Sooners to honor 1974, 1975 national championship teams during season opener

NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma Athletics Department announced Friday it will honor the 1974 and 1975 national championship OU football teams during the Sooners’ season opener against Temple at 6 p.m. Aug. 30 at Owen Field. This season marks the 50th anniversary of OU’s 1974 national title.

Former coach Barry Switzer and many of his players, assistant coaches and support staff members from those two teams will be recognized on Owen Field at halftime of the contest against the Owls. They will also be celebrated during a private Aug. 29 gathering.

Aug. 30 halftime festivities will get started with a National Football Foundation salute to former OU defensive lineman Dewey Selmon, a member of the 1974 and 1975 teams who will become the 24th Sooner player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this December. His late brother, college teammate and fellow defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon is already a member of the CFB Hall of Fame.

Switzer, who was named OU’s coach ahead of the 1973 season, directed the 1974 and 1975 teams to a combined 22-1 record and watched the two squads outscore opponents by an 817-246 margin (average score of 36-11). In both seasons, they were ranked No. 1 by The Associated Press in the beginning and end of the year.

The 11-0 1974 squad was the only unbeaten team in the nation and featured eight first-team All-Americans: center Kyle Davis, defensive back Randy Hughes, split end Tinker Owens, guard John Rouse (consensus), Dewey and LeeRoy Selmon, linebacker Rod Shoate (consensus) and running back Joe Washington (consensus). The Sooners that year averaged a nation-leading 43 points per game and allowed only 8.4 points per game. They outscored opponents 473-92 and didn’t allow any foe to more than 14 points. OU posted three shutouts, won three contests by more than 60 points and seven by more than 30 points. It also set a still-existing NCAA FBS record of 73.9 rushes per game.

The 1975 Sooners, who finished 111, also sported eight first-team All-Americans: Owens, Dewey and Lee Roy Selmon (both consensus), Washington, split end Billy Brooks, defensive end Jimbo Elrod (consensus), offensive tackle Mike Vaughan and guard Terry Webb. Lee Roy Selmon won the Outland Trophy and Vince Lombardi Award before being selected No. 1 in the National Football League Draft the following spring. OU’s defense held five opponents to seven or fewer points and seven teams to 10 or fewer. Seven of the Sooners’ victories came against AP top-20 teams, including three over top-5 squads (24-17 over No. 5 Texas, 35-10 over No. 2 Nebraska and 14-6 over No. 5 Michigan in the Orange Bowl).

Both OU teams were quarterbacked by Steve Davis, who was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame earlier this month.

Switzer, who began his coaching career with a 29-0-1 record and is also a College Football Hall of Fame member, directed 12 of his 16 OU squads to top-10 national finishes, with 10 teams finishing in the AP top 5 and nine in the AP top 3. All told, his Sooner teams were ranked in the AP top 5 for 148 weeks and were ranked No. 1 for 43 weeks. The 1974 and 1975 national titles were the fourth and fifth in OU football history and the first and second of Switzer’s career (he added a third in 1985).