Everyone who watches college football knows the Sooner Schooner sprints across Owen Field after every Oklahoma touchdown, that OU fans chant "Boomer Sooner" back and forth loud enough to shake Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and that the Pride of Oklahoma will play "Boomer Sooner" every chance they get. However, there are some OU football traditions that only members of Sooner Nation understand and outsiders have no idea about.
Read more: Ranking Oklahoma's 5 best football traditions
Here's a few of those traditions that will bring a smile to the face of true OU fans and leave anyone outside of Sooner Nation just not understanding.
Throwing the ball out of the stadium
Any time an opposing team kicks a field goal or PAT into the crowd behind the goal post at the north end zone, whichever OU fan catches it immediately passes the ball back before it goes up row by row, or just thrown to the top, before eventually reaching the top and getting launched out of Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
When did this tradition start? No one really knows. Who started it? Who knows. Why do OU fans even do it? Who cares. This tradition has somehow become a fan favorite among Sooner Nation that opponents likely hate.
The tradition of throwing the opponent’s football out of the stadium in the north end zone.
— The REF (@KREFsports) November 30, 2023
OU fans, do you love this tradition? pic.twitter.com/mNbIFvCV3d
Pregame Sooner Swirl(s) at The Mont
Almost every OU fan over the age of 21 has spent time before a game on the corner of Classen Boulevard and Boyd Street at The Mont, which has been located next to campus since 1976. The Mont is famous for their Sooner Swirl, a cocktail with margarita and sangria that has kept the staple restaurant in business this long and become a pre-game staple. The Mont is packed on game days as OU fans consume a Sooner Swirl (or two or three) before walking to Memorial Stadium.
"Home of the SOONERS!"
As the Star-Spangled Banner starts to end before a game, OU fans go from a quiet sing-along to screaming, "O'er the land of the free and the home of the SOONERS!" It's an eruption that jolts opposing fans after every OU fan in the stadium anticipated it the whole time. I've even heard this at local high school sporting events from OU fans in attendance. It's such a tradition that it's like a habit among Sooner Nation at this point.
Strolling through Heisman Park
This is something almost no other fan base can really comprehend. Every campus across the country has a statue or two of former legendary athletes, but the Sooners have had so many Heisman Trophy winners (seven, to be exact) that OU was able to create a tradition of winners getting a statue to build an entire park dedicated to the legends like Baker Mayfield and Billy Sims.
Most fans might not even realize they do it, but it's hard to be on campus, especially before a game, and not take a stroll through Heisman Park to feel proud of the Sooners' history and even get a picture with your favorite Heisman Trophy winner. Every OU man's wife, mom and/or grandma defintely has a picture with the Baker Mayfield statue.
Add us as a preferred source on Google