# 1971 Oklahoma Sooners football team

The 1971 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. Oklahoma was a member of the Big Eight Conference and played its home games in Oklahoma Memorial Stadium where it has played its home games since 1923. The team posted an 11–1 and 6–1 conference record under head coach Chuck Fairbanks. The Sooners finished the season ranked #2, losing only once, 35–31 to eventual national champion Nebraska in the 1971 Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football game, which has become known as Game of the Century.
In 1971, offensive coordinator Barry Switzer perfected the wishbone offense as it led the nation in both scoring (45 points average) and total yards (563 total yards average), and set an NCAA record by averaging over 472.4 (5196 in 11 games) rushing yards in a season. The team holds the current school record with 7.07 yards per rushing attempt and 7.6 yards per play as well as the records for 469.6 rushing yards (5635 in 12 games counting bowl game) and 566.83 yards of total offense per game. The team also holds the single-season rushing touchdowns record of 62 and rushing touchdowns per game record of 5.17. The team's records of 711 single-game rushing yards and 785 total yards stood for nine seasons. Jack Mildren's single-season record for yards rushing by a quarterback of 1140 would be broken three seasons later by Freddie Solomon.
Greg Pruitt set the current national single-season record with 8.98 yards per attempt, the school's single-game records of 294 rushing yards and 374 all-purpose yards. Meanwhile, Jon Harrison set the single-season and career yards per reception with 29.1 and 27.0. His 2066 single-season all-purpose yards record stood until Quentin Griffin broke it in 2002. Joe Wylie's kickoff return average record of 28.5 stood for 27 years.
The team was led by three All-Americans: Pruitt, Tom Brahaney and Jack Mildren. The team won its first nine games on a schedule that included five ranked opponents (In order, #17 USC, #3 Texas, #6 Colorado, #1 Nebraska and #5 Auburn). All five of these opponents finished the season ranked. The only loss was to Nebraska. They played Auburn in the Sugar Bowl and won 40–22.
The top three teams in the final AP poll for the 1971 season were from the Big Eight: Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado. The top two teams had never been from the same conference, and this year had three.
Pruitt led the team in rushing with 1760 yards, Mildren led the team in passing yards for the third straight season with 889 yards and also in scoring with 120 points, Harrison led the team in receiving with 494 yards, Mark Driscoll led the team in tackles with 134, and John Shelly led the team in interceptions with 5.

## Schedule

| Date | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 18 | SMU* | No. 10 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, OK | | W 30–0 | 53,545 |
| September 25 | at Pittsburgh* | No. 11 | Pitt StadiumPittsburgh, PA | | W 55–29 | 34,916 |
| October 2 | No. 17 USC* | No. 8 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, OK | | W 33–20 | 62,351 |
| October 9 | vs. No. 3 Texas* | No. 8 | Cotton BowlDallas, TX (Red River Shootout) | ABC | W 48–27 | 72,032 |
| October 16 | No. 6 Colorado | No. 2 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, OK | | W 45–17 | 62,501 |
| October 23 | at Kansas State | No. 2 | KSU StadiumManhattan, KS | | W 75–28 | 37,198 |
| October 30 | Iowa State | No. 2 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, OK | | W 39–7 | 60,477 |
| November 6 | at Missouri | No. 2 | Memorial StadiumColumbia, MO (rivalry) | | W 20–3 | 55,098 |
| November 13 | Kansas | No. 2 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, OK | ABC | W 56–10 | 54,347 |
| November 25 | No. 1 Nebraska | No. 2 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, OK (rivalry) | ABC | L 31–35 | 62,884 |
| December 4 | at Oklahoma State | No. 3 | Lewis FieldStillwater, OK (Bedlam Series) | | W 58–14 | 36,571 |
| January 1, 1972 | vs. No. 5 Auburn* | No. 3 | Tulane StadiumNew Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl) | ABC | W 40–22 | 84,031 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the game ||||||||

## Game summaries
### SMU

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| SMU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • Oklahoma | 3 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 30 |

### Pittsburgh

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Oklahoma | 21 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 55 |
| Pittsburgh | 11 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 29 |

### USC

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| USC | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 20 |
| • Oklahoma | 13 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 33 |

### Texas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #8 Oklahoma | 14 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 48 |
| #3 Texas | 14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 27 |

### Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #6 Colorado | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 17 |
| • #2 Oklahoma | 14 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 45 |

### Kansas State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Oklahoma | 14 | 27 | 13 | 21 | 75 |
| Kansas St | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |

### Iowa State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Iowa St | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| • Oklahoma | 17 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 43 |

### Missouri

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Oklahoma | 6 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Missouri | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |

### Kansas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Kansas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| • Oklahoma | 14 | 35 | 7 | 0 | 56 |

### Nebraska

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #1 Nebraska | 7 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 35 |
| #2 Oklahoma | 3 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 31 |
Oklahoma and Nebraska battled back and forth in the Game of the Century in front of a sold-out crowd in Norman and over 55 million viewers on ABC on Thanksgiving Day. Nebraska struck first with a 72-yard Johnny Rodgers punt return, but Oklahoma pulled ahead by 3 by halftime. The Cornhuskers came back strong in the third quarter with two more touchdowns, but the Sooners responded with two of their own to retake the lead with only 7:10 remaining. Down by 3 points, the Huskers went on a final drive and with only 1:38 remaining, Jeff Kinney scored his fourth touchdown of the day for the lead and the win.

### Oklahoma State

Frustrated from their painful loss to Nebraska, the Sooners showed their in-state archrival no mercy in the final game for Cowboys coach Floyd Gass, as well as the last game at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) before a massive renovation which expanded the stadium's capacity, removed the cinder track around the field, and replaced the grass surface with artificial turf.
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #3 Oklahoma | 17 | 20 | 7 | 14 | 58 |
| Oklahoma State | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |

### Sugar Bowl

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Oklahoma | 19 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 40 |
| Auburn | 0 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 22 |
* Passing: AUB Sullivan 20/44, 250 Yds, TD, INT, OU Mildren 1/4, 11 Yds
* Rushing: AUB Unger 6 Rush, 38 Yds, 2 TD, OU Mildren 30 Rush, 149 Yds, 3 TD
* Receiving: AUB Beasley 6 Rec, 117 Yds, OU Chandler 1 Rec, 11 Yds
* OU Crosswhite 4 yd run (kick failed)
* OU Mildren 5 yd run (Carroll kick)
* OU Mildren 4 yd run (kick failed)
* OU Mildren 7 yd run (kick failed)
* OU Wylie 71 yd punt return (kick failed)
* AUB Unger 1 yd run (Jett kick)
* OU Caroll 53 yd FG
* AUB Unger 1 yd run (Jett kick)
* OU Pruitt 2 yd run (kick failed)
* AUB Cannon 11 yd pass from Sullivan (run good)

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Final |
| AP | 10 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 2 (8) | 2 (18) | 2 (21) | 2 (17) | 2 (6) | 2 (8) | 2 (8) | 3 | 3 | 2 |

## Roster
### Depth chart

Defense :
* FS
* Larry Roach
| LB | LB | LB |
| Albert Quails | Steve Aycock | Mark Driscoll |
* SS
* John Shelley
* CB
* Kenith Pope
| DE | DT | DT | DE |
| Raymond Hamilton | Lucious Selmon | Derland Moore | Lionell Day |
* CB
* Steve O’Shaughnessy
Offense :
* WR
* Jon Harrison
* Willie Franklin
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Dean Unruh | Darryl Emmert | Tom Brahaney | Ken Jones | Robert Jensen |
* TE
* Al Chandler
* QB
* Jack Mildren
* Dave Robertson
* FB
* Leon Crosswhite
* Tim Welch
* Special teams
* RB
* Greg Pruitt
* RB
* Roy Bell
* Joe Wylie

## Awards and honors

* All-American: Greg Pruitt, Tom Brahaney and Jack Mildren
* Academic All-American: Mildren

## After the season
### NFL draft

The following players were selected in the National Football League draft following the season.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | NFL Team |
| 2 | 46 | Jack Mildren | Defensive back | Baltimore Colts |
| 8 | 191 | Al Qualls | Linebacker | Baltimore Colts |
| 9 | 234 | Roy Bell | Running back | Dallas Cowboys |
| 17 | 417 | John Shelley | Defensive back | Buffalo Bills |