There will never be a better season than 2000 [Archive]

Grimey

8/16/2006, 02:18 PM

EVAR! (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1043000329&n=2)

I hate to say it, but I really can't think of any way that that year could be topped. Even if we win 10 more championships, or don't win another one for 10 more years, it will never top that perfect storybook season. Looking back on it, it seems like it was written by some Disney screenwriter. Just a few of the storylines:

* Former top-notch team goes through a decade of being the laughingstock of college football, with coaches named Boo and Smellsofbourban.

* Unheralded JC quarterback motivates and leads the team, nearly winning the Heisman in the process.

* Rocketing up the rankings from #20 to #1. It was fun each week in October seeing how much we'd move up after beating Texas, K-State, and Nebraska.

* Is there anything better than being a team no one picked to do much, then proving everyone wrong? I still believe this is a major reason us Okies embraced the Hornets this past year.

* Crushing the Horns, putting the Mildcats back in their place (twice), and knocking King Nebraska off the mountain.

* A bunch of no-name converted qb's and db's making up an amazing receiving corps.

* Wupping the vaunted Seminoles, and holding their offense that was averaging a billion yards per game to 0 points.

Feel free to add your own, as there were many more that I'm sure I missed.

So, now that we are expected to compete for the Trophy every year, I just can't see it being nearly as rewarding as that one. That being said, I hope I am proven wrong.

Grimey

8/16/2006, 02:21 PM

more I thought of.

* nail-biters against OSU and A&M

* going back in time to run the option to perfection to seal the deal against K-State

* a tiny 5 foot nothin running back having such a major impact

Partial Qualifier

8/16/2006, 02:24 PM

Back then, I thought 2000 would just get better with age. And it has.

Widescreen

8/16/2006, 02:48 PM

* Wupping the vaunted Seminoles, and holding their offense that was averaging a billion yards per game to 0 points.
Yeah, but if Minnis had played, we would've gotten killed. :rolleyes:

tbl

8/16/2006, 02:59 PM

Wasn't 2000 the ballsy fake punt that put us back in to win?

Blues1

8/16/2006, 03:23 PM

The Circus pass catch vs Cornhuskies -- !!!

The ONLY that might equal the 2000 NC and that team --- I said "Might" Might be IF this years 2006 Sooners Go ALL THE WAY...!!!

It's because of the 2000 team WE still believe anything is POSSIBLE...!!!

Don't wait for the Cotton Bowl --- 110% Behind PT ....:) NOW...

Rock on...

proudsoonergal

8/16/2006, 03:24 PM

Ah, and the great interception by Mitchell against aggy. I was at that game, sitting in The Zone with a huge aggy fan. Great seats. Sigh.....

wishbonesooner

8/16/2006, 03:29 PM

JT Thatcher's kickoff return against K-State after they had scored to take the lead.
Mitchell' INT against Aggy.
Going 14 down against Nebraska and then blowing them out of Norman.
Josh's nearly perfect game against FSU. Derrick Strait knocking down a sure TD pass.
Making Mack cry.
It may not ever get any better.

jdsooner

8/16/2006, 03:47 PM

Waking up to cold, wet weather in Dallas.
Watching the Texas fans leave early.
Starting a streak of 5 Ws!
The miracle catch by Andre Woolfolk against Nebraska.
The interception return by Torrance Marshall.
Derrick Strait breaking up the pass in the end zone at Stillwater.
The late fumble by Weinke and the ensuing touchdown by Griffin.

OUstud

8/16/2006, 03:49 PM

1. MARSHALL had the INT against TexAg
2. The LAsooner video on YouTube about 2000 gives me chills.

yermom

8/16/2006, 03:56 PM

things would have to get real ****ty again for there to be another one like 2000

TheGodfather889

8/16/2006, 03:57 PM

Unfortunately the 2000 season has some dust on it. I can't believe it will be 6 seasons ago. We were on top of the world. We have to win something soon because we're not revered anymore as one of the top teams. We have to beat a big name team. I want another National Championship so badly.

Wishboned

8/16/2006, 04:58 PM

That team was all about heart.

Some of my favorites other than those mentioned.

The embracing of Sooner history by Stoops and the players when it had been virtually ignored by the previous administrations.

Calmus in a cast making the interception and returning it for a td against the Whorns to put us up I believe 35-0 at that point. I had the times wrong for the game and just turned the television on to see that and then the score and I thought my television was broken.

Just the feeling after beating Nebraska knowing that we were on top again.

The look of disbelieve on Bobby Bowden's face as he squinted through his wife's glasses as his team was systematically dismantled.

In all my years as a Sooner fan it is my favorite season, and most of my favorite players.

proudsoonergal

8/16/2006, 05:35 PM

Marshall, yep.

Another favorite memory: "I'd like to apologize to all Texas fans...."

Josh's Remember the Titans block in the Kansas game.

Spray

8/16/2006, 05:55 PM

I actually enjoyed 1985 more.

Octavian

8/16/2006, 06:04 PM

The off-the-back-foot floating touchdown pass from Josh to Fagan that produced one of the best OU photos evar

Heupel's stiff-arming of Nebraska's Butkus candidate Carlos Polk on a scramble.

Chanting "We're #1" in the closing minute of the Nebraska game after more than a decade of frustration w/ 75,000 other Sooners

Avoiding the the pepper spray later....

basically, the OU-Nebraska game alone could make 2000 my favorite season

King Crimson

8/16/2006, 06:24 PM

the torrance INT at Kyle was the only time in nearly 30 years of watching OU football i found myself on the floor, on hands and knees barking like a dog at the TV.

Octavian

8/16/2006, 06:25 PM

heh

jackietreehorn

8/16/2006, 07:47 PM

the OU-Nebraska game alone could make 2000 my favorite season

couldn't agree more, i skipped the ACT test that day wasting 100 dollars and wouldn't take it back for anything--sadly though, i couldn't avoid the pepper spray.

most exciting game i've ever been to. the surprise wins are so much better than, say... all of them in 2004. don't get me wrong those are great games to watch, but after the nebraska game, i won't lie, i teared up a little bit--and it wasn't just the pepper spray.

william_brasky

8/16/2006, 07:55 PM

That was a true team.

No prima donnas. No bad attitudes. Everyone pulling for one another earning it every friggin' down.

T Marshall was the MVP to me on that squad. I remember him getting in the offensive huddle on the sideline a few times getting after the O to get it going. Not griping at them. Telling and encouraging. We haven't had a leader like T Marsh since. Vocal, no-nonsense, and could back it up.

OKC-SLC

8/16/2006, 08:03 PM

I believe that team was the best 'team' i've ever seen. on the heels of such a painful time in our history, that team was a tonic we'll never taste again.

i'd take that team every day of the week over ANY team we've fielded since--even the 2003 'best team evar'.

JLB

8/16/2006, 09:01 PM

The song "WHO LET THE SOONERS OUT" on ESPN.That was mindnumbing.
What I remember most about that season was that every fumble,every INT
every call seemed to go our way.
That season was magical.I smoked at least two packs of cigarettes every
time I watched a game on TV.The games where that exciting.

Sooner24

8/16/2006, 10:36 PM

That was the first time I had ever attended every game in a season and I couldn't have picked a better year to do it.

OUWxGuesser

8/16/2006, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Octavian
the OU-Nebraska game alone could make 2000 my favorite season

Amen... that was my freshman year at OU and we camped out overnight to get our 50 yard line seats in the student section. Campus was absolutely nuts that night. I think people were still honking/partying on Lindsey Street when I woke up the next morning.

westcoast_sooner

8/16/2006, 11:52 PM

It was my 2nd RRS that year, and I remember driving over, listening to the radio on the way into the stadium and the guys saying how tough a game it was going to be yadayada....

We pull into the parking lot and my cell phone rings - it's a friend of mine from Houston who is an Aggie. She starts singing Boomer Sooner, which I now think was an omen.

When we score the first TD, a little voice in the back of my head says "the route is on" - which turned out to be true. By halftime the Orange end was nearly empty, and by the 4th the only people left were those wearing Crimson.

I listened to end of the K-State game on the radio in downtown San Francisco, hoping we would hold on to win, and watched the Nebraska game thinking what a great win.

All season, I kept thinking "these guys aren't that good" but they made a great TEAM.

And I remember the night of the National Championship game. I had to work a little late, and one of my co-workers from someplace in New England said that she wanted OU to win. Everyone thought we were such underdogs.

I got home about the end of the first quarter but was able to listen to the game on the radio on the trip home. What a game. I remember going to lunch the next day, and the only thing I wanted to do was read all of the newspapers I could find about how the Oklahoma Sooners were again the best team in the land.

Boomer Sooner

jwlynn64

8/17/2006, 01:47 AM

Torrence Marshall's crushing tackle in the backfield on the screen the Seminoles tried to run and have Bowden have to eat his words (and I'm paraphrasing) that the sooner's weren't in the same class as his athletes. He almost made me puke before the game with his Big 12 isn't even really a conference talk.

Frozen Sooner

8/17/2006, 01:52 AM

Man, I remember Marshall was just a terror on screens. Quincy Morgan from KSU still isn't the same.

Heh. I remember the announcers saying "KSU hasn't run their jailbreak screen to Morgan yet tonight, but that's something that could keep these blitz packages honest."

KSU ran it the next play and Marshall absolutely blew Morgan to pieces. I mean I have NEVER seen an LB get a cleaner hit on a WR and Torrance didn't waste the opportunity at all. "Splatter" was the word that came to mind.

The announcers immediately said "I guess that's why we haven't seen that play."

OK2LA

8/17/2006, 10:07 AM

* going back in time to run the option to perfection to seal the deal against K-State
*

Don't forget about fsu - we had a few option plays there that picked up KEY first downs - Josh did EVERYTHING he was asked, and then some

In regards to that fake punt - that was at BAMA - 2003? Not sure about the year . . .

OK2LA

8/17/2006, 10:09 AM

That season was magical.I smoked at least two packs of cigarettes everytime I watched a game on TV.The games where that exciting.

OMG! I almost fell out when I read that!

What do you do when you go to a Bruce Willis movie?

oKOIhoma fan

8/17/2006, 11:00 AM

the torrance INT at Kyle was the only time in nearly 30 years of watching OU football i found myself on the floor, on hands and knees barking like a dog at the TV.

I will never forget that play as long as I live. I had never been on such a roller coaster ride as that day. Pretty much accepting the fact that it was all over, then WHOA! HES GONNA GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MI Sooner

8/17/2006, 11:51 AM

Pricetag

8/17/2006, 12:30 PM

I lived in a relatively quiet apartment complex in Norman, and hadn't heard a peep all day watching the A&M game. During Marshall's INT return, you heard the spontaneous joyful screams of scores of people you didn't know were your neighbors. Once everyone realized we were all watching and yelling about the same thing, a "Boomer-Sooner" chant that lasted ten minutes ensued. I still get goosebumps. Best... play... EVAR. (Of course I've only been a fan since 1996).
A similar thing happened to me. We were watching with a bunch of friends at our apartment when the play happened and we erupted. Almost immediately, there was a knock at the door. My wife was sure it was management, ready to evict us, but it turned out to be a guy who was out doing a survey, heard the commotion, and had to find out what was going on with the game.

I'd love to have a videotape of what we must have looked like during the play.

GDC

8/17/2006, 12:40 PM

I disagree. The first time is always the best, and for me that was 1974.

Octavian

8/17/2006, 12:41 PM

I disagree. The first time is always the best, and for me that was 1974.

we still talkin about football? :texan:

GDC

8/17/2006, 12:45 PM

we still talkin about football? :texan:

Yes, that first time wasn't until 1979.:D

HarrisTubbsFan

8/17/2006, 01:38 PM

The 2000 season was just magical. We probably talentwise weren't that good and if you watched the first 3 or 4 games you would never think a Red October was going to happen like it did. But from October one it was just magical moment after magical moment. It nearly looked like it was going to end against Nebraska but then Heupel took over and Strait put that game away.

The 01 defense was better then the 00 defense. And the 03 offense was better then the 00 offense but there hasn't been a combination of great offense and great defense like that under Stoops.

You could see the other NCs coming though. In 1985 going in we had a team that was young that was coming off a season where they nearly won it.

1974 and 75 we hadn't lost a game under Switzer yet.

1950's we dominated that decade every year from 1948-1958. I think it's 10 losses in that 11 year period.

okienole3

8/17/2006, 01:39 PM

Magical season. I get goosebumps just thinking about T-Marsh and that return. One thing that sticks out to me when watching LA Sooner's highlight tape, is how quickly our guys were to turn up field and block after a turnover.

caphorns

8/17/2006, 02:50 PM

the torrance INT at Kyle was the only time in nearly 30 years of watching OU football i found myself on the floor, on hands and knees barking and licking my backside like a dog and humping my cat.

Good lord KC, did you wet the carpet?

King Crimson

8/17/2006, 02:54 PM

weak.

gnostic19

8/17/2006, 03:05 PM

The look of disbelieve on Bobby Bowden's face as he squinted through his wife's glasses as his team was systematically dismantled.

In all my years as a Sooner fan it is my favorite season, and most of my favorite players.

I'll never forget the look on his face. He looked as if someone had stolen his bicycle outside a 7-11. Utter disbelief and an inability to comprehend what had just happened to his team.

BTW, anyone have a link to LASooner's highlight vid everyone is talking about?