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Oklahoma football: The 10 best teams of the Wilkinson-Switzer-Stoops eras

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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No. 9 — 1974 Oklahoma Sooners (11-0, 7-0), national champions
No. 9 — 1974 Oklahoma Sooners (11-0, 7-0), national champions /

Barry Switzer was in his second season as head coach in 1974. His team had gone undefeated the year before, but the Sooners were placed on NCAA probation for the 1973-75 seasons because of recruiting violations.

The probation placed a number of restrictions on OU for the 1974 season, including exclusion from the Coaches Poll Top 25 as well as ineligibility to participate in a postseason bowl. The Sooners also could not appear on network television.

Despite those obstacles, the 1974 Sooners opened the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the Associated Press Poll. The Sooners began the season with four straight wins, including a 16-13 win over archrival Texas in the annual Red River battle royal. OU rolled over its first three opponents (Baylor, Utah State and Wake Forest) by the combined score of 163-14.

Texas was the only opponent to come within 13 points of the 1974 Sooners. Behind the great Joe Washington and quarterback Steve Davis leading Oklahoma’s vaunted Wishbone attack, the Sooners averaged almost 74 running plays per game that season, which still stands as an NCAA record, according to the 2018 Oklahoma Football Media Guide. The Sooners were also especially strong on the defensive side of the ball.

Oklahoma finished the season as the only undefeated team in NCAA Division I and ended the year right where it began, as the top-rated team in the AP poll, earning the school’s fourth national championship and the first under Switzer.

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