Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Five best Sooner teams of all-time

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 3: A member of the Oklahoma Sooners spirit squad celebrates a touchdown against the West Virginia Mountaineers October 3, 2015 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated West Virginia 44-24.(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 3: A member of the Oklahoma Sooners spirit squad celebrates a touchdown against the West Virginia Mountaineers October 3, 2015 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated West Virginia 44-24.(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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NORMAN, OK – SEPTEMBER 10 : An Oklahoma Sooners RUF/NEK waves a flag after a touchdown 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 : An Oklahoma Sooners RUF/NEK waves a flag after a touchdown 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 *** /

#1 1955 Oklahoma Sooners

I’m sure there will be some who will disagree with the choice of Bud Wilkinson’s 1955 Oklahoma football team as the best of all time in Sooner football history. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, especially when the selection criteria is subjectively based.

The 1955 Sooners completed a second-straight undefeated season, going 11-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big Seven Conference to edge out the Nebraska Cornhuskers by a single game for the league title, their ninth consecutive under Wilkinson.

Oklahoma began the season ranked No. 3 in the nation, the same place they ended the season the year before. After defeating unranked North Carolina by just seven points, 13-6, in the season opener, the pollsters dropped OU down to No. 5, their low point of the season. The Sooners put away Pittsburgh 26-14 the second week of the season, but in the eight remaining games in the regular season, no opponent got with 20 points of Oklahoma on the gridiron.

By the second weekend in November, Oklahoma had taken over the No. 1 ranking, and they would never fall lower than No. 2 until losing to Notre Dame in the marquee confrontation two months into the 1957 season that snapped the Sooners’ historic 47-game winning streak.

OU knocked off third-ranked Maryland in the Orange Bowl to cap off their second-straight undefeated season and secure the school’s second national championship.

Oklahoma had one of the country’s strongest rushing attacks in the 1955 season, and their defense may have been even better. The Sooners outscored their 11 opponents that season by the combined score of 306-34.

The Sooners threw barely over 100 passes the entire season in 1955, preferring to keep the ball on the ground. And man did they have a stable of backs that could tote the rock. The combination of quarterback Jimmy Harris, Tommy McDonald, Clendon Thomas, Robert Burris and Billy Pricer totaled over 2,000 rushing yards and over 300 yards per game.

McDonald was the team leader in both rushing and passing (but not as a quarterback) and was the Sooners’ second leading receiver that season.

At the end of the 1955 season, Oklahoma was 30 wins into its 47-game winning streak.

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