Oklahoma football: Ranking the Sooners six Heisman winners
By Chip Rouse
No. 1 – Running back Billy Sims, 1978 Heisman Trophy winner
The Oklahoma Football Media Guide describes Billy Sims as “a 6-foot, 205-pound running back from Hooks, Texas, (who) swept through defenses like a tornado flying across the Oklahoma landscape.”
Sims led the Sooners to an 11-1 season in 1978 and the Big Eight championship. He piled up a whopping 1,896 rushing yards that season, averaging over seven yards every time he carried the ball. He exceeded 200 yards on the ground in four different games that season, That stands as a school record for a single season. He exceeded 200 yards seven times at Oklahoma.
The Sooners only loss in the 1978 season was in game No. 10, the annual rivalry battle with Nebraska. The 1978 game was in Lincoln, Nebraska. Sims ran for 153 yards that day, but also committed a crucial fumble. The Cornhuskers prevailed 17-14 on that chilly fall afternoon, but Sims and OU were able to avenge that loss in a rematch in the Orange Bowl in postseason, defeating the Huskers 31-24.
Sims played one more year at Oklahoma and had another sensational season. He rushed for 1,670 yards in 1979 and again averaged close to seven yards a pop.
A two-time consensus All-American, Sims held the Sooners’ career rushing record until Samaje Perine took over the top spot by four yards (4,122 to Sims’ 4,118 yards)
In 1980, arguably Oklahoma’s greatest running back, if not greatest player of all time, became the No, 1 overall player selected (by the Detroit Lions) in the NFL Draft that year (Sims is one of four Oklahoma players all-time that have gone No. 1 in the draft).
Statistics and information for this article were referenced from the 2017 Oklahoma Football Media Guide.
.