Oklahoma football: Ranking the all-time, top-10 Sooner QBs
By Chip Rouse
No. 4 — Steve Davis, Oklahoma quarterback (1973-75)
Steve Davis was the Oklahoma quarterback during the early Wishbone era in the 1970s. He joins Jimmy Harris as the only two OU quarterbacks to lead two national championship teams.
Nearly two decades after Harris led Oklahoma to back-to-back national titles in 1955 and 1956, Davis did it with the 1974 and 1975 Sooner teams.
Davis started every game in Barry Switzer’s first three seasons as the Sooners’ head coach. His incredible record over that stretch was 32-1-1. Oklahoma tied Southern California in the second game of the 1973 season in Davis second game as the starting quarterback. After that, OU would not lose in 28 consecutive outings. In Davis’ 31st game as the OU quarterback, the Sooners were upset by Kansas, 23-3, the only loss Davis would experience in his three seasons at Oklahoma.
The one loss and the tie were all that prevented Davis from equaling Harris’ incredible feat of going undefeated as the Oklahoma quarterback.
In his career, Davis produced 2,058 rushing yards and 1,973 through the air. He accounted for 27 rushing touchdowns and 21 passing.
In a 2013 article in the Oklahoma City Oklahoman reporting on Davis’ tragic death in a plane crash sports columnist Berry Tramel wrote:
"“He wasn’t OU’s flashiest optioneer, but he rivaled Jimmy Harris, Bud Wilkinson’s unbeaten quarterback from the 1950s, as the most efficient.”"
After his football career at Oklahoma, Davis became a college football analyst for ABC-TV.