Barry Sanders 1988 rewind ESPN Story...Bigger recruiting miss??
- Thread starter OUBrew
- Start date
Dang that's a hard question to answer.
Dickerson would have played during the early 80's when OU was going through a few "down" years. So doubt having Dickerson really would have changed the outcomes of those years.
But if Sanders had played at OU, then would having him in the backfield been enough to overcome the losses to Miami that cost OU national titles in 1986 and 1987??
I guess I would have to lean towards losing Barry Sanders was the miss that hurt the most.
Dickerson would have played during the early 80's when OU was going through a few "down" years. So doubt having Dickerson really would have changed the outcomes of those years.
But if Sanders had played at OU, then would having him in the backfield been enough to overcome the losses to Miami that cost OU national titles in 1986 and 1987??
I guess I would have to lean towards losing Barry Sanders was the miss that hurt the most.
Wasn't Dickerson one of many reasons for SMU's "death penalty"?
My preference is Sanders. By a mile.
My preference is Sanders. By a mile.
I don't think they ever linked Dickerson to anything. But doesn't take a genius to realize he certainly got something to play for SMU at that time.
I think the majority of the SMU football team was receiving money. I loved that 30 for 30 on SMU.
I think Sanders was the biggest miss.
According to Sanders’ interview on this week’s Oklahoma Heisman winners, Barry said his offers included Tulsa, Oklahoma State and one other so-so school. That sounds like a colossal mistake by everyone but the Cowboys. Sanders over Dickerson, IMO.
Maybe this is the article the OP was referring to,
https://www.tulsaworld.com/tulsawor...cle_0393723b-d193-5ec8-9de3-34695a207bb9.html
https://www.tulsaworld.com/tulsawor...cle_0393723b-d193-5ec8-9de3-34695a207bb9.html
I remember the story Barry Switzer told about George Cumby. Barry had visited Cumby's high school to actually look at another prospect. Watching film he couldn't help but notice another player making play after play after play. It was Cumby. Barry said he actually had to convince Cumby he was good enough to play at OU since Cumby wasn't being recruited by any other big programs.
Reading that Barry Sanders story sounds real similar. The OSU coaches just happen to come across a kid that nobody else had really noticed.
Reading that Barry Sanders story sounds real similar. The OSU coaches just happen to come across a kid that nobody else had really noticed.
Kinda reminds me of an under sized Quarterback from Lake Travis that went unnoticed.
He and Barry Sanders both share the same trophy.IMO Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson were bigger misses than Sanders. Could you imagine Campbell in the same backfield as Sims or Dickerson with Dupree?
We had Mike Gaddis at the same time Sanders was at OSU. Minus one horrific knee injury, Gaddis was stronger and faster than Sanders so IMO Sanders wouldn't have made that much of a difference for the Sooner teams he would have played on. The one time Sanders and Gaddis were on the same field, Gaddis won the head to head duel while OU won the game. Admittedly, Sanders was facing the superior defense.
A healthy Gaddis and Marcus Dupree with a brain were perhaps the two biggest "what ifs" in Sooner history.
We had Mike Gaddis at the same time Sanders was at OSU. Minus one horrific knee injury, Gaddis was stronger and faster than Sanders so IMO Sanders wouldn't have made that much of a difference for the Sooner teams he would have played on. The one time Sanders and Gaddis were on the same field, Gaddis won the head to head duel while OU won the game. Admittedly, Sanders was facing the superior defense.
A healthy Gaddis and Marcus Dupree with a brain were perhaps the two biggest "what ifs" in Sooner history.
Gaddis was a special RB...I seem to remember him being not much different than AD...until Gaddis messed up his knee.
You guys are comparing a couple of “what if’s” to a proven great college and professional football player. Granted both Gaddis and Dupree were superior backs but not better than Barry Sanders.
And yet neither Sanders or the guy right before him (I think) never beat OU...
Sanders was a great back to be sure. However, I don't buy the Sanders as GOAT hyperbole. He couldn't start at OSU when Thurman Thomas was there. Guess what--if you can't beat out Thurman Thomas for a starting job, then you're not going to beat out people like Jim Brown, OJ Simpson, Earl Campbell, Walter Payton, Bo Jackson, Gale Sayers, etc. And please don't give me the excuse about his offensive lines in Detroit. The O-lines in Detroit were no worse than those blocking for the players I listed above.
Don't agree here. First of all, Sanders was 2 years ahead of Gaddis, & had shown what he could do, albeit in a limited capacity, thanks to a future NFL Hall of Famer having hit Stillwater before he did. Also, remember that none other than Barry Switzer warned his staff that Thomas had better not get hurt because Sanders was better, so he knew what Sanders was capable of. Maybe they would've split their carries ala' Perine/Mixon or Anderson/Sermon because Gaddis certainly was very good, but Sanders would've gotten plenty of run that year.
LOL this post made me laugh.
You're correct. I thought there was one year difference between them but there was two. Sanders was a freshman in 1986 and Gaddis was a freshman in 1988. They both played three years in college. Gaddis lost a year to a knee injury and was never the same after his return while Sanders left after his junior year for the NFL. The primary OU running backs in 1987 were Patrick Collins, Lydell Carr, and Anthony Stafford. They were good backs but hardly in Sanders' or Thomas' class.
The 1987 team lost the NC to Miami by six. It's not a stretch to say that if we'd had Sanders we could reasonably have added another NC to the resume. In that light, missing on Sanders was a much bigger deal than I originally thought.
LOL. So you’re blaming OSU’s failure to beat OU on Barry Sanders? Come on, man.
We can't regret not having players that decided not to attend OU, as in the likes of Campbell, Sanders, Dickerson, Forte, etc. No team gets every player it wants.
As for Miami during the 1985-86-87 seasons: the three losses by OU (27-14, 28-16, 20-14) were to better and NFL-caliber Miami teams. Those three games also marked the end of the wishbone era at OU as Miami stuffed OU's offense in each game....and this happened to three of the best teams Oklahoma ever had.
It was OU's style of play, not so much its talent level, that doomed OU vs Miami. Sanders would not have made a difference without a good passing game.....and that did not present itself until the recruitment of Cale Gundy in 1990.
I will always wonder what the outcome of the 1985 game might have been had Troy Aikman not broke his leg. Aikman was on enroute to having a super game and his passing ability would have produced some big plays. Holieway was put into a tough situation as a true freshman whose strength was running, not passing. Miami was able to play the run and the rest was history.
Not blaming but 'just sayin' sir; pukes will always be themselves in spite of having a great player here and there
I don't but this. Switzer is on record after Sanders Freshman year, Bedlam game. Saying something to the effect "Of course we beat them. They left their best player on the bench" referring to Sanders. The another, "Whatever you do, don't hurt Thurman"
So Switzer knew about Sanders
So Switzer knew about Sanders
Last edited:
I read the same thing, but from the same source Switzer first noticed him on film when Sanders was running kickoffs and punts back. So I assume Sanders was already a Cowboy before he came to Switzer’s attention as you referred to his Freshman year.
I’ll give you that. Parker’s dropped pass in the end zone late probably lost the game for the Cowboys while Sanders rushed for over 200 yards on a very good OU defense. A lot of Sooner Magic during that game!! One of the series Best.
Poke fans will never forget that game as long as they live. Gaddis had 213 yards on 18 carries while Sanders had 215 on 39 carries. With the Sooners up by three with a couple of minutes to go, the Cowboys drove methodically down the field. One of the key points in the game was when Poke fullback Garrett Limbrick and Sooner defender Richard Dillon tangled out of bounds and were jawing at each other. The ref told them to shut up and go back to the huddle. Dillon did at he was told while Limbrick continued to mouth off/curse according to the official. At that point, the Pokes were called for an unsportsmanlike penalty which pushed them back to a fourth and 15 rather than the gimme fourth and one. It set up the deflected (or not deflected, we'll never know) pass that Brent Parker dropped in the back of the end zone.
Cowboy fans still whine about the call on Limbrick because it was the cornerstone to the most crushing loss in the history of their program, while it was the most memorable of the 90 or so Bedlam wins for OU.
Last edited:
CT, long time Bear Bryant assistant (and 1985 Tennessee defensive coordinator) Ken Donahue gave the blueprint to shutting down Miami's offense in the 1986 Sugar Bowl when the Vols blew out the Canes 35-7, which cleared the way for OU's NC when the Sooners beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl.
One year later, the notorious Jerry Sandusky copied Donahue's plan when Penn State flustered the overwhelming favorite Hurricanes to win Joe Pa's second national championship in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.
I'll always wonder why we didn't use that plan during our three losses in the 1980s to the Hurricanes. UM had great players and a pro style offense but were not invincible as Donahue and Sandusky proved. OU had IMO at least as much talent on the defensive side of the ball as either Tennessee or Penn State.
Talking about recruiting misses. What if Turner Gill would have ended up at OU instead of Nubby? If I remember correctly from Bootlegger's Boy, I believe that Barry said that was one of his biggest recruiting misses. I doubt Nubby beats us 3 straight times in the early 80's if Turner Gill is our QB.
Again, our style of play won us a NC that season. Not too bad if you ask me
Losing Turner Gill to Nebraska was our greatest recruiting loss during the Switzer era. Campbell and Sanders were obviously great but we found other guys to play RB. We came fairly close to getting Marcus Allen as well but we wanted him to play QB.
Not bad at all. Fortuneatly, OU did not play any other team as good as Miami that year and got a lot of help from Florida State who beat Miami. This allowed OU to play unbeaten Penn State who won seven games by very close scores. This created a perfect storm for OU.
Again, those three losses to Miami were by three of OU’s greatest teams ever and marked the end of OU’s wishbone era. No doubt that Miami was helped by 1, playing OU without Aikman through most of the 1985 game, then 2, facing OU on its home field in 1986 and 1987.
That '87 Game, played on January 1, 1988, was the most Bizarre Game-Day I've ever experienced! The Orange Bowl 'Suits' had had folding chairs set up right down on the field for the parents, and wives of the players. (I'd been there, years earlier, as a wife, and we were treated royally. Now, I was there as a parent, and the intervening years had not been kind to the 'cane Image!) I believe the location of the chairs was supposed to suggest 'Special Seating', but what happened was far from inspirational for any emotion other than Shock and Disbelief!
When the 'canes took the field, they CHARGED that sideline, running hard, right up to those So Special Seats, barely putting on their brakes before coming nose-to-nose with those in the front row! The element of Surprise, and the Audacity of the Move left our 'Elite Group' with our mouths open! Miami players strutted their stuff for a few minutes, and they did show 'Swag', but it paled, when coupled with such lack of CLASS...We were unimpressed, maybe mildly intimidated/threatened, which, of course was their end game, but more Disgusted, than anything. Our Disappointment was but a forerunner of how the game continued...
CT, you are prolly correct about the 1986 game with Miami. Don't think Sanders being a freshman would have made enough difference to overcome the 28-16 deficit.
But the 1988 Orange Bowl that ended up 20-14 game you gotta think having Sanders in the backfield would have been good for at least a TD, or maybe influencing a few drives into FGs to make the difference. In the NFL Sanders was faced with even better talent than he faced against Miami and he could break some ridiculous runs even without an OL giving him much protection.
THIS is why I hate Miami more than even Texas. Not because they beat us, but due to the thug like antics that POS Jimmy Johnson instilled into that program while he coached there.
Not sure you can attribute our style of offense in our losses to Miami. They may have just been the better team although, as you said, they did lose to FSU. Running the wishbone and beating Nebraska and Penn State seems to indicate that our offensive scheme was still successful. I believe Nebraska continued to run option football for some time afterwards and thumped Florida for a national champ. I believe with the right athletes that the wishbone could still be very successful in today's game. I'm guessing we are going to find that out when we play Army
Sanders no doubt faced better defenses when he played in the NFL than in college. But the wishbone is a college-only offense based on the QB’s split second reads and is based upon an extreme reliance on running the ball. Miami played the run and dared OU to pass and that philosophy won those three games for them.
OU really could not emulate Miami’s passing in practices either.
To make a long story short, OU....as good as it was....simply did not match up well against Miami.
You may be right. Can't go back and change history, we are only left with what-ifs. But that third game in the 88 Orange Bowl was so close that I just feel Barry Sanders could have broken a handful of runs to make the difference. He was just so elusive and could cut so quick that even when Miami had guys in position, it was inevitable he was gonna make something happen from time to time.
Sanders would have been a difference maker vs Miami if OU’s offense had been with a balanced attack to prevent the defense from keying on the running game.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Oklahoma OL Tyler Guyton selected by Dallas with 29th pick
- Latest: Ted The Dread