Five Toughest Oklahoma Football Opponents All-Time
By Chip Rouse
No. 3 – The Trojan Wars Have Not Been Kind to the Sooners
Technically, Oklahoma has lost five straight games to the University of Southern California (USC). The two schools have not played since the national championship game in the Orange Bowl to conclude the 2004 season. That was a game that most Sooner fans will not forget.
No. 2 Oklahoma was going up against No. 1-ranked USC in a game that featured the last two Heisman Trophy winners in quarterbacks Jason White (2003) and USC’s Matt Leinart (2004). Everything was going good for the Sooners with Oklahoma scoring on its opening drive of the game, but that’s when the bottom dropped out on the Sooners and their undefeated season.
USC would score 55 of the next 58 points in the contest on the way to a 55-19 rout of the Sooners.
In small consolation to Oklahoma the USC win in the 2004 national championship game was later vacated because of NCAA violations surrounding the Trojans’ Reggie Bush. But the damage had long been done and still is stings all these years later.
The first game between Oklahoma and USC was in 1963. The Sooners won that game, played at USC, 17-12 in Bud Wilkinson’s final season at OU. The Sooners went on to win two of the first three meetings.
The two teams played again the following year, in 1964, with USC prevailing 40-14 at OU.
They would not meet again until 1971. With the Sooners ranked No. 8 and USC at No. 14, Oklahoma won 33-20 in front of the home folks. OU was ranked No. 8 again in 1973, when the Sooners visited No. 1 USC. That game ended in a 7-7 tie.
Overall, USC holds a 6-2-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Sooners (including the 55-19 drubbing in the 2004 national championship).
Next: No. 4 - Be Ware of Hurricane Season