28-11 ... again

[Plainosooner]

My senior year of high school, OU played SMU in the Astro Bluebonnet Bowl. We lost OUr three year starting quarterback, Bob Warmack, in the first half. Less than five minutes later, we lost OUr best defensive player that year, Steve Zabel. He was OUr only pass rushing threat. That, against a team that was running a very effective spread offense in the 1968 version. They had trailed Arkansas 35-0 late in the 3rd quarter and their qb, Chuck Hixson got them back in it, 35-29 final.

Behind Mickey Ripley, we came back against SMU, but the Mustangs only got their only win ever over OU, 28-27 when we failed on a two point conversion in the last minute. I remember Johhny Barr caught two TD passes for the Sooners.

Two years later, the NCAA decided to add one game to every college team's schedule, my sophomore year, 1970. Wade Walker, OUr AD, partly because of that loss, added a home and home with SMU in 1970 and 71. It was OUr opener both seasons. The 1970 game was in the Cotton Bowl, back then, the site of SMU's home games. We won that night in OUr new offense, 28-11. It made me think of it when I heard somebody on the OU staff say after the game what an unusual score that is. I'd agree.

You'd have to be a bit of a Sooner historian, of an old fan with a good memory, to remember what style of offense we played in that game. None of the first year running backs, who back then were sophomores because freshman weren't varsity eligible in 1970 in football or basketball ..... none of those stud running backs started the game.

 

[CTOkie]

I attended that 1970 game vs SMU, which was a night game.
OU showed a balanced attack that night with 237 yards rushing and 178 yards passing, but had 5 turnovers (4 fumbles and a pick).
But a sputtering offense through the first 3 games, had Faibanks and his staff changing the offense to the wishbone 2 weeks before the Texas game (and after a dismal offensive display against Oregon State). OU lost to Texas 41-9.... but the coaches saw the potential of the new offense with more speed potential than any wishbone used at the time. The rest was history.

 

[Plainosooner]

Can you name the sputtering offense?

BTW, the two starting running backs were Roy Bell and Everett Marshall.

 

[iasooner2000]

I was 14 then and not sure if I had ever seen or heard once (except seeing the Wilkinson show or maybe a few Bowl games) in that time. Dad always had a printing press running, a car race or music on the radio in the days before FM

 

[Plainosooner]

The NCAA had two game limitations for all school in the regular season in 1970. OU and Georgia brought suit against the NCAA, that led to that being changed. But that didn't happen until the mid-80's. Proving Barry Trammel can actually write a little, here's a good article on the subject, written just before the OU-Georgia Rose Bowl game, with OU's best team of the last ten plus years.

But the article is about how OU and Georgia were both threatened by the NCAA with severe sanctions if they persisted in defying the TV rules.

OU, Georgia changed college football with its lawsuit against the NCAA

The Sooners and Bulldogs beat the NCAA all the way to the Supreme Court to deregulate the televising of college football.

www.oklahoman.com

 

[CTOkie]

Can you name the sputtering offense?

BTW, the two starting running backs were Roy Bell and Everett Marshall.

I know that about Bell and Marshall and Wylie and Pruitt (converted from WR) were also productive with Crosswhite at FB.
Harrison and Franklin were the receivers and Chandler the TE.
The media and fans were all concerned over OU’s offense following the Oregon State loss, 23-14… and even after a 19-14 loss to Kansas State two weeks after the Texas loss.
But the remainder of the year marked a great turnaround and laid the foundation for the great 1970’s decade.

 

[Plainosooner]

We were running the "Houston Veer" offense. Split backs run by Bill Yeoman when two years earlier, Houston beat Tulsa 100-6. Before Jim MacKenzie came to OU, Fairbanks had been as assistant under Yeoman. We'd run the Diamond Tee in 1969, and had the Heisman winner, Steve Owens, but built our whole team that year, trying to keep up with Texas' new wishbone. They won the national title in '69 and were favored to in '70.

The Diamond Tee had some theoretical promise, but we didn't have the personnel to run it right. And for the only season in my memory, adopted Texas' defense, which was an eight man front, 4-4-3, that they used successful with great talent. In '69, we played our tails off, and lost our last chance in the fourth quarter, down 20-17 and forced Texas to punt. But in the weird days when we dropped THREE players back to receive a punt. two of them kind of messed with each other's space, and we dropped the punt. UT won 27-17. Then we took that eight man front into the Big 8, and got humiliated by three great passing teams, at least in the 1969 version. suffered three losses, 59-27 to K-State, 44-10 to conference co-champ Mizzou, and 44-14 to the other co-champ, Nebrska.

We didn't run any more eight man fronts. And 1970, we ran the veer for three games, having great talent, but a little young, and the second most famous loss, to Alum Dee Andros, who promised to burn he letterman's jacket if his squad upset the Sooners, which they did on a windy day in Norman.

Two lackluster wins over eventual sub .500 teams, and the lost to the Beavers, convinced Fairbanks and Switzer to change the offense. But that season started with 28-11 to SMU in the veer. I remember a whole lot about that season.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

We were running the "Houston Veer" offense. Split backs run by Bill Yeoman when two years earlier, Houston beat Tulsa 100-6. Before Jim MacKenzie came to OU, Fairbanks had been as assistant under Yeoman. We'd run the Diamond Tee in 1969, and had the Heisman winner, Steve Owens, but built our whole team that year, trying to keep up with Texas' new wishbone. They won the national title in '69 and were favored to in '70.

The Diamond Tee had some theoretical promise, but we didn't have the personnel to run it right. And for the only season in my memory, adopted Texas' defense, which was an eight man front, 4-4-3, that they used successful with great talent. In '69, we played our tails off, and lost our last chance in the fourth quarter, down 20-17 and forced Texas to punt. But in the weird days when we dropped THREE players back to receive a punt. two of them kind of messed with each other's space, and we dropped the punt. UT won 27-17. Then we took that eight man front into the Big 8, and got humiliated by three great passing teams, at least in the 1969 version. suffered three losses, 59-27 to K-State, 44-10 to conference co-champ Mizzou, and 44-14 to the other co-champ, Nebrska.

We didn't run any more eight man fronts. And 1970, we ran the veer for three games, having great talent, but a little young, and the second most famous loss, to Alum Dee Andros, who promised to burn he letterman's jacket if his squad upset the Sooners, which they did on a windy day in Norman.

Two lackluster wins over eventual sub .500 teams, and the lost to the Beavers, convinced Fairbanks and Switzer to change the offense. But that season started with 28-11 to SMU in the veer. I remember a whole lot about that season.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

This is stuff I wanna hear. Someone who was there. Thank you plano. 👍

 

[K2C Sooner]

Do you remember what offense Glenn Dobbs ran at Tulsa? Some prolific Q-B's ran it.

Some say the great Bill Walsh stole it and made it famous at Stanford.

 

[Plainosooner]

I know nothing about that. Dobbs played at Tulsa in the 40's, I think starting during WWII. I was born in 1951. My memory is not that good. I don't believe I've ever seen a single Dobbs play on video. As an aside, I can tell you that in the 100-6 loss to Houston that Dobbs was the head coach, not surprisingly his last of eight seasons. And His son, GD Jr, was on the team.