Championships

[Desert Sapper]

I know we never claim these championships, but maybe we should:

1949 We went 11-0 and won the Sugar. Championship credit from College Football Researchers Association (a retroactive selection going from 1919-1981, active from 1982-1992).

1953 We beat consensus national champion Maryland 7-0 in the Orange. Championship credit from Berryman (a retroactive math rating system) and the CFRA.

1978 We beat Nebraska, the only team that beat us all year (they beat us in Lincoln) in the Orange. Championship credit from DeVold, Dunkel, FACT, Helms, Litkenhous, Matthews, Poling, and Sagarin (if you want to know what they all are, look at the NCAA list (http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/ia_football_past_champs.html)).

I only bring this up, because they seem the most legitimate of our unrecognized champeenships, and other schools have recognized much less credible ones. Discuss.

[OKLA21FAN]

this thread is worthless, even with pics


:pop:

[yermom]

i don't know, i think if we were to claim something like 1953, we'd have to give back 1950

you can't have it both ways

[TUSooner]

DeVold, Dunkel, FACT, Helms, Litkenhous, Matthews, Poling, and Sagarin

:rolleyes:

Part of our charm is the fact that we only claim to 7 MNCs. They're legitmate. Bama knows it and the rest of the world knows it. Let's keep it that way. Plus, I don't want "Litkenhous" on the west side of our stadium.

That's logic is ... uh... irrefutable! Yeah! :D :D

[SteelClip49]

of all the years we received some claim but we do not recognize, I think we should have won the 78 title or at least shared it with USC.

USC beat Alabama in Birmingham,
Arizona State beat USC,
Nebraska beat Oklahoma,
Oklahoma beat Nebraska

Oklahoma got Nebraska back but still got left out as Bama and USC split the 78 title. Since Bama lost to USC, it would have only been fair if OU would have gotten some love from either the UPI or AP.

Hell, 4 of the 6 Bear Bryant titles are iffy (64, 65, 73, 78).

[Desert Sapper]

DeVold, Dunkel, FACT, Helms, Litkenhous, Matthews, Poling, and Sagarin

:rolleyes:

Part of our charm is the fact that we only claim to 7 MNCs. They're legitmate. Bama knows it and the rest of the world knows it. Let's keep it that way. Plus, I don't want "Litkenhous" on the west side of our stadium.

I agree with you, but I'm bored enough to stir the pot. By today's standards, we were more legitimately champs in '53 than in '50. By any standard we should have been champs in '49, but we weren't (Notre Dame was 10-0 and didn't go to a bowl -- we won the Sugar, as I mentioned before). I'll take 7. And by God, next year I'll take 8. :D

[RedstickSooner]

We've got 7 championships. That's plenty... FOR NOW.

We'll get more. And when that happens, we'd feel a bit silly had we tried to lay claim to the bogus championships that so many lesser teams hang their hats on.

[silverwheels]

Pfft.


Oklahoma Sooners: 113-time National Champion, according to the silverwheels poll.

[Fraggle145]

The only extra championship I can see claiming is 1949. In the tapes that are in the threads listed below of an interview of Bud by Loran Smith (a Georgia broadcaster) he claims the '49 championship. Therefore, I don't have problem with that one.

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77873&highlight=bud+Wilkinson+interview

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79268&highlight=bud+Wilkinson+interview


Smith: Oklahoma, at that time, was a sparsely populated state - where did this great interest in football come from?

"One of the amazing things about Oklahoma, it's more apparent in baseball than it is in football because you don't have that many people going into pro football, didn't during those years anyway, but if you take a look at the big league baseball rosters and the great players that came from Oklahoma and relate it to the population of Oklahoma, it's frightening. It really is. It's so disproportionate that you can't believe it.

"Mickey Mantle, the Warner brothers, Johnny Bench, my good friend 'the Indian' Allie Reynolds, it goes on and on. It really was a product at that point in time, where there's not much else going on in Oklahoma. The circumstance in addition to the kids just growing up, that's just something you do - compete in athletics.

"There were a lot of towns in Oklahoma that had exceptional high school coaches. You hadn't gotten into where they are now in some of the cities. It's just the way administration is handled - where the coach is basically a teacher and the coach gets a small stipend for coaching the football team. It's so small that unless he's highly energized, he's not going to really give it his best shot. AT that time you had people that were coaches that were hired to coach. Whatever else they did at the school was secondary. As a result, you had great motivation.

"This was one of the more amazing things that I know of getting back to athletic ability. Hollis Oklahoma is a town of 3500 people. They had a coach named Joe Bailey Metcalf. Our '49 team that won a national championship, we had 3 of the starting 11 from Hollis. Darrell Royal, Leon Heath and the best tackle I ever saw named Willie Manley, and we had a back-up tackle. Four kids in our top 22 from Hollis. Muskogee was another town - that's where (Eddie) Crowder's from. But that was the pattern all over the state. You just had more good athletes that you expect to have. They weren't big - there wasn't anybody big in those days by today's standards - at all.

[insuranceman_22]

Unfortunately this "Championship Claiming" that some schools are doing is turning into what boxing is now. How many world title belts are there in each weight division? So with all those awarding MNC, it's a farce to a degree. I know it's forever away, but a playoff would solve it......(still hoping and praying it's in my life time)......

[Crucifax Autumn]

Who cares? Let's just claim winningest program! We're the greastest college team ever, and I'm cool with that.

Screw all the wannabes.