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Oklahoma football: Five standout Sooner season openers

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 10 : The Oklahoma Sooners meet on the field before the game against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks September 10, 2016 at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Warhawks 59-17. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** local caption ***
NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 10 : The Oklahoma Sooners meet on the field before the game against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks September 10, 2016 at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Warhawks 59-17. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** local caption *** /
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NORMAN, OK – SEPTEMBER 10 : A general view of the stadium during the game against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks September 10, 2016 at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Warhawks 59-17. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK – SEPTEMBER 10 : A general view of the stadium during the game against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks September 10, 2016 at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Warhawks 59-17. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /

September 6, 1986 — Oklahoma vs. UCLA

The Sooners opened the 1986 season coming off an 11-1 season and their sixth national championship, defeating then-No. 1 Penn State 25-10 in the Orange Bowl to take over the nation’s top spot.

Oklahoma carried over the No. 1 ranking from the previous season and were the preseason No. 1 heading into the 1986 season opener. The schedule maker that season didn’t do the Sooners any favors in the ’86 campaign, slotting fourth-ranked UCLA to kick things off that season. The one good thing about having to start the season going up against a top-five opponent was that the game was being played at OU.

This was the first-ever meeting between the Sooners and the Bruins of UCLA. The game was tied at three apiece after one quarter, but that was a close as UCLA would get for the rest of the afternoon.

The Bruins weren’t able to get much of anything going on offense, as the Oklahoma defense, the best in the nation the year before in the Sooners’ championship season, proved to be an unmovable object. That was not the case for the Oklahoma Wishbone offense. A writer for the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Oklahoma’s offensive line was so dominant that they few times the Sooners were stopped they stopped themselves, usually by trying to throw the ball.”

At the end of the day, the scoreboard read Oklahoma 38, UCLA 3, a great start to what turned out to be a second consecutive 11-1 season. The only Sooner loss in the 1986 season was a 28-16 loss at No. 2 Miami (Fla.), three week after the season-opening beatdown of UCLA.

The same Tribune writer who praised the dominance of the OU offensive line, also wrote in his postgame article, “UCLA might as well have tried to stop the sun from rising in the east.”

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