1990 1990 looked to be the silver lining to the storm clouds that had been hanging around. We started out 5-0 and had not really been tested going into the Texas game. Friday night before the Texas game I get a phone call that my uncle in OKC had died. I call my best friend and told him I was not going to be able to go to the game. Saturday morning my wife and I got up and headed north while the Sooner faithful were headed south to Dallas. The Texas game should have been a win. This was one of the games that Gibbs let get away. The year before Texas gets the ball and drives down to score on their last possession to win the game. This year we have the ball driving to a game winning field goal. For some unknown reason, with no time outs left, we run the ball up the middle for no gain and then try to rush the field goal team in before the clock ticked down to zero. Lashar comes in and misses the field goal and an opportunity was wasted. The next week Iowa State came to town. We has not lost to Iowa State since Kennedy was in office but that was about to change. The Iowa state QB that day had just come back from arthroscopic knee surgery and gained, what appeared to be, 500 yards rushing on the QB draw. Iowa State got the ball and drove down on their last possession and we have two loses in a row. The next week we are off to Boulder for our third lose in a row but the season ended on a high note. Unlike some of the next few years this one wasn't hard to pick. My favorite game of 1990 was the Nebraska game. I don’t really think a lot of people harbored much hope but we ended up winning the game 45-10. The Nebraska QB, I believe it was Mickey Joseph, was run out of bounds and into the bench opening up a huge gash on his leg and Nebraska was never the same after that. That was a great way to end 1990 as we were on probation and not eligible for a bowl. We lost three games by scores of 14-13, 33-31 and 32-23. Two of those lose should have been wins but there was still hope that 1991 was going to be even better.
Interesting note about the 88-92 seasons. KSU sold us their home game and we ended up playing the Wildcats 5 straight years at home. I have never heard of anyone before or since doing such a thing.
1991 Once again the season started with high expectations. Once again things didn’t turn out quit like you would want them. The bad thing is we were saddened by the fact we were going 7-4, 8-4 and in 1991 9-3 with a bowl victory over Virginia. Little did we know that the worst was yet to come. Four games, four wins, and a number 5 ranking and then it was off to Dallas. Once again a close but no cigar, 10-7 lose, to a Texas team that ended the season 5-6. The following weak it was an embarrassing lose to Colorado at home. Then just like that we rip off four straight wins and look to be headed in the right direction before going to Lincoln for a 19-14 lose. A sound thumping of Virginia in the Gator Bowl looked good and we ended the season 9-3. My favorite game, that I witnessed, in 1991 was the OSU game. Nothing memorable about the game other then the fact we only led 7-6 going into the fourth quarter. What was really fun was the fact that OSU was a tie away from having a perfect record in 1991. Only a 6-6 tie with Iowa State kept the Cowboys from an 0-11 record. They scored a whopping 106 points in 11 games. What an offensive juggernaut. I don’t remember but they were probably calling this the best offense in the country that year too.
1992 Just like 1987 my favorite game is not a close game or a win over a big rival but the first home game of the season. The season was as bad as it got under Gary Gibbs. A final record of 5-4-2 was sad considering we should have beaten Colorado in Boulder and OSU in Stillwater but it was always shoulda, coulda, woulda under Gibbs. The Colorado game was won until Kenyon Rasheed fumbled the ball. All we have to do is basically run the clock out and Gibbs scores a victory over the Buffs. Once again the flying fickled finger of fate gave Gibbs the finger. Colorado sends in their backup kicker and he boots a 40-50 yard, I don’t remember exactly how far, knuckleball field goal that tied the game on the last play. If the play before we just interfere with the receiver they don’t complete a pass that put them in field goal range. Well enough of that on to the favorite game. Arkansas State rolled into town and my then 5 year old youngest son attended his first OU game. By this time the Ruf-Neks didn’t do the Schooner picture deal or I would have gotten his picture made on the Schooner, just like my oldest son in 1987. The final score was 61-0 but that didn’t matter to him. Just going to the game with all the sights, sounds and smells hooked him for life. In 2006 he attended his first ever OU football game without me. I know it probably didn’t mean anything to him but it was sad on my part thinking that of all the games he had been to I wasn’t there with him as he and a friend traveled to Columbia for the Missouri game. To make matters worse he also went to the OSU game and the Big 12 Championship game without me. I guess all good things must come to an end.
1993 1993 was the best team that Gary Gibbs had at OU. We were 9-3 for the season with loses to Colorado and a Kansas State team that was just emerging as a national power for the next decade. I really thought with this team Gibbs had turned the corner and he would be our coach for several years to come. The most impressive lose that a Gary Gibbs team suffered was to Nebraska. Nebraska was undefeated and got hosed in the Orange Bowl that year by the refs or they would have been the National Champions instead of Florida State. In a bitter cold day in Lincoln OU scored first and held a 7-0 lead through the first quarter. Nebraska tied it in the second quarter and the two teams went into the half tied at 7. No scoring in the third quarter left it 7-7 entering the final period. But early in the fourth stanza Nebraska scored and on the ensuing kickoff recovered a fumble inside the Sooner twenty. One play later and it was 21-7 and pretty much over. The Sooners had more yards rushing, passing and had time of possession but three fumbles lost and 7 penalties did them in. To end the season OU crushed Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl but as far as Gibbs was concerned that was as good as his career was going to get. Now onto the favorite game I attended. The OSU game in 1993 started out just like any other OU/OSU game but as it went on you could tell something was really different. Possession after possession was three and out for the Cowboys. It got to where you wanted them to get the ball just to see the dominance of our defense. It wasn’t like they were turning the ball over as they only threw one interception and lost no fumbles that entire day. It was the most total manhandling I have ever seen in any college football game. When the game was over the Cowboys had not earned a single first down and had only gained one due to an OU penalty. So complete was the dominance that OSU only had 31 total yards offense. 33 yards rushing and -2 passing. This was not only my favorite game of 1993 but my favorite OSU game of all time. Good fun.
1994 1994 is about as nondescript a season as I can remember. After a promising 9-3 season the year before this year was terrible. One of the most memorable things that happened at a game in 1994 was the airplane pulling the banner at the Kansas State game. Delta Airlines used to have as their slogan “Delta is ready when you are”. Well along in the second quarter I look up and there is a plane pulling a banner that said “Hey Gibbs, Delta is ready when you are”. I nearly fell out of my seat. Needless to say the writing was on the wall or at least in the air. To make matters worse we go and play in the Copper Bowl against BYU and get blown away 30-3. Even as bad as the next coach was he wasn’t even able to recruit until after we played in our bowl game setting up back a whole requiting class. As far as a favorite game in 1994 I guess I will just have to say the 30-13 win against Missouri. It was the last win at home in Gary Gibbs head coaching career. The official attendance at that game was a meagerly 54,463. As sad as that was the worst was yet to come. Do I smell alcohol in the air?
1995 With much fanfare Howard $chnellenberger was hired as the new Oklahoma head coach. The man that put Miami football on the map. The man that “wasn’t hired to run the wishbone”. The man that treated Al Echsbach like the moron he really is. At least the last one was fun to watch. Everyone was excited as the first game of the season rolled around. The fans, the team and yes the scalpers. The first game of 1995 was the first time in years I saw people asking more then face value for tickets, and getting it. That was to be short lived. We started out with three straight wins and ranked in the top ten when ESPN Game Day came to town for the very first time. That night the Colorado Buffalos made us look bad. Really bad. It would be many years before Game Day ventured into Norman but when they did what a day it was. Before I get to my favorite game I want to mention my least favorite that I possible ever attended home or away. Since I did not go to the Orange Bowl against USC this was by and far the most miserable time I have ever had at a game. That would be the Kansas State game in Manhattan. We got rocked 49-10 by a KSU team that was on the rise and along with their fans ready to take out years of frustration on our team and fans. We were cussed, ridiculed and basically abused, leaving the stadium, and that was by this 80 year old woman that walked by us. Worst road trip I have ever made. The worst game I have ever attended at home might have been the next week when $chnellenberger turned down several opportunities to kick field goals and we got shutout by OSU. How sad is it when you beat a team and then print bumper stickers that just say 12 on them or make medals for your senior graduates that have 12-0 on it. Anyway, my favorite game of 1995 would have to be the first game of the season against San Diego State. This game marked the first time both of my boys and I attended a game together. It was not to be the last but it was the first and that made it really special to me. That we won the game 38-22 was of little significance to just being there with my kids.
1996 Well the Big 8 is now the Big 12 and we have the biggest coach in the league. Even though Barry Switzer endorsed him I never felt good about the Blake hire from the start. Maybe it was just the sting of our last coach but you have to give him a chance. The season started off with four very embarrassing loses to TCU, San Diego State, Tulsa and Kansas. I saw someone ask the other day how we could have lost to a crappy San Diego State team. The answer was we were crappier then they were. In fact we were worse then most of the teams we played that year. In our first four games we gave up an average of 38.5 points a game. Week five took us to Dallas and of course my favorite game of 1996. For the first time in a long time I went to Dallas with no real enthusiasm. After scores at home like 51-31 and 52-24 there was no real reason to expect anything different. The game played out about as expected through the first 3 quarters but then the ghost of Bud must have looked down and said enough is enough. Trailing 24-13 in the fourth quarter one of my favorite, non Joe Washington, plays of all time occurred. Jarrail Jackson took a punt at around midfield and run it up the east sideline for a touchdown cutting the lead to 24-19. A two point conversion later and the lead for Texas was only 24-21 with a lot of time still left in the game. We held the Longhorns on their next possession and drove down to kick a field goal with 4 or 5 minutes to go in the game to tie it at 24. This was the point in the game against Texas that we had give the game away the last several years and the way things had been going this year I had no reason to think things would be different. Boy was I wrong. With less than two minutes to play we got one of the worst calls I had ever seen. James Allen took a pitch and made, in my opinion, the best run of his Sooner career. When the Longhorns finally stopped him he was on the one yard line having scampered 45 yards or so. But wait, there’s a flag on the play. Holding on Oklahoma 15 yards behind Allen. At this point I am thinking there just went our last best chance to win. As time expired in regulation I had a bad feeling. I think it was just the red beans and rice I had eaten at the food court at the fair earlier in the day. Texas got the ball first and we held them to a field goal. Then it was the James Allen show. On this day James Allen ran like I saw him run for the Wynnewood Savages in his high school career. Allen touched the ball on every play in OT. Ten yards on first down. Two yards on second down. Three yards on second down. Facing third down and five Allen takes a screen pass and runs it down to the two yard line. On the next play the south half of the Cotton Bowl erupted as Allen took a pitch and plowed into the end zone for an amazing 30-27 win. What a huge first win for John Blake and the Sooners. With renewed enthusiasm my best friend and I made the trek to Waco the next week only to see the Sooners play more like they had the first four games then the last half in the Cotton Bowl. We held on to win over 28-24 over a fairly bad Baylor team. With only three wins in 1996 and a 0-5 record at home things didn’t look real rosy going into 1997.
1997 1997 started like 1996 ended, with a lose to Northwestern in Chicago. The next week was my favorite game of 1997. It’s sort of sad when your favorite game comes this early in the season meaning that not much good happened the rest of the year. Syracuse came to town with Donovan McNabb in tow. If not for the fact his mom fed him to much Chunky Soup we might not have won this game. Down 21-17 at halftime and 28-23 at the end of the third quarter the Sooners rallied to take a 36-34 lead while poor Donovan was puking up his toenails on the sideline. Syracuse got the ball back one last time and drove down into field goal range only to have the attempt block preserving the victory. Fans were going nuts. We were all high fiving thinking this was the start of something good. Sadly we were wrong. I just wanted to throw in my least favorite game and in my opinion the game that started, if it wasn’t already happening, the end of John Blake. Lawrence Kansas was beautiful this early October Saturday and hopes for a win were buoyed by the fact we were coming off a victory at home against Louisville. Oklahoma led by Justin Fuentes took a 10-3 lead into halftime and had pretty much controlled the game up to that point even though they only led by 7. To start the second half Fuentes was on the bench and never took the field again. We all thought he had been injured only to find out later it was just another John Blake mistake by pulling Fuentes. The defense gave up a 99 yard touch down but late in the fourth quarter OU was driving the ball to take the lead and win the game when we had a procedure penalty. We were eating up huge hunks of yardage but instead of going for it on fourth down Blake elected to kick a field goal to tie the game. Instead it was blocked and OU lost 20-17. Dick Winder and Justin Fuentes could have been the saviors of John Blake but he basically took the ball out of Fuentes hands and control of the offense from Winder. After floundering on offense for pretty much the rest of the season Fuentes and Winder teamed up to show what might have been in 1997 when the Sooners scored 32 points, after only scoring 28 combined in the previous four games, and beat Texas Tech 32-21. 1998 was looking about the same as 1997, gloomy.
1998 Despite Dick Winder being fired and Justin Fuentes transferring the year began like 1997 ended with a win. Two wins in a row and on to Ft Worth to take on the Horn Frogs. I didn’t make the TCU game but I have heard there are people that still have not dried out. I was in OKC that evening and listened to the game on the radio. I was away from the radio at the end of the game when OU was trailing 9-0 and figured it was over. My wife and I returned to the car to hear Bob Barry yelling Sooners Win! Sooners Win! I said we have to get back to the motel because I have to see how this happened. Five of the next six games were loses probably sealing Blakes fate at OU. But wait, what’s this, three of the last four games are wins and that leads me to my favorite game of 1998. The Texas Tech game was a night game and for the first and only time in my life I was conflicted on whether or not to pull for a Sooner win. I worried that if we won the game John Blake would be granted another year at the helm. Still with all of the conflicted feelings I still pulled for a Sooner victory. Oklahoma won the game 20-17 despite getting pretty much outplayed. If not for three Tech turnover it might have been another lose. So with the evening coming to an end everyone wondered if John had saved his job or just ended his Sooner coaching career with a victory. It was the latter. I just want to add a side note. Like Gary Gibbs, John Blake was a Sooner player, assistant coach and our head coach and he will always be a Sooner and for that I thank him.
I will crank out 1999 tomorrow. Just glad to see someone is interested in my rehashing of Sooner glory. I figured I better get finished with these before Alzheimer’s set in.
My work on Sunday mornings was always dead, and we'd bring in the Sunday paper and write funny speech balloons on the pictures. I chose a big color photo of Joe Castiglione shaking hands with John Blake after the Tech win. I wrote a "You're still fired." balloon from Joe C.
1999 The 1999 season actually began on December 1st 1998. That was the day that Bob Stoops was hired as our new head coach. December 1st 1998 is a day I will never forget. From 1996 until 2002 my work took me all over the state of Oklahoma. On this particular day I had to drive from OKC up to Alva to check on a job that was in progress at the phone office there. On my way back to OKC the press conference came on the radio announcing the Bob Stoops era was beginning at OU. As I drove along I wondered if we had made the right hire. I was leery of hiring a defensive guy and trying to win every game with our defense. Not being in any hurry to get back to OKC I just meandered my way back to I-35, stopping in Hennessey to get something to drink, and all the while hearing that there would be “No Excuses”. Boy I hope he is telling the truth. I turned off of highway 51 onto I-35 and headed south to my motel. Just north of Guthrie my pager went off so I got off the interstate at the Lazy E exit and called home to see why my wife had paged me. She said that I need to get to my brother’s house in Norman that he had had a heart attack. I could hear my youngest son as he got on the phone crying and saying I love you daddy. I told him I loved him too and he said please be careful. I got back on the interstate and had gone about a mile when it dawned on me. If he was alive she would have said I needed to go to the hospital in Norman not to his house. I got on my cell phone and called home. When my wife answered the phone I said Dales dead isn’t he. There was a long pause on the other end and finally she said yes. She told me she didn’t want me to know because she was afraid I would be too upset to drive. My brother was a sergeant on the Norman police department when he died. They had to have his funeral at the Lloyd Noble Center to accommodate all the people. I did not go to a single OU basketball game in the 1998/1999 season because I couldn’t make myself go to watch a ball game where they had had my brother’s funeral. The 1999/2000 season I only made a couple of games and had to leave once because I just couldn't set there. I now go to as many games today, men’s and women’s, as I always did before and for the most part I don’t think about it. But every now and then I will be watching a game when an eerie sensation will come over me and a tear will come to my eye. Boy, I sure wish they had not had his funeral there. Yes December 1st 1998 is a day that I will never forget. I will do the 1999 football season later tonight or tomorrow.
1999 The 1999 season began with three pretty impressive wins over some pretty poor teams. It was then off to South Bend and a date with the Fighting Irish. If we had won this game it would have been my favorite game of 1999, but as it was, still one of the best places I have ever watched a football game. The College Football Hall Of Fame was fun and someone even hung a picture of Barry Switzer in the coach’s hall of fame section. Bar none the people in South Bend were the friendliest I have ever encountered at an away game. The older guy that took my oldest sons and my tickets even apologized for the weather. Paul Horning walked right by me and I just stood there, not even taking his picture. The rudest fans were last year but that’s seven years away in the telling. The next week was the Texas game and my youngest sons first trip to Dallas. When OU went up 17-0 I was sure this was the year but just like the Notre Dame game a huge lack of defense proved to be our undoing and at halftime it was tied 17-17 only to lose 38-28. The next week was an open week and then Texas A&M came to town. 5-1 and ranked 13th in the country I wasn’t too optimistic about winning this game. But lo and behold this game became my favorite game in 1999. Until 2003 this was the worst we had ever pounded the Aggies. Time after time after time we would line up in “The Ninja” and time after time after time we would pick up huge chunks of yardage. Everyone around us was high-fiveing and going nuts as we continued to just pour it on leading 34-6 at the half. The second half didn’t get any better for RC and Reveille left town with his tail between his legs licking a 51-6 wound. Just a couple of more things about 1999 before I move on to 2000. This year also marked the first true away game my youngest son when we went to Ames for the ISU game. November 13 and they set a record high that day. It was also a turning point in our offense as Q made his debut as a starter. All in all 1999 was a breath of fresh air, even though we lost to Mississippi in the Porta-Potty Bowl, after watching the last five years play out like a slow motion car wreak. Boy I sure hope 2000 is even better. If we can just play some defense we might be pretty good.
