In 1950, its fourth season under head coach Bud Wilkinson, Oklahoma ran the table, mowing down 10 regular-season opponents to finish the regular season 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country by the Associated Press college football poll.
As the champions of the Big Seven Conference, the Sooners were extended an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year's Day in 1951, where their opponent was to be the Kentucky Wildcats, champions of the SEC. The Wildcats, coached by the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant, ended the regular season with a 10-1 record and a No. 7 ranking in the AP poll.
Bryant was in his fifth season at Kentucky, where he had put together a record of 39-13-2 (.722). It was only his sixth year in what would become a 38-year career as a college head coach at four different schools. Wilkinson was 38-3-1 in his first four seasons at OU. He would go on to coach the Sooners for 17 seasons. His .826 winning percentage is the third-best of any Oklahoma head coach.
Oklahoma's appearance in the 1951 Sugar Bowl was its fifth in a postseason bowl and its third in the Sugar Bowl. The Sooners were 3-1 in their four previous bowl assignments and 2-0 in the Sugar Bowl.
Oklahoma was riding a record 31-game winning streak coming into the 1951 Sugar Bowl. The Sooners had not lost a game since a 20-17 loss at Santa Clara in the season opener of the 1948 season.
Flashback to Oklahoma and Kentucky's first meeting
To counter Oklahoma's lightning-quick split-T offense and punishing rushing attack, Bryant used four defensive tackles and as many as nine men on the line of scrimmage. That approach paid off right from the start, as the Kentucky defensive pressure forced a fumble by OU quarterback Chuck Arnold on the Sooners' first offensive play of the game. Kentucky recovered the ball at the Oklahoma 22-yard line, and on the next play, Wildcat quarterback Babe Parilli threw a touchdown pass for a quick 7-0 Kentucky lead.
Kentucky scored again in the second quarter after an Oklahoma drive stalled at the Wildcat 31-yard line. The Wildcats' Wilbur Jamerson finished off an 81-yard scoring drive with a one-yard plunge for his second touchdown of the game. The extra-point kick failed, but Kentucky took a commanding 13-0 advantage into the locker room at halftime despite the Sooners dominating most of the first-half offensive stats.
On Oklahoma's first possession of the second half, the Sooners mounted a drive that reached first-and-goal inside the Kentucky five-yard line. On third-and-goal from the two, Kentucky defensive end Walt Yowarsky knifed his way through the OU offensive line and tackled halfback Billy Vessels for a critical five-yard loss. An incomplete pass on fourth down ended the drive.
Oklahoma finally got on the scoreboard with six minutes to go in the game. Vessels started running wide, then pulled up and threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Merrill Green to get the Sooners back in the game, with plenty of time remaining on the clock.
The Sooners got a defensive stop on Kentucky's offensive possession following the Oklahoma touchdown, and the Wildcats were forced to punt. Sooner return man Jack Lockett attempted to field the punt on the bounce but could not control it, and Kentucky recovered the loose ball on the OU 32-yard line. That all but sealed the Sooners' fate.
Kentucky ran out much of the time remaining in the game, but Oklahoma was afforded one last chance with under a minute to go. That final possession was foiled, however, by a Kentucky interception, one of four Oklahoma turnovers in the game, any one of which might have changed the outcome of the game.
Because the Associated Press crowns its national champion at the end of the regular season and before the bowl games, Oklahoma was able to capture its first national championship in football despite the Sugar Bowl loss to Kentucky.
Halfback Leon Heath, who ran for 121 yards in the Sugar Bowl loss, two-way lineman Jim Weatherall and defensive back Buddy Jones were All-Americans from that Oklahoma team. Quarterback Babe Parilli was a Kentucky two-time All-American.
The Sooners and Wildcats have met twice more since then, with OU winning both matchups, and the two will meet again on Saturday in Norman.
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