1953 Oklahoma Sooners football | |
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National champion (B(QPRS), CFRA) Big 7 champion Orange Bowl champion | |
Orange Bowl, W 7–0 vs. Maryland | |
Conference | Big Seven Conference |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 5 |
AP | No. 4 |
Record | 9–1–1 (6–0 Big 7) |
Head coach |
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Captains |
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Home stadium | Oklahoma Memorial Stadium |
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 4 Oklahoma $ | 6 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 1 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Missouri | 4 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kansas State | 4 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 3 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Colorado | 2 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nebraska | 2 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 6 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kansas | 2 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 8 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iowa State | 1 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1953 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1953 college football season. Led by seventh-year head coach Bud Wilkinson, they played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, and were members of the Big Seven Conference.
The Sooners dropped their opener at home to top-ranked Notre Dame, [1] tied at Pittsburgh, [2] then won nine straight, concluding with a 7–0 shutout of #1 Maryland in the Orange Bowl in Miami on New Year's Day and were named national champions by Berryman. [3] [4] The final polls were released in late November, prior to the bowl games. [5] [6]
Oklahoma's initial win of the 1953 season, over Texas in Dallas on October 10, was the start of their record 47-game winning streak that extended more than four years, until November 1957. [7]
Date | Opponent | Rank | Site | Result | Attendance | Source |
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September 26 | No. 1 Notre Dame * | No. 6 | L 21–28 | 59,461 | ||
October 3 | at Pittsburgh * | No. 8 | T 7–7 | 28,152 | ||
October 10 | vs. No. 15 Texas * | No. 16 | W 19–14 | 75,504 | [8] | |
October 17 | Kansas | No. 12 |
| W 45–0 | 45,862 | |
October 24 | Colorado | No. 9 |
| W 27–20 | 36,565 | |
October 31 | at Kansas State | No. 9 |
| W 34–0 | 23,822 | |
November 7 | at Missouri | No. 8 | W 14–7 | 30,020 | ||
November 14 | Iowa State | No. 6 |
| W 47–0 | 43,713 | |
November 21 | at Nebraska | No. 4 | W 30–7 | 31,551 | ||
November 28 | Oklahoma A&M * | No. 4 |
| W 42–7 | 50,524 | |
January 1, 1954 | vs. No. 1 Maryland * | No. 4 | W 7–0 | 68,640–68,718 | [9] | |
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Week | |||||||||||
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Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Final |
AP | 6 (3) | 8 | 16 | 12 (1) | 9 | 9 (1) | 8 (1) | 6 (1) | 4 (3) | 4 (9) | 4 (10) |
The following players were drafted into the National Football League following the season. [11]
Round | Pick | Player | Position | NFL team |
---|---|---|---|---|
2 | 16 | Larry Grigg | Back | Baltimore Colts |
10 | 116 | Merrill Green | Back | Washington Redskins |
14 | 164 | Roger Nelson | Tackle | Washington Redskins |
17 | 195 | J. D. Roberts | Guard | Green Bay Packers |
30 | 355 | Juel Sweatte | Back | Pittsburgh Steelers |
The split-T is an offensive formation in American football that was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Developed by Missouri Tigers head coach Don Faurot as a variation on the T formation, the split-T was first used in the 1941 season and allowed the Tigers to win all but their season-opening match against the Ohio State Buckeyes and the 1942 Sugar Bowl versus Fordham. Jim Tatum and Bud Wilkinson, who coached under Faurot with the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks during World War II, brought the split-T to the Oklahoma Sooners in 1946. After Tatum left for Maryland in 1947, Wilkinson became the head coach and went on to win a record-setting 47 straight games and two national titles between 1953 and 1957.
The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma (OU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The program began in 1895 and is one of the most successful in history, having won 949 games and possessing a .725 winning percentage, both sixth all-time. Oklahoma has appeared in the AP poll 905 times, including 101 No. 1 rankings, both third all-time. The program claims seven national championships, 50 conference championships, 167 first-team All-Americans, and seven Heisman Trophy winners. The school has had 29 former players and coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and holds the record for the longest winning streak in Division I history with 47 straight victories. Oklahoma is also the only program with which four coaches have won more than 100 games each.
Gerald J. Tubbs was an American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. He was selected by Chicago Cardinals in the first round of the 1957 NFL draft. After his retirement, he stayed with the Cowboys as an assistant coach for 22 years. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma.
The 1955 Oklahoma Sooners football team was an American football team that represented the University of Oklahoma in the Big Seven Conference during the 1955 college football season. Led by ninth-year head coach Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners compiled an 11–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 385 to 60, won the Big 7 and national championships, and defeated No. 3 Maryland, 20–6, in the 1956 Orange Bowl. In the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma trailed by six at halftime, and then outscored Maryland, 20–0, in the second half. Oklahoma's 1955 season was the school's tenth consecutive conference championship and part of a record-setting 47-game winning streak that lasted from October 10, 1953, through November 9, 1957.
The 1954 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1954 college football season, the sixtieth season of Sooner football. Led by eighth-year head coach Bud Wilkinson, they played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, and were members of the Big Seven Conference.
The 1956 Oklahoma Sooners football team was an American football team that represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1956 college football season. In their tenth season under head coach Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners compiled a 10–0 record and repeated as consensus national champions. The Sooners were led on offense by quarterback Jim Harris and played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.
The 1950 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1950 college football season, the 56th season of Sooner football. Led by fourth-year head coach Bud Wilkinson, they played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, and competed in the Big Seven Conference.
The 1971 NCAA University Division football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. Ranked a close second behind Notre Dame in the preseason poll, Nebraska moved up to first place the following week, remained there for the rest of 1971, and convincingly won the Orange Bowl 38–6 in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game against Alabama.
The 1958 college football season was the 90th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It concluded with two teams having claim to the major college national championship:
The 1957 college football season was the 89th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It concluded with two teams having claim to the major college national championship:
The 1976 NCAA Division I football season ended with a championship for the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh. Led by head coach Johnny Majors, the Pitt Panthers brought a college football championship to the home of the defending pro football champions, the Steelers. Pitt also had the Heisman Trophy winner, Tony Dorsett; the Panthers had been ranked ninth in the preseason AP poll.
The 1956 college football season was the 88th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It finished with five teams having claim to a national championship:
The 1954 college football season was the 86th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It saw three major college teams finish unbeaten and untied:
The 1953 college football season was marked by the NCAA Rules Committee's revocation of the two-platoon system and unlimited substitution rules in favor of the historic one-platoon system with its highly restrictive substitution rules. This radical rules shift made the 1953 season "The Year of the Great Adjustment," in the words of sportswriter Tommy Devine of the Detroit Free Press, in which teams scrambled to tighten their rosters and alter their strategies in accord with the more traditional "iron man" game.
The 1952 college football season was the 84th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It ended with Oklahoma halfback Billy Vessels winning the Heisman Trophy and Notre Dame halfback Johnny Lattner winning the Maxwell Award. Two teams claim the 1952 national championship:
The 1976 Orange Bowl was the 42nd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, January 1. Part of the 1975–76 bowl game season, it matched the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference and the #3 Oklahoma Sooners of the Big Eight Conference. In the first meeting between these two teams, favored Oklahoma won 14–6.
The 1985 Orange Bowl was the 51st edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, January 1. Part of the 1984–85 bowl game season, it matched the fourth-ranked Washington Huskies of the Pacific-10 Conference and the #2 Oklahoma Sooners of the Big Eight Conference. Underdog Washington rallied to win 28–17.
The 1967 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1967 NCAA University Division football season. Led by first-year head coach Chuck Fairbanks, they played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and competed as members of the Big Eight Conference. The Sooners won all seven conference games and finished the season with one loss they upset number 9 Colorado on November 4 by a score of 23-0 in Norman; they defeated Tennessee, 26–24, to win the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
The 1957 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1957 college football season. They played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, and were members of the Big Seven Conference. They were two-time defending national champions, led by head coach Bud Wilkinson, in his eleventh season.
The 1956 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Maryland Terrapins. It was played on January 2, because New Year's Day was a Sunday. The game was a de facto national championship game, as both teams would be playing for the FWAA’s Grantland Rice Trophy.