For the program’s sixth national championship, the Sooners had to reinvent themselves and learn how to win through adversity, self-doubt and conflicting egos in the years leading up to 1985.
Brady Trantham |
The No. 5-ranked Oklahoma Sooners host the Kent State Golden Flashes on Saturday. During halftime, OU will commemorate the Sooners’ 1985 national championship team, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the program’s sixth national championship. Former coaches and players will be present and honored during the ceremony.
This is a story about the Sooners’ climb to that championship. Low points of the early 1980s, a freshman phenom not suited for the program’s trajectory, key figures who solidified the school’s championship pedigree and the initial stumbles as they clawed themselves back to the top. Oklahoma’s 1985 championship was forged in the down years prior.
Prelude to Glory
By the early 1980s, the dominance of the program Barry Switzer inherited in 1973 had begun to fade.
Throughout the 1970s, the University of Oklahoma was a machine that had cut through college football with relentless ease. The wishbone had spread to Norman, and the sport couldn’t touch the Sooners.
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