#1 – Oct. 7, 2000 – Oklahoma 63, Texas 14
Oklahoma’s start to what would become its undefeated national championship season in 2000 was solid through the first four games but didn’t really give the impression that extraordinary things were ahead.
The Sooners averaged 44 points in their first four games that season, all wins (over Texas-El Paso, Arkansas State, Rice and a not-very-good Kansas team).
The average margin of victory in those first four wins in Bob Stoops’ second season at the helm of the Oklahoma football program was 30 points, but you could hardly call any of the four opponents a good football team.
That would change, however, in game five that season, the Sooners annual brouhaha with Texas and Stoops’ second taste of the Red River Rivalry. Texas had beaten OU by 10 points the year before, 38-28, in what would be the first of 15 meetings between Stoops and Texas head coach Mack Brown (Stoops would go on to win nine of the 15 encounters).
This time around, though, the matchup featured two top-20 teams. OU came into the game as the No. 10 team in the nation, and the Longhorns were right behind at No. 11.
The game, however, wasn’t anywhere near as close as the two teams were in the rankings. Oklahoma rattled off 42 consecutive points before the Longhorns would reach the end zone for its first points in the game. Texas scored with three minutes left in the first half, making the score 42-7 in favor of the Sooners at the half.
OU was hardly finished for the day. The Sooners added two more touchdowns in the third quarter and a final TD in the fourth to finish out a 63-14 rout over their longtime rival from south of the Red River. The 49-point margin of victory represented the second largest in the 95-year history of the rivalry to that point. In 1950, Oklahoma defeated Texas 50-0 for just its second win in the first 11 games of what has become one of college football’s oldest continuous rivalries.
Oklahoma pounded the Texas defense, rolling up 534 yards of total offense in the 2000 game (289 passing and 245 rushing) to 158 for the Longhorns. The Sooners also ran 26 more plays in the game than Texas (84 to 58) and forced three Longhorn turnovers.
Recently, Bob Stoops called the win in the 2000 season over then-No. 1 Nebraska, which would occur three weeks after the lopsided victory over Texas, his most favorite game in his 18 seasons coaching at Oklahoma.
Stoops told Hale the Nebraska game that season was the one that kick-started everything and set the tone for all the consistency the Sooners have shown over the last 18 seasons.
To me, however, it was the one-sided victory over rival Texas game that season that really got things going for Stoops’ Sooners in the 2000 championship season and got them truly believing in themselves and gave them the confidence and perseverance to ride out the season undefeated.
Next: Bob Stoops exits stage left...after a most successful run
The perfect 13-0 season in 2000 was Oklahoma’s first undefeated campaign since 1974, ironically Barry Switzer’s second season as Sooner head coach and another national championship season (OU’s fourth to that point in history).