Let us put this game in perspective.
Oklahoma has not beaten Notre Dame in my lifetime.
And that is a long time.
Not since 1956, when Coach Bud Wilkinson took Jimmy Harris, Tommy McDonald and the rest of the Sooners to South Bend and whipped Notre Dame 40-0.
That day the Sooner players carried Wilkinson off the field on their shoulders.
But the Fighting Irish have been delivering revenge ever since. Seven Oklahoma losses. The closest the Sooners have come to winning was when Coach Bob Stoops took Josh Heupel, Quentin Griffin and the rest of the Sooners to South Bend and lost 34-30.
I was at that game in 1999. Sitting in the north end zone of Notre Dame stadium as the game wound down I remember thinking it was about as good a loss as a loss can be. It signaled the end of the dark abyss in which Oklahoma football had wallowed in the years previous. Too bad it was a still loss to Notre Dame.
I was at that game in 1999. Sitting in the north end zone of Notre Dame stadium as the game wound down I remember thinking it was about as good a loss as a loss can be. It signaled the end of the dark abyss in which Oklahoma football had wallowed in the years previous. Too bad it was still a loss to Notre Dame.
I know Stoops said this week that this game between two of the winningest programs in the history of college football is just another game.
It doesn’t matter to him what the history is. Frankly, that is the attitude you want. If these coaches and players spend much time reading the history of this game they might think Touchdown Jesus has prophesized that Oklahoma will never win again.
Fans might think 1956 has no bearing on 2013 too. I watched the film of the 1956 game earlier this week on Fox Sports Oklahoma. In some ways college football today no more resembles the 1950s version of football than my car resembles an Edsel.
The spread offense, high-pass, play-in-space football that marks the college game today is fairly distant from Coach Wilkinson’s football. Players are bigger and faster too.
But…
An interesting message was coming from Stoops this week. Hunter and I attended Stoops’ radio show at Rudy’s Barbecue here in Norman on Tuesday night to hear firsthand the coach’s take on this upcoming game.
Stoops sounded a lot like Bud Wilkinson. My memory of Bud is not as a football coach (hey, I’m not THAT old), but as the color commentator for ABC Sports, including for the OU-Nebraska Game of the Century in 1971.
Wilkinson’s message was clear. The kicking game. Field position. Turnovers. Those are the keys to success, or failure.
That’s what Wilkinson always said.
Tuesday night that’s what Stoops said.
So, if No. 14 Oklahoma can win the turnover stats, make No. 22 Notre Dame have to drive long against this upstart defense lead by Charles Tapper, and can get some points from the kicking game that has punt returner Jalen Saunders, the closest thing to smoke through a keyhole since Little Joe Washington, then they will be baking from the Bud Wilkinson recipe.
And, they will be enhancing the odds of a Sooner victory in South Bend (note, the Vegas gurus put Oklahoma at a 3 1/2 point favorite).
Still, that 1956 Notre Dame team was not as good as this one. That team went 2-8. This Irish team is coming off a game in last year’s national championship. The Irish are the most physical team the Sooners will play. The 2012 Notre Dame defensive line allowed only 15 Oklahoma rushing yards last year and most of those gold-domers are back. It will be a tough battle in the trenches.
Coach Stoops will have to study Bud’s book closesly. More importantly, the players will have to perform per Bud’s recipe in order for Oklahoma to win.
It will help that, like in 1956, the Sooners have a quarterback who can run and an option game that can keep the Irish guessing.
So, this week we are channeling some Bud Wilkinson — the last Sooners coach to get a victory in this game. The only one to get a win over the Irish. Ever.
I was born two years after the ’56 win. I would like to at least see one Oklahoma win over Notre Dame in my lifetime.
The best opportunity for that is Saturday; maybe with a little “Luck of the Wilkinson.”
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