooners are less than two weeks away from beginning the 2024 college football season. Third-year head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] leads OU from the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] in a much-anticipated move.

When the Temple Owls come into Norman on Aug. 30, Oklahoma will combine the journey to their new future with a glimpse into the past.

The university announced via a press release on Friday that the 1974 and 1975 teams that won back-to-back national championships will be honored that night on Owen Field. This year marks 50 years since the ’74 squad won the national title.

According to the press release, “Former head coach [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] and many of his players, coaches and support staff members from those two teams will be recognized on Owen Field at halftime of the contest against the Owls. They will also be celebrated during a private Thursday night gathering.”

In addition, halftime festivities will get started with a National Football Foundation salute to former OU defensive lineman [autotag]Dewey Selmon[/autotag], a member of the 1974 and ’75 teams who will become the 24th Sooner inducted into the [autotag]College Football Hall of Fame[/autotag] this December. Dewey will join his late brother, college teammate and fellow defensive lineman [autotag]Lee Roy Selmon[/autotag] in the Hall of Fame.

Two of the greatest teams in OU history, the ’74 and ’75 teams won national titles Nos. 4 and 5 in program history. They were the first of the three championships of the Switzer era. The University of Oklahoma highlighted both teams in detail.

“The 11-0 1974 squad was the only unbeaten team in the nation and featured eight first-team All-Americans: center Kyle Davis, defensive back Randy Hughes, split end Tinker Owens, guard John Rouse (consensus), Dewey and LeeRoy Selmon, linebacker Rod Shoate (consensus) and running back Joe Washington (consensus). The Sooners that year averaged a nation-leading 43.0 points per game and allowed only 8.4. They outscored opponents 473-92 and didn’t allow any foe to more than 14 points. OU posted three shutouts, won three contests by more than 60 points and seven by more than 30 points. It also set a still-existing NCAA FBS record of 73.9 rushes per game. The 1975 Sooners, who finished 11-1, also sported eight first-team All-Americans: Owens, Dewey and Lee Roy Selmon (both consensus), Washington, split end Billy Brooks, defensive end Jimbo Elrod (consensus), offensive tackle Mike Vaughan and guard Terry Webb. Lee Roy Selmon won the Outland Trophy and Vince Lombardi Award before being selected No. 1 in the NFL Draft the following spring. OU’s defense held five opponents to seven or fewer points and seven teams to 10 or fewer. Seven of the Sooners’ victories came against AP top-20 teams, including three over top-5 squads (24-17 over No. 5 Texas, 35-10 over No. 2 Nebraska and 14-6 over No. 5 Michigan in the Orange Bowl). Both OU teams were quarterbacked by Steve Davis, who was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame last week.”

OU’s season opener against Temple will kick off at 6 p.m. Central on ESPN. The contest was moved up a day, agreed upon by the Sooners, the Owls, ESPN and the SEC. This allows Oklahoma’s first game as a member of the conference to take place in prime time on a Friday night.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in ESPN’s top 25 stadiums

Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is one of the most iconic settings in all of sports.

College football is all about the pride, passion, and pageantry of the sport, which is unmatched by anything else. The fans, the atmospheres, and the moments can’t be topped by any other sport, college, or professional.

ESPN took the time this week to rank their Top 25 college football stadiums as the 2024 season approaches in a month and a half.

We asked 14 of our college football writers to rank the best stadiums in the sport. No parameters, no criteria. Writers were asked to submit their top 20 stadiums in order. We then awarded points: 20 for first-place votes, 19 for second and all the way down to 1 point for a stadium voted No. 20. – ESPN

The Oklahoma Sooners play in one of the best stadiums in college football, and ESPN agreed, putting them in the Top 25. [autotag]Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium[/autotag] ranked No. 24 on their list.

Here’s what ESPN’s Dave Wilson had to say about the iconic stadium:

Also known as the “Palace on the Prairie,” the Sooners’ stadium is surrounded by reminders of Oklahoma’s football glory. Outside the south end zone, there are statues of coaching legends [autotag]Bennie Owen[/autotag], [autotag]Bud Wilkinson[/autotag], [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] and [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag]. On the east side, Heisman Park is packed with seven of the Sooners’ [autotag]Heisman Trophy[/autotag] winners: [autotag]Billy Vessels[/autotag] (1952), [autotag]Steve Owens[/autotag] (1969), [autotag]Billy Sims[/autotag] (1978), [autotag]Jason White[/autotag] (2003), [autotag]Sam Bradford[/autotag] (2008), [autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag] (2017) and [autotag]Kyler Murray[/autotag] (2018). Amid the Gothic architecture of the surrounding campus, “BOOMER” and “SOONER” ring out, as the Sooner Schooner glides across the field, forming one of the most quintessentially college settings in the country. – Wilson, ESPN

ESPN also gave their ranking criteria for the list, as Oklahoma finished with 40 points, two ahead of Texas‘ Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

In addition, Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium turns 100 years old this season, and the university has a number of different themes and promotions planned out for its centennial season.

The Sooners will begin the season in their home stadium on Friday, August 30th, when they take on the Temple Owls.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Sooners have the best back seven in the SEC per Phil Steele

College football expert Phil Steele thinks OU’s back seven can match up with anybody in the SEC.

Defense was long a strength for the Oklahoma Sooners. The [autotag]Bennie Owen[/autotag], [autotag]Bud Wilkinson[/autotag], [autotag]Chuck Fairbanks[/autotag] and [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] days produced hard-nosed, hard-hitting defensive units that, along with explosive offenses, helped the Sooners win six national championships. Wilkinson and Switzer each took home three titles in the 20th century.

After the dreadful 1990s, [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag]’ arrival meant OU was back to being a contender on the national stage. “Big Game Bob” added Oklahoma’s seventh national title in 2000 and kept the Sooners in the title picture quite often in his time as the head coach.

Defense was Stoops’ calling card. He was the defensive coordinator for coaching legends Bill Snyder and Steve Spurrier. Oklahoma enjoyed stifling defenses for most of Stoops’ tenure as the head coach.

But, in the mid-to-late 2010’s, OU’s defense slipped below the standard in Norman. Stoops’ final season and the [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag] era at Oklahoma saw the offense being required to carry too much of the load to keep the Sooners in the title hunt. [autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag], [autotag]Kyler Murray[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Hurts[/autotag] were able to do so, but as the decade changed, the Sooners had fallen out of the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag].

After Riley’s departure to Southern California, [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] was hired to bring back the defensive standard. It has taken a couple of years, but Venables may finally have the pieces in the right place to do the things he wants to do on defense.

In 2022, Venables’ first season, the Sooners were horrid defensively, leading to a 6-7 season. They allowed 30 points per game, finishing 99th in the nation in scoring defense. Last season, however, Oklahoma went 10-3 and the defense took a major step forward, improving its scoring defense 50 spots to 23.5 points per game.

Now, going into Year 3 under Venables, one college football analyst thinks OU has two of the best position units in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

Phil Steele released his position rankings for every SEC team heading into the 2024 season. Oklahoma had two units ranked No. 1 in the conference.

OU’s linebackers are the SEC’s best, according to Steele. [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] leads the way on the inside, but [autotag]Kip Lewis[/autotag], [autotag]Kobie McKinzie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaren Kanak[/autotag] join him to make the Sooners at least two deep at both spots. [autotag]Lewis Carter[/autotag] will also see more snaps in 2024 as well.

At the cheetah position, [autotag]Kendel Dolby[/autotag] and [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag] will see the majority of the snaps, but [autotag]Samuel Omosigho[/autotag] and [autotag]Michael Boganowski[/autotag] are younger options who will be on the field quite a bit as well.

Steele also thinks OU’s secondary is the best in the conference. [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] headlines the safety position, with [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Spears-Jennings[/autotag] in line for more playing time after graduation, NFL and portal losses.

At cornerback, veteran [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag] returns for his fifth season, but he will be playing a little bit of everything this year. [autotag]Gentry Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Kani Walker[/autotag] and [autotag]Dez Malone[/autotag] will all be experienced options on the outside, but there’s youth at corner as well. [autotag]Jacobe Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Makari Vickers[/autotag] both saw time last year due to injuries.

More: 5 Sooners who could see an increased workload in 2024

Of course, Oklahoma needs to keep improving to get back to the way things are supposed to be for the Sooners.

Competing for and winning championships are the expectations. Quarterback, offensive line and defensive line all ranked outside of the SEC’s top five in Steele’s estimation. While the QB ranking is due to [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]’s inexperience, the Sooners have to get better in the trenches to be where they want to be.

However, it’s been a long time since the defense has been as loaded in Norman as it is right now. Combine that with an offense that certainly isn’t lacking in talent, and the Brent Venables vision is starting to become clearer for the Sooners. Venables has the makings of a complementary, holistic program from top to bottom.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

1974 Oklahoma one of ESPN’s top 15 most influential teams of all time

The 1974 Oklahoma Sooners were ranked as the 13th most influential college football team ever, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly.

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.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback room will look completely different in 2024

The Sooners have almost completely restacked the quarterback room going into their first season in the SEC.

In early December, Oklahoma’s starting quarterback for the last two seasons, [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], announced he was entering the transfer portal.

Gabriel saw the writing on the wall that it was former five-star [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]’s time to take the reins under center for the Sooners. Gabriel transferred to Oregon to play the final year of his college career.

While Gabriel was certainly OU’s most notable loss in the portal at the QB spot, his was just the first of many departures that have completely reshuffled Oklahoma’s quarterback depth chart.

But let’s start at the beginning. Last season’s quarterback room in Norman consisted of Dillon Gabriel, Jackson Arnold, [autotag]Davis Beville[/autotag], [autotag]General Booty[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacob Switzer[/autotag].

Gabriel’s departure wasn’t even the first domino to fall. Former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] was hired to be the head coach at Mississippi State in late November. So, regardless of the portal or recruiting, a different voice was going to call the shots on offense.

[autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag] were promoted to co-offensive coordinators. Finley is still serving as the tight ends coach, and Littrell is expected to be the play-caller and quarterbacks coach. Additionally, offensive analyst [autotag]Matt Wells[/autotag], who has experience coaching quarterbacks and as an offensive coordinator, was hired away by Chris Klieman to coach QBs for Kansas State in January.

Arnold stuck with the Sooners after Lebby’s departure. By doing so, ehe stablished himself as the starter until he decides to leave Norman. Seemingly, this was the plan all along.

But the QB room has changed around Arnold. From the coach in charge to the players behind the highly-touted sophomore.

After Lebby took the job in Starkville and Gabriel moved to Eugene, the next exit came courtesy of Beville. The former backup transferred to South Carolina after two seasons at OU.

Switzer, the fifth-string quarterback and grandson of [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag], entered the portal in April, having spent only 2023 as a Sooner.

And, finally, first-ballot all-name team Hall of Famer and name, image and likeness legend General Booty, entered the transfer portal on May 5. That leaves Arnold as the only player left from the 2023 quarterback room still on the roster.

Though the departures have changed things, the argument could be made that the Sooners have more talent overall under center than they did in November when the regular season ended.

First, the Sooners added two quarterbacks as part of the 2024 recruiting class: [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag] out of Texas and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] out of Ohio.

Hawkins is the more highly touted of the two, and has a chance to be the future of the program after Arnold’s time is up. However, Zurbrugg was a very good prospect. He’ll compete for snaps when given the opportunity. Though both are young, they offer potential and talent for the future of the position.

But Littrell needed a veteran backup behind Arnold to offer stability in case of injury, so the Sooners went and picked up [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag] in the transfer portal by way of FAU.

Thompson is OU royalty by way of (most notably) his father [autotag]Charles Thompson[/autotag] and his older brother [autotag]Kendal Thompson[/autotag]. Casey made stops at Texas and Nebraska before his time at Florida Atlantic. He brings six seasons of college football experience to Oklahoma. He carved up the OU defense in the fabled 2021 Red River Rivalry game, holding his own on a field with two five-star quarterbacks in crimson and cream.

In addition, the Sooners have an extremely strong commitment from [autotag]Kevin Sperry[/autotag] in the 2025 class. He will likely compete with Hawkins Jr. (and possibly Zurbrugg) for the starting spot going into the 2026 season if all goes as [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and the coaching staff think it will.

To recap, we’re just over five months removed from the regular-season finale against TCU, and the quarterback room looks vastly different. As it stands, the Sooners will take Jackson Arnold, Casey Thompson, Michael Hawkins Jr. and Brendan Zurbrugg into the 2024 season.

But this is Jackson Arnold’s time to be the face of Oklahoma Sooners football, an opportunity he’s relished and prepared for for years. He is now the most tenured player in the QB room. It’s one more way that the OU faithful will be counting on him to lead the way in 2024 and beyond.

Fortunately, the reshuffling at the position looks to have been a success from a talent acquisition standpoint and quarterback is a strong point for the Sooners heading into Year 3 of the Venables era and Year 1 in the SEC.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.