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Oklahoma football: Ranking the the Sooner teams of the past seven decades

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 29: Oklahoma Sooners fans wait to enter the east side of the stadium before the game against the Kansas Jayhawks October 29, 2016 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 29: Oklahoma Sooners fans wait to enter the east side of the stadium before the game against the Kansas Jayhawks October 29, 2016 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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#4 — 1980s Oklahoma Sooners football (91-26-2)

The 1980s were exciting times for Oklahoma football. Barry Switzer took over for Chuck Fairbanks following the 1972 season. As the Sooners offensive coordinator under Fairbanks, Switzer introduced the Wishbone offense, a triple option attack that originated in Texas, but it was Oklahoma that arguably perfected it.

The Sooners were still running the vaunted Wishbone offense in the 1980s, during which Oklahoma won a national championship (1985) five conference crowns under Switzer’s leadership.

Switzer’s 16-year run as the Sooners’ head coach came to an end following the 1988 season as the football program encountered a series of off-the-field issues that ultimately led to Switzer being forced to step down.

OU’s 1985 team began the season as the second-ranked team in the country. A loss at home to the unranked Miami (Florida) Hurricanes dropped the Sooners down to No. 10 in the national rankings, but Oklahoma would go on to win eight consecutive games, capped off by a 25-10 Orange Bowl victory over then-No. 1 Penn State to emerge as the national champion.

Some of the Sooner stars of this era were two-time All-Americans Keith Jackson (TE), Anthony Phillips (OL), Mark Hutson (OL) and Terry Crouch (OL) on offense and defensive players Brian Bosworth (LB), Tony Casillas (DL), Rick Bryan (DL).

A team-record 13 Oklahoma players were selected in the 1988 NFL Draft, including two first-round picks: DB Ricky Dixon, taken fifth overall by the Cincinnati Bengals, and TE Keith Jackson, selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 13th overall pick.

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