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1978 Oklahoma Sooners football team

American college football season

American college football season

FieldValue
year1978
teamOklahoma Sooners
sportfootball
imageOklahoma Sooners Logo 1966-79.png
conferenceBig Eight Conference
short_confBig 8
CoachRank3
APRank3
record11–1
conf_record6–1
head_coachBarry Switzer
hc_year6th
off_coachGalen Hall
oc_year6th
off_schemeWishbone
def_coachRex Norris
dc_year1st
def_scheme[5–2](5-2-defense)
captainDaryl Hunt
captain2Thomas Lott
captain3Greg Roberts
captain4Phil Tabor
stadiumOklahoma Memorial Stadium
championNational champion (8 selectors)
Big 8 co-champion
Orange Bowl champion
bowl[Orange Bowl](1979-orange-bowl)
bowl_resultW 31–24 vs. [Nebraska](1978-nebraska-cornhuskers-football-team)

Big 8 co-champion Orange Bowl champion The 1978 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the college football 1978 NCAA Division I-A season. Oklahoma Sooners football participated in the former Big Eight Conference at that time and played its home games in Oklahoma Memorial Stadium where it has played its home games since 1923. The team posted an 11–1 overall record and a 6–1 conference record to earn a share of the conference title under head coach Barry Switzer. This was Switzer's sixth conference title in six seasons since taking the helm in 1973.

The team was led by All-Americans Billy Sims (who won the Heisman Trophy),

Sims led the nation in scoring with 132 points (based on per game average of 10.9, which includes 120 in 11 games). Sims led the team in rushing with a record-setting 1896 yards, Thomas Lott led the team in passing with 487 yards, Bobby Kimball led the team in receiving with 207 yards, Hunt led the team with 157 tackles and Darrol Ray posted 8 interceptions.

The 5001 yards rushing remain second in Oklahoma football history behind the 1971 team's 5635. The defense set the school's all-time record with 28 interceptions and tied the record of 50 forced turnovers. Daryl Hunt set the school record for career tackles. Billy Sims became the only Sooner to post four 200-yard games in a season. Sims' 1896 yards stood as the Sooner record until Adrian Peterson posted 1925 in 2004.

Billy Sims became the sixth junior to win the Heisman Trophy. Sims was the nation's leading rusher and scorer for 1978. He averaged 160.1 yards and 10.9 points. He set the Big Eight Conference single season rushing record of 1,762 yards on 231 carries for an average of 7.6 yards. Sims was the only back in the nation's top 50 to average 7.0 per carry, and became the first player in Big Eight history to rush for more than 300 yards in three straight games.

Schedule

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Rankings

Game summaries

Stanford

West Virginia

Rice

Missouri

Texas

Statistics

  • OU: Billy Sims 25 Rush, 131 Yds (Sims had been injured in two previous meetings)

Kansas

Iowa State

Kansas State

Colorado

Nebraska

Oklahoma State

Orange Bowl

Roster

  • Gary Gibbs (LB)
  • Galen Hall (OC)
  • Warren Harper (LB)
  • Rex Norris (DC)
  • Jerry Pettibone
  • Charlie Sadler (OL)
  • Lucious Selmon (DL)

Awards and honors

  • All-American: Billy Sims, Daryl Hunt, Reggie Kinlaw, Greg Roberts,
  • Greg Roberts, Outland Trophy
  • Billy Sims, Associated Press College Player of the Year
  • Billy Sims, Heisman Trophy
  • Billy Sims, Sports Magazine's Player of the Year
  • Billy Sims, United Press College Player of the Year
  • Billy Sims, Walter Camp Foundation's Player of the Year
  • Big 8 rushing champion: Sims
  • NCAA DI scoring champion: Sims
  • NCAA team rushing leaders
  • NCAA team scoring leaders

NFL draft

The following players were drafted into the National Football League following the season.

12284Reggie KinlawDefensive tackleOakland Raiders

References

References

  1. "Memorial Stadium". [[CBS Interactive]].
  2. "OU Football Tradition – 42 Conference Titles". [[CBS Interactive]].
  3. "1978 Football Season". SoonerStats.com.
  4. "OU Stings Nebraska in Big 8 Clash". Orange Bowl Committee.
  5. "2009 Division I Football Records Book: Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Records". [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]].
  6. "2009 Football Record Book". Big 12 Conference.
  7. "2009 Football Record Book". Big 12 Conference.
  8. "2009 Football Record Book". Big 12 Conference.
  9. "2009 Football Record Book". Big 12 Conference.
  10. "Archived copy".
  11. (September 10, 1978). "Butterfingered Sooners win 35–29". The Oregonian.
  12. (September 17, 1978). "Sooners peak over Mountaineers". Tulsa World.
  13. (September 24, 1978). "Sooners turn 'awesome' wishbone loose on Rice". Springfield Leader and Press.
  14. (October 1, 1978). "Oklahoma impresses in easy win over Missouri". Lincoln Journal Star.
  15. (October 8, 1978). "Oklahoma tramples Longhorns, 31–10". The Patriot-News.
  16. (October 15, 1978). "OU squeaks past Jayhawks". Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
  17. (October 22, 1978). "Sims, OU devastating". The Shreveport Times.
  18. (October 29, 1978). "Close shave? Sooners rip". The Tampa Tribune-Times.
  19. (November 5, 1978). "Oklahoma handles Colorado". The Manhattan Mercury.
  20. (November 12, 1978). "Sooners fumble away No. 1". Rapid City Journal.
  21. (November 19, 1978). "Orange Bowl bound Sooners smash OSU". The Wichita Eagle & Beacon.
  22. (January 2, 1979). "Sooners turn on Huskers". The Indianapolis Star.
  23. "1978 OU Football Season Schedule - SoonerStats - Historical scores, records, and stats for Oklahoma Sooners football, basketball, baseball, and softball".
  24. "Sims Ignites Oklahoma." Palm Beach Post. November 5, 1978.
  25. "All-American: Billy Sims". [[CBS Interactive]].
  26. "All-American: Daryl Hunt". [[CBS Interactive]].
  27. "All-American: Reggie Kinlaw". [[CBS Interactive]].
  28. "All-American: Greg Roberts". [[CBS Interactive]].
  29. "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy".
  30. "Football".
  31. "1979 NFL Draft Listing".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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