July 01, 2005
OU - Texas 100th Meeting
I normally do not like Berry Tramel but this article was interesting and note worthy. I hope you enjoy...
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
This October, when Sooners and Longhorns pack for their annual trek to Dallas and the 100th OU-Texas football game, they will load up on iPods and Blackberrys. Peace-officer escorts will make sure they navigate Interstate 35 with the least possible resistance. Both teams will reside at posh Metroplex hotels.
When Oklahoma and Texas first began the crusades, their trips were a tad more rustic.
The first OU-Texas game occurred seven years before statehood (Oklahoma's). 1900. The Sooners journeyed to Austin, traveling all night by train. Quite an adventure for 19th-century lads raised on farmland in the newly opened Oklahoma Territory, as author Harold Keith remarkably detailed in "Oklahoma Kickoff."
Clyde Bogle brought along a can of fresh milk from his dairy. Harv Short carried on a sack of apples from the family farm.
The day of the game, Oct. 10, an Austin newspaper reported that "Oklahoma got in last night with a bunch of fast Indians in her backfield." Some things never change; Texans still don't understand who we are.
Texas won 28-2, and the defeat did not send the territory into mourning or revolution, as such a verdict would today.
Heck, after Texas won 32-7 in Norman in 1922, a mere 83 years ago, the Longhorns were carried off the field in celebration by OU's freshman team, a sporting gesture unlikely to be replayed in the Cotton Bowl in this or any succeeding century.
The rivalry, born during dusty days, has blossomed into perhaps college football's most fierce. Army-Navy is a more noble series; Alabama-Auburn perhaps has more hatred. But for spirit and revelry and high stakes and bad blood, what can match Oklahoma-Texas?
What can match a split-in-half Cotton Bowl, where the teams have been played annually since 1929, with the Texas State Fair providing a spectacular backdrop.
What can match these distinct state histories, which help explain how OU and UT got to be such gridiron monsters? Texas was its own nation for a while; Oklahoma was a penal colony.
What can match the two-way Red River crossings, hundreds of Lone Star studs who opted for OU crimson and one particular Sooner, Darrell Royal, who became Texas football's greatest icon.
"Everything about it's great," said Sooners coach Bob Stoops, who should be in a good mood about OU-Texas, having won five straight.
Stoops has coached in six of the 99 affairs and said he still gets excited about running onto the Cotton Bowl stage.
"Absolutely," Stoops said. "How could you not? It's one of the more special games in all of college football."
Texas coach Mack Brown agrees. He was OU offensive coordinator in 1984, making him one of the few to walk the series' sidelines in both colors.
Brown and Stoops both likened OU-Texas to a mid-season bowl game.
"Basically, the national game of the week," Brown said. "The Oklahoma game has always been the Oklahoma game, for both schools. That's not going to change."
Actually, OU-Texas has not always been such a holy war, as those swell Sooners freshmen of '22 displayed.
The series even went dormant between 1923 and 1929, in part because of Texas domination. Between 1919 and 1948, OU won just three of 21 games against the Longhorns. The Eastern press — the ESPN GameDay of that radio era — ignored the series.
But along came Bud Wilkinson, who turned the Sooners into a cultural phenomenon and a national story, and Texas answered with Royal, who made the Longhorns the 1960s team of the decade, and now the old foes share not just a conference but even a division.
And since Wilkinson's elevation to head coach, the Sooners lead the series 28-27-3.
But never think OU-Texas grew important only after World War II. This was a rivalry even before World War I.
OU and Texas first played in Dallas at the Texas State Fair in 1904.
OU's 1910 victory in Austin ignited wild celebration back in Norman. Hundreds of students and townsfolk met the incoming train the next day; some grabbed the train's tongue and pulled it triumphantly to Main Street.
In 1915, two hastily organized dances raised $175 to send OU's 22-man band to Dallas for the game.
Make no mistake. OU-Texas always was a big deal, and now, as the 100th game approaches, it is bigger than ever.
The Oklahoman today begins a countdown of the 99 games played. We rank them from worst to first, starting with No. 99, a 30-0 Longhorn conquest in 1909.
Some might ask how we can rank the best OU-Texas games. Wrong question. It's much harder to rank the worst, because even the one-sided games, be it in pre-statehood or post-Y2K, have been rich in color and plot and emotion.
But armed with a can of milk and a sack of apples, we've undertaken the challenge. And when the bus of the victorious team returns to campus next October, may it be met by merrymakers, who grab the grill and pull it triumphantly home.
Comments
Oklahoman • Game No. 99: 1909: Texas 30-0
November 19 at Austin
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Summary: Two days after losing 14-8 to Texas A&M in Dallas, the weary Sooners were no match for the ’Horns.
Sooners hero: OU freshman Mort Woods played halfback, end and center as coach Bennie Owen swept the bench clean.
Historical significance: Owen learned his lesson. Never again did the Sooners play games so close together.
Oklahoman’s take: “The Sooner football eleven from the University of Oklahoma met overwhelming defeat at the hands of the Texas Longhorns by a score of 30 to 0. The Texas by excellent teamwork as well as ability to hit and gain through the line and make neat gains on forward passes were able to advance at all times. The Oklahomans played a steady plucky game but never seriously endangered the Texas goal.”
Sunday headline: Oklahoma Has Crushing Defeat
Nov. 20, 1909, news headline: Eight Feet to Eternity: Murderer Armstrong Is Legally Hanged in Perry, Okla., Jailyard.
Did you know? The ’09 Sooners were not among Owen’s best teams. He was so short of players, he recruited from all corners. Team leaders included Warren Hazeltine, summoned from the cheerleading ranks, and 29-year-old Pete Swartz, enticed away from Purcell High School, where he was principal.
Campus rage: The OU law school was established that fall, and the foundation for the journalism school began with preliminary courses and a press bureau. Lawyers and journalists. It was no banner year.
Posted by: Jay at July 7, 2005 10:04 AM
Oklahoman • Game No. 98: 1986: OU 47-12
October 11 in Dallas
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Summary: Starting quarterback Jamelle Holieway played in only six of OU's 13 series as the Sooners led 31-0 at halftime and 38-0 less than five minutes into the second half.
Sooners Hero: Take your pick. Let's go with linebacker Brian Bosworth, who had predicted 63-0 "so I really blew it," he said. In 35 minutes against OU's first-team defense, Texas gained just 110 yards and made four first downs.
Historical Significance: Texas coach Fred Akers, an Arkansas teammate of Barry Switzer, entered this game with a .757 winning percentage in 10 seasons. But his fate seemed sealed after this defeat, and sure enough, Akers was gone at the end of the season.
Oklahoman's Take: "Was Oklahoma that good? Or was Texas that bad? That was what most people were wondering Saturday, after the football Sooners lassoed the Longhorns like they've seldom been lassoed before." -- Bob Hersom.
Sunday Headline: No Contest: OU 47, Texas 12
Oct. 12, 1986, News Headline: "Reagan, Soviet Tackling Arms Control Issues"
Did You Know? Before the game, a longhorn steer (not Bevo) escaped from the livestock exhibition and ran amok through the State Fair crowd. He was caught at a highway intersection outside Fair Park, apparently headed, cracked Oklahoman columnist Jim Lassiter, for the Red River.
Campus Rage: President Reagan visited campus on Oct. 24, stumping for Sen. Don Nickles.
Posted by: Jay at July 7, 2005 10:05 AM
Oklahoman • Game No. 97: 1941: Texas 40-7
October 11 in Dallas
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Summary: A crowd of 43,000 saw the Longhorns' Jack Crain gain 144 yards on 10 carries and team with fellow runner Pete Layden to frustrate the Sooners with an array of misdirection runs out of the single- and double-wing.
Sooners Hero: Huel Hamm threw an 11-yard TD pass to Joe Golding for OU's only touchdown.
Historical Significance: Snorter Luster's first loss as the Sooner coach. It was a precursor; Luster went 0-5 vs. Texas and resigned under pressure after the '45 season.
Oklahoman's Take: "Down in this seething, teeming cauldron known as the Cotton Bowl, the Sooners were woefully unprepared for this perfect Texas combination (Crain and Layden), one of Dana Bible's greatest productions and probably the grandest Longhorn team ever to flaunt the gaudy Orange and White." -- John Cronley.
Sunday Headline: "A Texas Hurricane Rips Through Oklahoma, 40-7"
Oct. 12, 1941, News Headline: "U.S. Grabs Nazi Spy Ship"
Did You Know? Golding would go off to fight a war but return his senior season in 1946 and make All-Big Six.
Campus Rage: William Bennett Bizzell stepped down as president in August, after 16 years.
Posted by: Jay at July 7, 2005 10:06 AM
Oklahoman • Game No. 96: 1922: Texas Rolls in Norman, 32-7
November 18 in Norman
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Summary: OU earned just two first downs and completed only one pass, despite coach Bennie Owen's reliance on the aerial game.
Sooners Hero: Pete Hammert's 41-yard run was OU's only touchdown.
Historical Significance: Call it the E.Z. Million Bowl. This game marked the last time the Longhorns played football in Norman.
Oklahoman's Take: "Sooner grit and Sooner fight alone enabled the University of Oklahoma to hold off the charging Longhorns for the first half of their struggle on Boyd Field. Then the stampede which had loomed inevitable from the first overwhelmed the Owenmen and the Longhorns swept through to a 32 to 7 victory."
Sunday Headline: Longhorns Smother Sooners; Final Score 32-7
Nov. 19, 1922, News Headline: Hepburn Charges Murder Plot: Governor Is Accused
Did You Know? After the game, Texas' players were carried off the field in celebration by OU's freshman team, a scene unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.
Campus Rage: In August, OU vice president Edwin DeBarr was censured by regents for alleged Ku Klux Klan sympathies. In 1923, DeBarr was dismissed from the school; he became the KKK's grand dragon in Oklahoma. In 1988, 66 years after the censure, DeBarr's name was removed from OU's chemistry building.
Posted by: Jay at July 7, 2005 10:07 AM
Oklahoman • Game No. 95: 1956: OU 45-0
October 13 at Dallas
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Summary: OU ran its overall winning streak to 33 games with a variety of tricks, including a statue-of-liberty play off a fake quick kick and a swinging-gate formation in which all the linemen were split out wide to one side.
Sooners Hero: Tommy McDonald ran back the opening kick 54 yards and made two circus catches of Jimmy Harris passes.
Historical Significance: Texas entered the game 1-2 but never recovered from the beating. The Longhorns lost all six Southwest Conference games after OU and coach Ed Price was out of a job.
Oklahoman's Take: "A prairie fire called Oklahoma put the torch to Texas here Saturday afternoon with such race horse halfbacks as Tommy McDonald and Clendon Thomas the main flamethrowers as the Sooners threw the offensive book at the Longhorns ..." -- John Cronley.
Sunday Headline: Sooners Brand Longhorns 45-0
Oct. 14, 1956, News Headline: Russia Vetoes West's Plea For International Control of Suez Canal
Did You Know? Displeased with his team's practice that week, Bud Wilkinson assembled the Sooners the day before the game and said, "It's no disgrace to be beaten by a team as strong as Texas. Even when they have beat you tomorrow, remember, you're still Oklahoma. So be sure to hold your heads up high."
Campus Rage: A male bastion -- the student union pool hall -- opened to females that September. Various outlets reported it was amazing how much the boys cleaned up their language over a missed snooker shot.
Posted by: Jay at July 7, 2005 10:08 AM
Oklahoman • Game No. 94 - 1998: Texas 34-3
October 10 at Dallas
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Game No. 94: 1998 The Oklahoman is counting down the 99 games between Oklahoma and Texas, worst to best. The series will run through Oct. 7.
Summary: Redshirt freshman quarterback Major Applewhite threw for 293 yards, including a 97-yard touchdown pass to Wane McGarity, and a Texas defense ranked 101st nationally held OU to 197 total yards.
Sooners' Hero: OU's Brandon Daniels threw an interception and fumbled near the Texas goal line, setting up McGarity's long TD, but Daniels completed six of 10 passes for 81 yards, not bad for a guy who started out as a safety and finished his career as a wingback.
Historical Significance: Mack Brown's first OU-Texas game as head coach was John Blake's last. The one-sided verdict ended all talk that the Sooners were improving in Blake's third season.
Oklahoman's Take: "Suddenly, and with stark reality, who plays quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners no longer is a pressing issue. Bigger and more widespread problems were exposed on the Cotton Bowl turf in a 34-3 whipping administered by the Texas Longhorns." -- Mac Bentley.
Sunday Headline: Crimson and Creamed
Oct. 11, 1998, News Headline: OU Athletics Budget $1.76 Million In Red
Did You Know? Eric Moore, after a dalliance at flanker, returned to quarterback against Texas, one of three used against the 'Horns and raising the number to five used by OU halfway through the '98 season.
Campus Rage: Rumors circulated that OU president David Boren was leaving his post. George magazine reported that Boren would "go to Beijing under a future GOP White House," and others figured Boren would become president of Yale.
Posted by: Jay at July 7, 2005 10:08 AM
Oklahoman • Game No. 93: 1970, Texas 41-9 UT slows OU’s wishbone debut
October 10 at Dallas
By Berry Tramel
Summary: OU unveiled its wishbone, but Texas ran its overall winning streak to 24 as six Longhorns scored touchdowns, led by quarterback Eddie Phillips and fullback Steve Worster.
Sooners Hero: Bruce Derr’s school-record 51-yard field goal gave OU a short-lived 3-0 lead, and punter Joe Wylie thrice pinned the ’Horns inside their 5-yard line.
Historical Significance: An idea blatantly stolen from Texas, the Sooners wishbone soon would become one of the most feared offenses in the history of college football.
Oklahoman’s Take: “Oklahoma showed Texas its new offense Saturday and Texas showed Oklahoma its old defense. The Longhorns, snorting and kicking furiously, then laughed all the way to the end zones en route to a 41-9 frolic that was every bit as dramatic as watching milk curdle.” — Frank Boggs.
Sunday Headline: Sooners Have A Wishbone ... So Texas Teaches ’Em How To Run It, 41-9
Oct. 11, 1970, News Headline: Nixon Panel Asks (For) Legal Abortions
Did You Know? Greg Pruitt was switched from split end to halfback with the change to the wishbone, but he did not start vs. Texas. OU’s halfbacks were Roy Bell and Joe Wylie. Pruitt gained 13 yards on three carries.
Campus Rage: OU announced it planned no changes in attitudes toward student activists, after a spring confrontation between student protestors and police, followed by a demonstration at an ROTC drill, touched off a chain of events that led to the July resignation of OU president Herbert Hollomon.
Posted by: Jay at July 7, 2005 10:09 AM
How was Virginia? I have always wanted to go. It's on my list of "dream" vacations.
Posted by: Dianne at August 12, 2005 01:46 AM