1953 Oklahoma Sooners football team

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1953 Oklahoma Sooners football
National champion (B(QPRS), CFRA)
Big 7 champion
Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 7–0 vs. Maryland
Conference Big Seven Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 5
APNo. 4
Record9–1–1 (6–0 Big 7)
Head coach
Captains
Home stadium Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Seasons
  1952
1954  
1953 Big Seven Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 4 Oklahoma $ 6 0 09 1 1
Missouri 4 2 06 4 0
Kansas State 4 2 06 3 1
Colorado 2 4 06 4 0
Nebraska 2 4 03 6 1
Kansas 2 4 02 8 0
Iowa State 1 5 02 7 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

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.

Contents

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]

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 26No. 1 Notre Dame *No. 6L 21–2859,461
October 3at Pittsburgh *No. 8T 7–728,152
October 10vs. No. 15 Texas *No. 16W 19–1475,504 [8]
October 17 Kansas No. 12
  • Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
  • Norman, OK
W 45–045,862
October 24 Colorado No. 9
  • Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
  • Norman, OK
W 27–2036,565
October 31at Kansas State No. 9
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Manhattan, KS
W 34–023,822
November 7at Missouri No. 8W 14–730,020
November 14 Iowa State No. 6
  • Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
  • Norman, OK
W 47–043,713
November 21at Nebraska No. 4W 30–731,551
November 28 Oklahoma A&M *No. 4
  • Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
  • Norman, OK (Bedlam)
W 42–750,524
January 1, 1954vs. No. 1 Maryland *No. 4W 7–068,640–68,718 [9]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[10]

Roster

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
PollPre123456789Final
AP 6 (3)81612 (1)99 (1)8 (1)6 (1)4 (3)4 (9)4 (10)

Postseason

NFL Draft

The following players were drafted into the National Football League following the season. [11]

RoundPickPlayerPositionNFL Team
216Larry GriggBack Baltimore Colts
10116Merrill GreenBack Washington Redskins
14164 Roger Nelson TackleWashington Redskins
17195 J. D. Roberts Guard Green Bay Packers
30355Juel SweatteBack Pittsburgh Steelers

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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.

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References

  1. Fullerton, Hugh Jr. (September 27, 1953). "The Irish flame in Norman heat to stop O.U., 28-21". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 1, sports.
  2. "Pitt holds Sooners to 7-7 draw". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. October 4, 1953. p. 32.
  3. "Oklahoma's defense upsets Maryland, 7-0". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 2, 1954. p. 10.
  4. "Maryland deflated by Sooners, 7-0". Pittsburgh Press. United Press. January 2, 1954. p. 6.
  5. "Undefeated Maryland eleven leads final AP football poll". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. December 1, 1953. p. 18.
  6. "Maryland keeps top spot in nation's college ratings". Pittsburgh Press. United Press. December 1, 1953. p. 24.
  7. "Irish snap Sooners' string, 7-0". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. November 17, 1957. p. 1C.
  8. "Sooners hang on to squeeze 19–14 victory out of Texas". Abilene Reporter-News. October 11, 1953. Retrieved April 30, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Maryland beaten by Oklahoma, 7–0, in Orange Bowl". The Baltimore Sun. January 2, 1954. Retrieved January 4, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "SoonerSports.com". Archived from the original on February 29, 2008. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  11. "1954 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 29, 2020.