Oklahoma football countdown: What No. 6 means in Sooner history
By Chip Rouse
Six days and counting toward the opening whistle signaling the kickoff of another Oklahoma football season.
Which has us pondering the significance of the No. 6 in Sooner football history. The most obvious connection is the jersey number of the two-time, Heisman Trophy-finalist Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield. who begins his third season at Oklahoma and is hoping to lead OU to its third consecutive Big 12 championship.
Mayfield ran for six touchdowns in 2016 and passed for 40 more scores.
The Sooners will play six home games in 2017, the first of which will be on Saturday afternoon against the University of Texas-El Paso. OU also will entertain nonconference opponent Tulane and four Big 12 opponents: Iowa State, Texas Tech, TCU and West Virginia.
In 1985, Oklahoma went 10-1 in the regular season and a perfect 7-0 in the conference to win the Big Eight championship. The Sooners’ lone loss that season was a 13-point defeat at home to the Miami (Florida) Hurricanes, a game in which starting OU quarterback Troy Aikman broke his ankle and would never play another game for the Sooners. Aikman’s replacement was little known freshman Jamelle Holieway, who went on to lead OU to eight consecutive wins thereafter and the school’s sixth national championship.
The Sooners’ capped off their 1985 national championship season with a 25-10 Orange Bowl victory over previously No. 1 Penn State. Andre Johnson. a junior defensive back on that Oklahoma team, wore the No. 6 on the defense.
Wide receiver Antwone Savage donned the No. 6 jersey on Oklahoma’s 2000 national championship team. Savage caught 150 passes for 1,910 yards and 13 touchdowns in a four-year Sooner football career.