ALL TIME GREATEST DEFENSIVE GAMES

[PLaw]

I can't speak with any first hand knowledge prior to about 1969. Since 1970, here are my thoughts:

1972 OU 14 #5 PSU 0 (Sugar Bowl)
1973 OU 7 #1 USC 7
1975 OU 35 #2 Nebbish 10
1984 OU 17 #1 Nebbish 7
1985 OU 27 #2 Nebbish 7
1985 OU 25 #1 PSU 10
1987 OU 17 #1 Nebbish 7
1994 OU 3 #1 Nebbish 13
2000 OU 31 #1 Nebbish 14
2000 OU 12 #3 halFasSU 2 (Orange Bowl)
2001 OU 14 #5 Texass 3
2004 OU 12 #5 Texass 0

There were many other great games by the defense, such as beating Texass 27-0 in 1972 or Nebbish 27-0 in 1973, but those whorn and shucker teams were not highly ranked.

Hard to say which was the greatest, but my favorite is probably the 2001 OB.

That said, the 86 team was probably one of the best ever, only giving up 86 points the entire season.

Would like to hear from those who saw Wilkinson's teams play.

BOOMER

[sooneron]

85 OU- texas may be at the top of my list - 14-7. I believe it was Musberger or someone that remarked on texas' futility on crossing the 50 after they did it once. Boz was a BEAST in that game. On second thought, 01 OB is number one to me.

[85sooners]

i love shutouts!!

[swardboy]

I believe it was 1966...huge national game between ND and Michigan State ended in a 10-10 tie. I was only 12 but the game was so big even I was aware of it. Duffy vs. Ara.

[VMG]

1973 -- OU 27, Nebraska 0 -- Nebraska had only 80 yards total offense through 3 quarters and crossed the 50 yard line once the entire game.

[TheUnnamedSooner]

77-0

[OUmillenium]

heh

[stoops the eternal pimp]

2001 cotton bowl...51 yards for arky(30 of those in the 4th), 8 sacks i think...never seen anything like it in person

[OUMedMan]

I'm assuming you are just referring to games where OU had a great defensive effort, and not games in which the opposition had great defensive games?

[Blues1]

Orange Bowl -- I believe 1955 or was it 54...??

Oklahoma 7
Maryland 0

God Bless Bud..... :)

[Collier11]

second half against Mizzou in the Big 12 title game, Washington state in the rose bowl

[SteelClip49]

hell, how about the entire 1986 season....despite the loss to Miami?
508 total points scored, 81 total points given up

1976 Orange......OU 14 Mich 6
1975................OU 46 Pitt 10 (Dorsett had to have played)
1976................OU 6 Texas 6
1987 Orange......OU 42 Arky 8

Even though they were losses...(1988: NU 7 OU 3) and (1989: AZ 6 OU 3)

[PLaw]

Orange Bowl -- I believe 1955 or was it 54...??

Oklahoma 7
Maryland 0

God Bless Bud..... :)

Outstanding game - it was the 1953 season (1954 OB). Maryland was ranked No. 1 at the time making this game a leading candidate for the all time greatest OU defensive game.

BOOMER

[TheUnnamedSooner]

2001 cotton bowl...51 yards for arky(30 of those in the 4th), 8 sacks i think...never seen anything like it in person

Agreed, TRRW had one of the hardest hits I've ever seen in that game.

[BoulderSooner79]

The '73 season because they were so young, they didn't know how good they were. All 3 Selmons, Rod Shoate, David Smith. They beat NU 27-0 and UT 52-13. The only blemish was a 7-7 tie with USC in LA. 'SC was defending champ and rated #1 at the time as I remember and they out gained them something like 400yards to 200 yards.

[Breadburner]

hell, how about the entire 1986 season....despite the loss to Miami?
508 total points scored, 81 total points given up

1976 Orange......OU 14 Mich 6
1975................OU 46 Pitt 10 (Dorsett had to have played)
1976................OU 6 Texas 6
1987 Orange......OU 42 Arky 8

Even though they were losses...(1988: NU 7 OU 3) and (1989: AZ 6 OU 3)


Dorsett got knocked the **** out........

[AlbqSooner]

hell, how about the entire 1986 season....despite the loss to Miami?
508 total points scored, 81 total points given up

1976 Orange......OU 14 Mich 6
1975................OU 46 Pitt 10 (Dorsett had to have played)
1976................OU 6 Texas 6
1987 Orange......OU 42 Arky 8

Even though they were losses...(1988: NU 7 OU 3) and (1989: AZ 6 OU 3)
Dorsett had 17 yards on 12 carries. That was the game in which Scott Hill did the original Superman play on Dorsett. Later got my letter to the editor published in Sports Illustrated when they published an article on TD as a Dallas Cowboy. They made the statement that he was never stopped in College. I humbly tendered the statistics and the opinion that he was stopped in that game. ;)

[phead903]

1973 -- OU 27, Nebraska 0 -- Nebraska had only 80 yards total offense through 3 quarters and crossed the 50 yard line once the entire game.

And fumbled immediately afterwards - that was the most dominating defensive performance I ever saw in person.

[JohnnyMack]

The most dominating game defensively I ever saw in person was 1993 against OSU:

http://www.soonerstats.com/football/games/boxscore.cfm?GameID=949

They had 31 total yards.

A&M 2003 would be second:

http://www.soonerstats.com/football/games/boxscore.cfm?GameID=1070

[goingoneight]

JohnnyMack, we're talking about real opponents, though. Not TU or Tech's scout teams. ;)

[PLaw]

Dorsett had 17 yards on 12 carries. That was the game in which Scott Hill did the original Superman play on Dorsett. Later got my letter to the editor published in Sports Illustrated when they published an article on TD as a Dallas Cowboy. They made the statement that he was never stopped in College. I humbly tendered the statistics and the opinion that he was stopped in that game. ;)

Nice, very nice. Well done.

BOOMER

[stoopified]

1972 OU-UT 27-0 UT Wisbone shattered

1973 OU-NU 27-0 Osbornes 1st view of what was to come vs. Barry.

1975 OU-Pitt 46-10 Held Dorsett to 17 yards on 12 carries.


1980 Otange Bowl OU-FSU 24-7 OU nickel stops WW-JJ passing attack

2001 OU-UT 14-3 Simms suffocated by Superman & Co.

2001 Orange Bowl OU-FSU 13-2 Weinke throws up his hands in confusion.

[fadada1]

non-OU game:

PSU v. miami in the '87 ('86 season) fiesta bowl. never have i seen an entire group of defensive backs hit that hard for the entire game. miami receivers were scared to go anywhere near the ball. 5 interceptions made it even more dominating. yet another heisman bust in a championship game.

[Salt City Sooner]

The first 2 that came to my mind were the '85 RRS (4 first downs & 70 total yards that day for the 'horns), & '93 OSU, a game in which they actually held the aggies to a negative 2 yards PASSING (to go with 33 yards on the ground). OSU had exactly one first down for the entire game. The thing that made this all the more remarkable to me was that the artificial turf was still on Owen Field, & it was raining pretty good that day, making it all the more slick. You'd think that those conditions would've helped the offense a bit, but I guess sheer ineptitude can even overrule Mother Nature sometimes. :D