COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 7: OU-Texas tales
OU-Texas is about much more than just the football game. It’s business meetings and family reunions and mini-vacations and university functions.
It’s about memories, as much as anything. I spent four days in Dallas; my wife helped put on a Wednesday night dinner with OU’s College of Engineering, and we attended the OU Club of Fort Worth’s annual luncheon, where Steve Davis was the featured speaker.
The dinner, for OU engineering alums in the Dallas area, is held at Nana’s, on the 27th floor of the Anatole Hotel. The food is fine but the conversation is better. I always meet someone interesting, and this night, it was Jack Sleeper, a retired oil man who grew up in Wagoner and has been a Sooner fan for more than 60 years.
Sleeper told me a great story. He was in the Navy in 1949, stationed in, I think, Rhode Island, and went over to Boston for the OU-Boston College game.
The Sooners rolled 46-0 - the ‘49 Sooners were a juggernaut - and Sleeper had friends on the team, so they invited him back to the team hotel.
Turns out a couple of OU fans, a little inebriated, had made off with one of the goal posts from Braves Field. The guys told Sleeper they carried the goal posts to the train station, where they were informed they could not take the big wooden planks onto the train.
“Fine,” they told the conductor. “After you pull out, we’ll drop the posts on the track for the next train to deal with.”
The conductor let them on. They took the goal posts to the team hotel and tried to enter, but either because of size or security, that effort failed. So they trudged the wood up the fire escape and somehow wangled the posts into a room, where they were a ceremonial trophy for the partying Sooners.
If you ask me, college football has lost a little romanticism the last 60 years.
TEN BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE WEEK
10. Alex Loukas: The third-team Stanford quarterback was highly-touted and finally lived up to the billing, coming off the bench to lead a late rally that gave the Cardinal a 24-23 win over Arizona and a 3-1 Pac-10 record.
9. Western Michigan: The Broncos trailed Buffalo 28-14 with less than five minutes left in the game. But Tim Hiller threw two late touchdown passes, the latter with five seconds left, to force overtime. After an interception, Hiller threw another TD pass to give Western a 34-28 victory and raised its record to 6-1. The Broncos are the biggest threat to Ball State’s unbeaten season.
8. Michael Smith: The Arkansas tailback played behind Darren McFadden and Felix Jones the past two years but is shining now. Smith rushed for 176 yards in the Razorbacks’ 25-22 upset at Auburn, giving him 599 yards in five games this season.
7. Tim Brewster: Humiliated by a 1-11 debut season at Minnesota, Brewster has the Gophers riding high. A 27-20 upset at Illinois made Minnesota 6-1.
6. Hal Mumme: Defrocked at Kentucky, Mumme is working wonders at New Mexico State. The Aggies, 8-29 under Mumme before this season, are 3-2 after a 48-45 win at Nevada. The Aggies could contend for their first bowl trip since 1960.
5. Penn State: Comparing scores is fool’s gold, but still. A week after Wisconsin lost 20-17 at home to Ohio State, the Badgers hosted Penn State and got squashed 48-7.
4. Tim Tebow: Don’t write off Tebow from a Heisman repeat just yet. Tebow’s numbers against LSU weren’t Big 12 caliber, but he was amazingly efficient - 14 of 21 passing for 210 yards and two touchdowns, plus a rushing TD - in a 51-21 rout.
3. North Carolina: Don’t laugh, but after a 29-24 victory over Notre Dame, the 5-1 Tar Heels could go 11-1. Their remaining six games - at Virginia, Boston College, Georgia Tech, at Maryland, North Carolina State, at Duke.
2. Mack Brown: No more talk of an “Oklahoma problem,” as the Texas coach used to call it. Brown is 3-1 in his last four games against Bob Stoops and has the Longhorns ranked No. 1 after a 45-35 upset of the Sooners.
1. Mike Gundy: The rant moves to the back of the Gundy entry on Wikipedia. His Cowboys’ 6-0 start, punctuated with a stunning 28-23 upset at Missouri, is the big story. Halfway through the season, Gundy ranks with Alabama’s Nick Saban as the leading candidates for national coach of the year.
THE REV. STEVE DAVIS
When I was a kid, 12, 13, 14, Steve Davis was the quarterback, and there were several things that stay with you when you think about Steve Davis.
1. He was a Baptist preacher. 2. He liked Willie Nelson. 3. He never lost, except that one time. 4. He went 47 yards on a quarterback sneak against Nebraska.
Anyway, at the Petroleum Club on the 39th floor of a Fort Worth high-rise, Davis reminisced about the old days, reminding people of the voice that so captured Sooner fans more than 30 years ago.
Davis told of growing up in Sallisaw, working at his family’s supermarket, Rigby Foods, and bagging groceries on Saturday afternoons, and sneaking away across the alley to Farmer’s Furniture, where he could catch OU-Texas games on one of the television sets for sale, risking the wrath of his grandfather.
“The OU-Texas game brings out the best in all of us,” Davis said. “It’s part of the defining dreams of our life.”
He told a story I’m sure he’s told many times but I never had heard before, so I thought I would share it.
Davis harbored a dream of quarterbacking the Sooners, and in eighth grade, 1966, Davis cut out a photo of Bobby Warmack, OU’s quarterback from 1966-68. On the back, Davis wrote a simple word: “When?” He stuck the photo under the liner of his underwear drawer.
Davis didn’t even quarterback Sallisaw as a junior. He played halfback. But in 1970, the Black Diamonds began running the option, and Davis quarterbacked.
Davis says he got the last scholarship from OU in 1971, available only because Okmulgee’s Clyde Crutchmer decided to go to Colorado. Says that the Sooners brought in eight freshmen quarterbacks that year, and that he was listed No. 8 on the depth chart. No. 7 was Ada’s Larry McBroom, who had suffered a broken shoulder in the All-State game.
In ‘71, freshmen were ineligible for the varsity, so Davis went home the weekend of OU-Texas to Sallisaw, where he watched the game with his grandfather.
But Davis worked his way up, and though he redshirted in 1972, he was the third-team quarterback and made the trip to Dallas. In pregame warmup, OU was running pass routes, and Davis said he threw a rocket into the seats and hit a woman in the stands, knocking her one way and her hat the other. Offensive coordinator Barry Switzer ran up to his yearling and said with that Switzer passion, “Steve Davis! You’re going to have to play a whole lot better than that if you’re going to play in this game.”
You know the rest. Kerry Jackson, who in 1972 had established himself as the quarterback of the future, was ruled ineligible by the NCAA, and the Sooners turned to Davis.
OU opened the ‘73 season at Baylor, and the team hotel was in Temple, Texas. Davis received a package at the hotel desk the morning of the game. It was from his mother. He opened the package and found that old photo of Warmack. Under “When?” was written “Tonight.”
You know the rest. His passes found Tinker Owens’ hands instead of some lady’s hat. His pitchouts went to Joe Washington. Davis’ record was 32-1-1 record, 3-0 vs. Texas, two-time national champion quarterback.
Said Davis, “A lot of things happen, but that’s how dreams come true.”
REALITY RANKINGS
Our rankings based not on what anyone thinks teams might do, but based on what teams have done. Listed are remaining road games:
1. Alabama: Still goes to Tennessee & LSU.
2. Texas: Road games left at Texas Tech, Baylor and Kansas.
3. Penn State: Only two road games left, Ohio State and Iowa.
4. Florida: Road games left vs. Georgia at Jacksonville, Vanderbilt and Florida State.
5. Southern Cal: Four road games left - Washington State, Arizona, Stanford and UCLA.
6. Oklahoma State: Still goes to Austin, Lubbock and Boulder.
7. Utah: Goes only to New Mexico and San Diego State; gets BYU at home.
8. Ohio State: Interesting tests at Michigan State, Northwestern and Illinois.
9. North Carolina: Watch out for the Tar Heels - only Virginia, Maryland and Duke remain on the road.
10. Georgia: Killer stretch coming up - Vanderbilt, at LSU, Florida, at Kentucky, at Auburn, Georgia Tech.
11. Michigan State: Rolling Spartans still play at Michigan and Penn State.
12. Oklahoma: Easy tests at Kansas State and Texas A&M before Bedlam in Stillwater.
13. Virginia Tech: Road games remaining Boston College, Florida State and Miami.
14. Vanderbilt: Goes to Georgia, Kentucky and Wake Forest?
15. Wake Forest: Plays at Maryland, Miami and North Carolina State.
EGYPTIAN ADVENTURE
I had heard about Campisi’s for years but never eaten there until Thursday night. Located just east of SMU, Campisi’s is a 60-year Dallas institution.
It’s called an Egyptian restaurant, but that’s just because we once called anything exotic “Egyptian.” Campisi’s is an Italian place, and not one of those high-brow joints. Known for its pizza, I instead had an Italian combo platter, which was very good.
But we had a unique experience. The waiter lost our credit cards. He brought the check, we gave him cards and then we sat for awhile. And awhile. And awhile.
We noticed he seemed to be wandering around, a little bewildered, and finally, just as I suspected, he came over and asked, “You did give me your credit card, right?”
He returned to his quest and eventually found them - in one of those tubs used to collect dirty dishes. He displayed them to us proudly and cashed us out. Darndest thing I ever saw.
TEN BIGGEST LOSERS OF THE WEEK
10. Memphis: The Tigers don’t get many chances to beat Louisville anymore, since the Cardinals left Conference USA for the Big East. But the series resumed this year after a four-year hiatus, and Memphis was the better team. But Louisville scored on a 95-yard kickoff return, a 60-yard return of a blocked field goal and a 21-yard fumble return to win 35-28.
9. Bo Pelini: The Nebraska coach had his team in position for a major upset, at Texas Tech. But Pelini decided to play for overtime after a Nebraska touchdown with 29 seconds left, and Tech won 37-31 in OT. When an inferior team has a chance to win by making three yards against a suspect defense, take it.
8. East Carolina: The Pirates seemed a Cinderella team after upsets of Virginia Tech and West Virginia. But now the Pirates are 3-3 after a 35-20 loss to Virginia, and now a bowl game isn’t even certain for East Carolina.
7. Kentucky: UK was unbeaten when it played Alabama to the limit in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 4. But after a 24-17 home loss to South Carolina, the Wildcats remain, with Tennessee, the SEC’s only winless teams in conference.
6. Tommy Tuberville: Firing a coordinator in mid-season, as the Auburn coach did with offensive chief Tony Franklin last week, is a sign of desperation. And it’s even worse when the beheading doesn’t help. Auburn lost at home to hapless Arkansas 25-22.
5. Arizona State: The Sun Devils have regressed in Year 2 of Dennis Erickson. A 28-0 loss to Southern Cal handed ASU a four-game losing streak in which it has scored just 44 points total.
4. Passing yards: Time was, a high passing total was the kiss of defeat. That returned Saturday, Of the 10 most prolific passers, eight lost: Illinois’ Juice Williams (462 yards), Texas A&M’s Jerrod Johnson (419), Missouri’s Chase Daniel (390), OU’s Sam Bradford (387), Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen (383), North Texas’ Glovanni Vizza (361), Memphis’ Arkelon Hall (350) and Nebraska’s Joe Ganz (349).
3. Michigan’s pride: The Wolverines had been 24-0 all-time against Mid-American Conference teams. That all changed when Toledo pulled a 13-10 shocker at the Big House and dropped the woeful Wolverines to 2-4.
2. Chris Nickson: The Vanderbilt quarterback completed just three of 10 passes in a 17-14 loss to Mississippi State, a stunning verdict that knocked the Commodores from the unbeaten ranks and cost Nickson his job, with Tulsa Union’s Mackenzi Adams taking over.
1. Tommy Bowden: A lackluster 12-7 loss to Wake Forest dropped Clemson to 3-3 and cost Bowden his job. In his 10th season, Bowden was fired this week after a nondescript 72-45 record.
HARMON COUNTY PRIDE
I took my wife shopping Thursday in Highland Park, and we had a little lunch at Wild About Harry’s, a hole-in-the-wall hot dog and custard place on Knox Street.
I didn’t know the place was a shrine to Harmon County. On the wall was several pages of Harmon County history, and above the door were license plates of a variety of western Oklahoma high schools: Hollis, Clinton, Alva, Frederick, Altus.
The place is run by 65-year-old Harry Coley, who grew up in Hollis - and has called it a Mayberry-type place, though I think he’s talking about the way it was in the ’50s, not the way it is now in the population-starved southwest corner of Oklahoma.
Anyway, the hot dogs were good, and we were going to go back for its famous custard but didn’t get around to it. I’ll most definitely go back.
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Comments
Steve P — In the AP poll, that would be four times since 1945: the last poll of October and the first two polls of November, 1984; and November 1, 1976. That’s how many times OSU has been ranked ahead of OU.
What is Steve Davis doing now? I grew up in Sallisaw with Steve and am wondering what he’s doing now. Some years ago he would occasionally work and as announcer for college football games?
Berry,
When, if ever, has OSU football been ranked ahead of OU? I see it has not happened yet this year, but maybe in a week or two.