Tales from the Oklahoma Sooner Sideline by Barry Switzer

Tales from the Oklahoma Sooner Sideline by Barry Switzer

Author:Barry Switzer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sports Publishing


Joe Washington. Photo courtesy of the University of Oklahoma

Barry Switzers No. 1-ranked Sooners had beaten 28 consecutive opponents and were riding an unbeaten streak of 37 straight games. The defending national champs were prohibitive favorites and expected little resistance from an unheralded Kansas squad visiting Memorial Stadium that afternoon.

And as it turned out, the Sooners were halfway right. It wasn’t the Jayhawks as much as themselves that they should’ve been concerned about. In a shocking performance, OU did little right on its way to a 23-3 upset loss.

What went wrong? The Sooners had a critical touchdown called back. They had a punt blocked that set up a KU touchdown. They fumbled it away four times, including once on the KU goal line. They also threw four interceptions and had a field goal blocked.

As a side note, early in the second quarter, sure-handed Tinker Owens dropped a Steve Davis pass. It was the only pass Owens dropped during his entire OU career.

Joe Washington knew at that moment the Sooners were in trouble.

“I knew we were going to lose that game after Tinker dropped the pass, because he never dropped passes, not even in practice,” said Washington.

Despite the stunning loss, OU rebounded to win its final three games, including 14-6 over Michigan in the Orange Bowl, and earn the program’s fifth national championship.

Moving on up (in a hurry)

On the opening day of spring practice in 1973, Mike Vaughn found himself checking out the depth chart for Oklahoma’s offensive line. After giving the posted list of good once-over, the redshirt freshman spotted his name—seventh-team offensive tackle.

“Not exactly All-America material,” joked Vaughn, reminiscing.

The 6-foot-6, 275-pound Ada product, who was coming off of winter shoulder surgery, spent the first three days of practice holding blocking dummies during drills for the offensive linemen.

“I knew the lower guys on the totem pole held the dummies, but I certainly didn’t like it,” he said. “I was getting pretty good at it after three days, but wave after wave of blockers hitting those dummies will wear on you pretty fast.”

On the fourth day, the Sooners held a two-on-two drill, better known as the “Oklahoma Drill,” where the linemen are filmed and graded while going head to head. Finally, Vaughn had a chance to showcase his skills, and he made the most of it. By the time he showed up for practice the following day, he had leapfrogged to third on the depth chart.

That was the beginning of a very successful stay at Oklahoma. By the time Vaughn exited, he had earned All-Big Eight honors twice and All-America honors once. Not bad for a former seventh-teamer.

The “Beat Colorado Party”

The 1970 season figured to be pivotal in Oklahoma’s football fortunes, as Chuck Fairbanks and his staff were coming off of a 6-4 campaign that saw them fail to earn a postseason bowl bid.

Three games into the fall, the Sooners decided to change offenses—opting for a the same wishbone attack archrival Texas had been deploying with great success the last few seasons. OU debuted its wishbone in a 41-9 loss to the Longhorns on October 10.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.