I was there, 10-23-71, the day that Greg Pruitt set the Sooner record for rushing yards by a player in one game. I believe it was 293. That record lasted 43 years until Perine went nuts against Kansas last November. That date will be easy for any of us over 60 to remember. It was the 51 anniversary of the darkest day of most of our lifetimes. 11-22-63
The thing I remember most about Pruitt's performance was that as it great was, it was mostly because of Jack MIldren. That was halfway through my junior year. And until that day, we never audibled. The year before, in the third OU wishbone game, KState had guessed with our offense using their strong safety (they called it a monster back in those days) they loaded up one side of our formation and gave us enough bad plays to hold us to 14 points in a 19-14 win. (One can only imagine the banter online if Al Gore had invented the internet in 1965)
But on the followup trip to Manhattan in '71 we had a very simple plan. We huddled every play calling basic wishbone plays. But when we got to the line of scrimmage, Jack looked for the monster. If he was on the side of the play call he called a color to change it. If the play was called to the right and the extra defender was on the right, Jack simply called Green, Green. That would tell the offense to run the triple option to the left.
If the play was called to the left and the extra guy was there, Jack hollered Red, Red. That would be the triple option to the right. Every once in a while, there might need to be a change of the lead halfback's block, depending on the defense on the eventual play side. So he'd turn to the backs and call an H block against an 8-man front. That typically meant automatically outside.
The result was an all time NCAA record for total offense, over 750 yards, 711 of it rushing. Pruitt had 293 of that. I think we completed one pass, long to Jon Harrison, but I'd have to look that up to be sure. We scored a touchdown on OUr first ten possessions to lead 68-28. Since the spread was 38, an interesting thing happened on the sidelines. A bunch of players got very excited when we finally got ahead of the spread. Some coaches did too. I think they knew they'd made the alums happy. The final was 75-28.
No touchdown drive in the game for OU took more than eight plays, KState had no solution, despite scoring in every quarter, all by their tailback. They ran something like 85 plays to OUr 50 something. And lost by 47. Very strange game. We wore out OUr defense scoring so quickly.
On OUr 11th possession, we put in the third team backfield, and the fullback fumbled early in the possession, giving the Wildcats a chance to cover. The defense stopped them, and when we went back on the field, he didn't re-enter. We scored again, assuring covering for the 6th straight game.
It's such fun having a nearly unstoppable offense.
The thing I remember most about Pruitt's performance was that as it great was, it was mostly because of Jack MIldren. That was halfway through my junior year. And until that day, we never audibled. The year before, in the third OU wishbone game, KState had guessed with our offense using their strong safety (they called it a monster back in those days) they loaded up one side of our formation and gave us enough bad plays to hold us to 14 points in a 19-14 win. (One can only imagine the banter online if Al Gore had invented the internet in 1965)
But on the followup trip to Manhattan in '71 we had a very simple plan. We huddled every play calling basic wishbone plays. But when we got to the line of scrimmage, Jack looked for the monster. If he was on the side of the play call he called a color to change it. If the play was called to the right and the extra defender was on the right, Jack simply called Green, Green. That would tell the offense to run the triple option to the left.
If the play was called to the left and the extra guy was there, Jack hollered Red, Red. That would be the triple option to the right. Every once in a while, there might need to be a change of the lead halfback's block, depending on the defense on the eventual play side. So he'd turn to the backs and call an H block against an 8-man front. That typically meant automatically outside.
The result was an all time NCAA record for total offense, over 750 yards, 711 of it rushing. Pruitt had 293 of that. I think we completed one pass, long to Jon Harrison, but I'd have to look that up to be sure. We scored a touchdown on OUr first ten possessions to lead 68-28. Since the spread was 38, an interesting thing happened on the sidelines. A bunch of players got very excited when we finally got ahead of the spread. Some coaches did too. I think they knew they'd made the alums happy. The final was 75-28.
No touchdown drive in the game for OU took more than eight plays, KState had no solution, despite scoring in every quarter, all by their tailback. They ran something like 85 plays to OUr 50 something. And lost by 47. Very strange game. We wore out OUr defense scoring so quickly.
On OUr 11th possession, we put in the third team backfield, and the fullback fumbled early in the possession, giving the Wildcats a chance to cover. The defense stopped them, and when we went back on the field, he didn't re-enter. We scored again, assuring covering for the 6th straight game.
It's such fun having a nearly unstoppable offense.
