'Play Like a Champion Today' was a tradition for Oklahoma long before Notre Dame

One of Notre Dame’s most prized football traditions actually belongs to the Oklahoma Sooners. And quite frankly, OU fans are tired of the Fighting Irish claiming it as their own and getting the credit for having one of the coolest traditions in college football.

It’s “Traditions Week” for Stormin’ In Norman, so it’s a perfect time to not only celebrate all of the Sooners’ great traditions, which we have, but also use this time as a reminder that one in particular originated in Norman, not South Bend. If Notre Dame fans also partook in “Traditions Week” and ranked their favorite traditions like we did, players tapping the “Play Like A Champion Today” sign as they exit the tunnel would probably top the list. Notre Dame has tried so hard to make the tradition their own that the rest of college football has even fallen for it.

But history doesn’t lie.

Read more: Oklahoma football traditions fans outside of Sooner Nation just wouldn't understand

History proves the Sooners started Notre Dame's most iconic football tradition

Trying to motivate his team right before taking the field for a game, legendary OU football coach Bud Wilkinson way back in the late 1940s first put up a sign that had the iconic phrase in red letters in the tunnel between the Sooners' walk from their locker room to Owen Field. A similar sign has been there ever since and every Sooner that has come through the historic program has tapped the phrase on game day on their way to Owen Field for battle.

It wasn't until about four decades later ahead of the 1986 season when Lou Holtz put up a sign with the same phrase at Notre Dame Stadium. The Fighting Irish then mimicked the Sooners by tapping the sign above while walking through their tunnel. Thanks to an NBC camera eventually being placed inside the tunnel, tapping the sign became synonymous with the Fighting Irish as they claimed the routine as their own.

The history behind the sign is actually murky at Notre Dame, though. The story is that Holtz saw a picture of the sign with the same phrase hung up in the tunnel as he was searching through a Notre Dame history book. But as he started to asked about it, no one really knew anything about the sign.

Regardless, even if the Fighting Irish did at one point briefly have a similar sign up, it was far from being a tradition until Holtz made it one in the '80s. But at the Barry Switzer Center, everyone inside the walls knows that Wilkinson was responsible for bringing the tradition to Oklahoma, as well as three national titles.

Today, a sign that reads "Play Like A Champion Today" is still up in the tunnel at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Players reach up and tap it with their hands as they exit the tunnel, then when they take the field, there's a crimson banner that has the same phrase that's surrounded by flags that represent the Sooners' seven national titles to prove they also back up the phrase. Even when Oklahoma is away from Norman, a replica of the sign travels so players can still keep the tradition on the road.

Arguing over an old sign seems like a mute point to some, but traditions do still matter to fans, no matter how much college football tries to erase them. Oklahoma is a storied program, so the Sooners deserve to get credit where it's due.

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