Tag: Bud Wilkinson

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.

Oklahoma Sooners unveil Wilkinson-era inspired throwback uniforms

The Oklahoma Sooners unveiled a Wilkinson-era inspired throwback uniform.

Entering Year 3 of the Brent Venables era, the Oklahoma Sooners are hearkening back to one of the most successful eras in college football history. OU unveiled its latest throwback uniform, “drawing inspiration from the Bud Wilkinson era.”

According to a release from the University of Oklahoma athletic department, the uniform resembles what the Sooners wore from 1946 to 1956. It was a period of absolute dominance for the Sooners. They won three national championships, compiled a record of 103-11-3, established a record 47-game winning streak and went 6-1 in bowl games during the stretch.

The Oklahoma Sooners will wear the Wilkinson era fits when they welcome the Houston Cougars to town on Sept. 7.

The Oklahoma athletic department will retire the “Rough Riders” uniform, which debuted back in 2014 and has been used as an alternate at least once a season since. Oklahoma still plans to use the anthracite “Unity” uniform that debuted in 2022 and has been worn in wins over Kansas and West Virginia.

The Wilkinson era uniform features a white helmet with a red stripe down the middle, white pants with a double stripe down each leg and a crimson jersey with three white stripes on the shoulders.

It’s a fantastic look that will create a classic feel on the field.

Here’s a look at the new Wilkinson throwbacks.

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.

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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.

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1956 Oklahoma among most influential teams of all-time per ESPN

Bill Connelly ranked the 1956 Oklahoma Sooners as the 25th most influential college football teams of all time.

According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly (ESPN+), the 1956 Oklahoma Sooners football team is the 25th most influential college football team of all time.

Connelly released the first half of his list of the 30 most influential college football teams on Wednesday, unveiling teams ranked 16-30. The 1956 Sooners landed at No. 25.

Of course, this team was coached by the legendary [autotag]Bud Wilkinson[/autotag], and was part of OU’s record-setting 47-game winning streak. The team went 10-0 (6-0 in the Big Seven) and won the national championship for the second year in a row.

Here’s what Connelly had to say about the 1956 Sooners.

Step 1: A coach at a middleweight (or lower) school crafts a game-changing innovation.

Step 2: A few years later, a coach with greater recruiting prowess and a better roster adopts the innovation and destroys the innovator with his own invention.

It’s a story that has played out many times in college football’s history, and this was a pretty clear case of it. Taught all the ins and outs of Faurot’s Split-T, Wilkinson used it with increasingly dominant effect. Oklahoma went 31-2 from 1948 to 1950, winning its first national title in 1950. And starting with a 19-14 win over Texas in 1953 — and perhaps with a bit of help from a player-payment slush fund that would earn NCAA punishment on a couple of occasions — the Sooners ripped off a record-setting 47-game winning streak. – Connelly, ESPN

The Sooners reached a level of dominance that few other teams ever have. Running Wilkinson’s iconic Split-T offense, the team outscored its opponents 466 to 51 over the 10-game season.

The one game that season that wasn’t a complete blowout was a 27-19 win on the road against Colorado. The 1956 Sooners pitched six shutouts, and only four teams scored on them all season. The defense held all ten opponents under 20 points. Perhaps best of all, they shut out Texas and Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State) 45-0 and 53-0.

Oklahoma would finish the year ranked first in both polls after the regular season concluded. Back in those days, the Big Seven had a no-repeat rule for bowl games, so OU wasn’t able to participate in the Orange Bowl. But the ’56 Sooners were the undisputed national champs of that season, even without playing in a bowl game.

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Oklahoma is the second winningest Power Five program this century

Since Oklahoma won the 2000 national championship, they’ve been one of the most successful programs in the nation.

It is no secret, the Univesity of Oklahoma is a true blue blood in the college football landscape.

They’ve been that way since Bennie Owen led them to its first 10-win season in 1915. It was then followed by Bud Wilkinson, who took it to another level, including winning three national championships and having an NCAA record 47-game winning streak.

Barry Switzer then created the “monster” that is Oklahoma football in the 1970s and 1980s, winning three more national championships.

Then at the turn of the century, Bob Stoops, in his second season in Norman, reminded the college football world that Oklahoma is back and here to stay after a pedestrian 1990s decade.

Since Oklahoma won the 2000 national championship, they’ve been one of the most successful programs in the nation.

They’ve dominated the conference, winning 14 Big 12 championships. Whether it was Stoops or Lincoln Riley leading the way, Oklahoma has been a perennial powerhouse this century.

They’ve been so dominant that only one other program has a higher winning percentage than the Sooners, Ohio State.

Brent Venables played a big part in that success when he was a defensive coordinator under Stoops and hopes to continue that success after a poor first season in 2022. There’s no doubt it’s going to be different going to the SEC. However, it’s a move the administration is ready for, believing they have the right guy to lead them there.

Why does it matter that the Sooners are one of the most successful programs since 2000. Because they can tout it to prospects on the recruiting trail. Oklahoma is in some heated battles for several big-time recruits, including two five-star defensive linemen in David Stone and Williams Nwaneri.

With commitment dates for both coming in August, the time is now to turn up the heat on the recruiting trail.

If they’re able to land the pair of top 10 players, Stone and Nwaneri will play a big role in reminding everyone, “There’s only one Oklahoma.”

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Where did Oklahoma Sooners land in ESPN’s decade rankings since 1920?

ESPN’s Bill Connelly took a look back over the last 100 years using SP+ to determine the teams of each decade. How did the Sooners fair?

A new offseason ranking is just another example of how good Oklahoma’s football program has been each decade since the 1920s.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly went back and ranked the top 10 programs (ESPN+) of each decade and the Sooners faired fairly well, finishing in the top 10 six out of the 11 decades.

Starting with the 1920s, I looked at which teams most thoroughly dominated the sport from decade to decade, using SP+ percentile averages for each team and each decade. How much do these lists change over the decades? What can these averages tell us about how things have evolved over the past 100 years and how much things are evolving now? – Connelly, ESPN

But where did they finish in each decade?

Oklahoma to debut ‘UNITY’ alternate uniforms this weekend vs. Kansas

Oklahoma will be wearing new digs on Saturday versus Kansas.

Oklahoma will have a different look Saturday when they take the field versus the Kansas Jayhawks.

Saturday represents the first time we’ll see Oklahoma dawn their newest alternate when they take the field wearing their Unity uniforms. The jerseys were designed to emphasize the importance of togetherness and building relationships to better society.

The Unity uniform, which has been in the making since 2020, will also honor former running back Prentice Gautt, who was the first black football player at Oklahoma on scholarship.

Gautt played under legendary Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson and exemplified the true meaning of student-athlete while also breaking down barriers and paving the way for the Sooner athletes of today.

The uniform, released Wednesday afternoon, was accompanied by a video with an explanation for the origin of the uniform from former Sooners’ captain and S.O.U.L. team member Caleb Kelly. Kelly is one of the major figures behind the design and inspiration of the jersey.

Former Sooner football players Jeremiah Hall, Pat Fields and Creed Humphrey joined Caleb Kelly and Chanse Sylvie to spearhead the project. The football program joins the softball team, and the men’s and women’s basketball teams on Oklahoma’s campus with an anthracite-colored alternate uniform.

The idea has been brewing since 2020, which likely came about during college football’s deeper commitment to using its platform to highlight racial injustices and support a more inclusive environment in the sport.

The Sooners will don the anthracite-colored jerseys, pants and helmets with crimson trim and lettering, the word “together” sewn on the collar, the word “unity” on the back-of-the-jersey nameplate and a patch of the state of Oklahoma on the sleeves. It’s the first new jersey combo for Oklahoma since it debuted the “Roughrider” uniforms.

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Social media reacts to the Oklahoma Sooners 6-2 win over Notre Dame

The Oklahoma Sooners pulled one win away from the College World Series championship with a 6-2 win over Notre Dame and social media loved it.

Everything’s been coming up gold for the Oklahoma Sooners in the NCAA tournament. They’re now 6-2 and one win away from a berth in the College World Series championship after their 6-2 win over Notre Dame.

On Sunday night, the Sooner received another fantastic start from Cade Horton, who struck out 11 Fighting Irish in six innings to pick up the win. Horton was the beneficiary of some fantastic defensive plays that started in the first inning when Blake Robertson went over the rail in the Notre Dame dugout to make a catch. Tanner Tredaway added some acrobatics in center field to give Trevin Michael a boost.

For their efforts, the Oklahoma Sooners earned two days off as they await the winner of the elimination game between Notre Dame and Texas A&M. Two teams they’ve beaten in the tournament. Oklahoma holds the advantage heading into the semifinals of the double-elimination tournament as they just have to win one game to advance to the championship series, while their opponent would have to win two.

Notre Dame and Texas A&M will play Tuesday at noon central time and Oklahoma will take the field with one of them at noon on Wednesday.

But before we get to that, let’s take a look at some of the best social media reactions from Oklahoma’s 6-2 win over Notre Dame.

How first-year Oklahoma head coaches performed since 1947

With Brent Venables taking the reigns for the Oklahoma Sooners, let’s take a look back to see how former OU coaches performed in year 1.

Though initially it came as a shock to see Lincoln Riley leave for USC, it feels like the Sooners might have ended up in a better situation with Brent Venables as the newest head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. While there’s a lot of excitement about the future, there’s no guarantee it leads to the same amount of wins or more in Venables’ first year on the job.

The pieces are certainly in place and aside from the guys along the defensive front, the Sooners look to be in great shape to rebound in 2022 and get back to the Big 12 title game and contend for a spot in the College Football Playoff. It’s a tall task in year one, but Venables and the Sooners are in better shape than many first-year head coaches were when they took over at Oklahoma.

Let’s take a look at how former Oklahoma Sooners head coaches performed in their first season on the job.