Oklahoma football: The 10 best teams of the Wilkinson-Switzer-Stoops eras
By Chip Rouse
No. 7 — 1954 Oklahoma Sooners (10-0, 6-0), Big Seven champions
In 1954, Oklahoma was into the second season of its epic 47-game winning streak.
The Sooners opened the 1954 campaign, their 60th season of college football, with consecutive wins over three ranked nonconference opponents (California, TCU and Texas) and then rolled through the Big Seven Conference undefeated, posting four shutouts in their six conference wins. It was the eighth consecutive league championship for Bud Wilkinson in as many seasons as the head coach at Oklahoma.
Despite going undefeated and winning the Big Seven Conference, the Sooners did not go to the postseason that year because of a conference rule prohibiting the league champion from going to the Orange Bowl (which had a contract with the Big Seven) in back-to-back seasons. OU had defeated No. 1-ranked Maryland the season before in the Orange Bowl.
OU averaged 356 yards per game running the football, led by Bob Herndon and Buddy Leake, and only threw a total of 86 passes all season in Wilkinson’s Split-T offense.
Oklahoma finished the 1954 season ranked No. 3 in both major polls (the AP and the Coaches Poll).