Five standout Oklahoma football bowl wins not for a national title
By Chip Rouse
No. 5 — 1981 Orange Bowl: Oklahoma 18, Florida State 17
The 1981 Orange Bowl game marked the third time Oklahoma and Florida State had met in a postseason bowl game, and the second consecutive season the Sooners and Seminoles had been matched up in the Orange Bowl. The Sooners beat an undefeated Florida State team 24-7 the year before.
The 1981 game featured a 10-1 Florida State team, ranked 5th in the Associated Press poll, against No. 3 Oklahoma with a 9-2 season record.
Florida State took a 7-3 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the score was tied at 10-all heading into the fourth quarter. An Oklahoma fumble in its own end zone was recovered by Florida State for what looked to be the final nail in the Sooners’ coffin, especially since time was ticking down and OU was pinned deep in its own territory after the Florida State kickoff.
That’s where Sooner quarterback J.C. Watts went to work engineering 78-yard touchdown drive, mostly through the air, which was something entirely foreign to a Barry Switzer-coached Sooner football team. The drive was capped off by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Watts to Steve Rhodes to pull Oklahoma within one point of tying the game.
With under a minute to go in the game, Switzer elected to go for a two-point conversion and the win. Watts found tight end Forrest Valora in the end zone to successfully complete the two-point conversion and give Oklahoma the lead, 18-17.
Florida State was able to advance the ball to midfield on its subsequent possession but a 62-yard field goal try fell harmlessly short of the mark, preserving OU’s come-from-behind victory and third consecutive Orange Bowl win.