1946 Oklahoma Sooners football team The 1946 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) college football . The team was led by Jim Tatum in his first and only season as head coach . Along with first - year backfield coach Bud Wilkinson , who became the head coach himself the following year , Tatum installed the new split - T offense . An intensive recruiting effort , largely focused at veterans returning from the Second World War , helped Oklahoma to on - field success and eight of the team ' s new recruits eventually earned first - team All - America honors . The team improved from the previous season to an 8 – 3 record and a share of the Big Six Conference championship . Preseason . Coaching staff . In 1945 , head coach Dewey Luster missed part of the season due to illness , and had struggled to recruit quality players during the Second World War when many University of Oklahoma athletes were serving overseas . His Sooners finished the year with a 5 – 5 record that included a finale loss , 0 – 47 , to Oklahoma A & M ( now known as Oklahoma State ) . At the conclusion of the 1945 season , Luster tendered his resignation . Athletic director Jap Haskell recommended Jim Tatum to University of Oklahoma president George Cross , and other applicants considered by the Board of Regents included Bear Bryant and Harold Drew . Haskell had served in the U . S . Navy during the war , and Tatum was an assistant coach for the Navy ' s Iowa Pre - Flight School team under head coach Don Faurot , the inventor of the split - T formation . Prior to that , Tatum had coached at his own alma mater , North Carolina . Bud Wilkinson , who had been a colleague of Tatum ' s at Iowa Pre - Flight , was hired as Oklahoma ' s new backfield coach . Walter Driskill , the former line coach at Colorado and Wyoming , was given that same role at Oklahoma . Tatum and Wilkinson installed the split - T , the innovative new offensive system they had learned under Don Faurot in Iowa . Recruiting . Tatum launched an intensive recruiting drive that included open tryouts that attracted an estimated 600 prospects . He largely rejected the players from the previous season and focused instead on building a new team . The recruiting effort targeted returning servicemen who had been athletes at other colleges before the war , rival universities , and graduating high school seniors . Tatum ' s recruiting paid dividends , and nine of his players would earn All - American honors at Oklahoma : Plato Andros , Buddy Burris , Jack Mitchell , Jim Owens , John Rapacz , Darrell Royal , George Thomas , Wade Walker , and Stan West . Burris became the first Sooner to receive that honor three times . Season . Army . The season - opener was against Army , the defending national champions and a 38 - point favorite . The Sooners scored in the second quarter on a blocked punt , but Army equalized shortly before halftime . In the third quarter , Army blocked an Oklahoma punt on the Sooners ' 15 - yard line and scored four plays later . Shortly after , the Sooners recovered a fumble on the Army 18 - yard line . On fourth down at the Cadets ' nine - yard line , Dave Wallace , about to be sacked , threw a lateral , but the ball was deflected , and Arnold Tucker returned it 85 yards for Army ' s final touchdown . The Cadets won , 21 – 7 , and went on to finish the season ranked number - two , with no losses and one tie in a legendary game against first - ranked Notre Dame . Texas A & M . In the first quarter against Texas A & M , the Sooners drove 84 - yards to the Aggies ' one - yard line , including a 42 - yard pass from Wallace to end Warren Giese , but the A & M defense held . In the second quarter , Oklahoma again drove into A & M territory , but a pass was intercepted in the end zone . The Aggies then attempted to punt , but Norman McNabb blocked the kick and it was recovered on the A & M six - yard line . On fourth down , Jack Mitchell rushed for a score , and Wallace made the extra point . In the third quarter , Marion Flanagan returned a punt 72 yards to equalize the score . The Sooners blocked an Aggie field goal attempted in the fourth quarter , and then mounted a drive to the A & M seven - yard line . After being stalled by the Aggie defense and incurring a delay of game penalty , Wallace made good a short field goal attempt for the go - ahead score , 10 – 7 . Texas ( # 1 ) . First - ranked Texas entered the game with a 3 – 0 record , and had decisively beaten , 42 – 0 ; , 76 – 0 ; and Oklahoma A & M , 54 – 6 . The Longhorns jumped out to a lead , 14 – 0 . In the second quarter , Wallace intercepted a pass from Tom Landry on the Oklahoma 44 - yard line , and he then mounted a drive that ended with an 11 - yard touchdown pass . The extra point attempt failed . Shortly thereafter , Wallace made another interception on the Longhorns ' 39 - yard line , but Darrell Royal soon threw an interception of his own in the Texas end zone . In the fourth quarter , Joe Golding intercepted a pass and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown that tied the school record set the previous year . Texas then engineered a 75 - yard drive for the final touchdown and won , 20 – 13 . Kansas State . Kansas State then traveled to Norman , which marked the start to Oklahoma ' s conference schedule . Golding scored first with a 43 - yard breakaway . In the second quarter , Kansas State equalized . Oklahoma pulled away with a third - quarter and two fourth - quarter touchdowns , with the final tally coming after a Royal interception . Immediately following that turnover , Golding rushed for an 81 - yard touchdown . Iowa State . Oklahoma routed Iowa State at their own homecoming , 63 – 0 , which is the school ' s worst defeat in history . The Sooners recorded 398 rushing yards , 130 passing yards , and 204 return yards . Iowa State managed just four first downs , 91 rushing yards , and 43 passing yards . TCU . Oklahoma was projected as a two - touchdown favorite against TCU . In a driving rainstorm , Oklahoma advanced to the TCU nine - yard line . Royal attempted a lateral , but Weldon Edwards knocked it down and Harold Kilman picked it up , ran 15 yards , then lateraled to Edwards . He carried it 70 yards to take the lead for the Horned Frogs , 6 – 0 . The Sooners drove to the Frogs ' 12 - yard line , but fumbled away the water - logged ball . TCU failed to advance and kicked a short punt to their 28 - yard line . The Sooners rushed on five plays for the score , and with the extra - point , took the lead , 7 – 6 . At the start of the second half , Mitchell returned the kickoff 80 yards to the TCU 11 - yard line . The teams traded fumbles , before the Frogs recovered a second Sooners ' turnover . TCU was forced to punted and Mitchell returned it from the Frogs ' 40 - yard line . Lindy Berry tackled Mitchell at the goal line , but he crossed into the end zone . Wallace kicked the extra point . TCU blocked a fourth quarter punt from the Oklahoma 25 - yard line , and Doug Brightwell ran it in for the game ' s final score . Oklahoma held against two more scoring threat by TCU and won , 14 – 12 . Kansas . Oklahoma traveled to Lawrence , Kansas to face the Jayhawks in another driving rainstorm . In the second quarter , Kansas took the lead before Golding rushed 65 yards to even the score , 6 – 6 . Soon after , Kansas converted an Oklahoma fumble to take the lead again . In the third quarter , Golding rushed 14 yards for another touchdown and Wallace tied the game with the extra point . In the final 1 : 15 , the Jayhawks ' kicker made good his career first field goal attempt , and Kansas won , 16 – 13 . Missouri . Against Missouri , Oklahoma scored several plays after recovering a fumble . Buddy Burris then blocked a Missouri punt , and Homer Paine recovered it on the Tigers ' 12 - yard line . The Sooners then executed a halfback option , with Mitchell lateraling to Wallace who passed to Giese for a touchdown . Wallace made the extra point and the Sooners led , 14 – 0 . On their next possession , Missouri fumbled again and Oklahoma again capitalized with a score . In the second quarter , Golding intercepted a Missouri pass and returned it 75 yards to the Tigers ' 17 - yard line . The Sooners scored two plays later to take a 27 – 0 lead . In the final quarter , Tatum fielded his alternate lineup , against which Missouri engineered a 71 - yard drive for a touchdown , and the final score , 27 - 6 . Nebraska . Oklahoma , with a 3 – 1 conference record , was tied for the lead in the Big Six with Kansas , Missouri , and Nebraska . Against the Cornhuskers , Oklahoma scored first before Nebraska equalized , 6 – 6 , but those were their only points of the game . Eddie Davis , Golding , and Mitchell each scored rushing touchdowns and Royal threw for a passing touchdown . With the 27 – 6 victory over Nebraska , Oklahoma ended its conference schedule with a 4 – 1 record . Since Kansas had defeated Missouri , 20 – 19 , on Thanksgiving , Oklahoma shared the Big Six Conference Championship the Jayhawks . Oklahoma A & M . Oklahoma traveled to Stillwater to face in - state rivals Oklahoma A & M ( now known as Oklahoma State ) . The Aggies ' star halfback , Bob Fenimore , missed the game due to an injury . The Sooners won 73 – 12 , with Golding scoring three of their ten touchdowns . Gator Bowl : NC State ( # 18 ) . Oklahoma , with a final ranking of number - 14 , accepted an invitation to the second annual Gator Bowl to play 18th - ranked North Carolina State on January 1 , 1947 . During the regular season , the Wolfpack had allowed an average of 6 . 7 points per game and finished with an 8 – 2 record . The Sooners received the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards for a touchdown . NC State responded by scoring on a 42 - yard pass . In the second quarter , Oklahoma scored three rushing touchdowns and entered halftime with a 27 – 7 advantage . In the third quarter , a 67 - yard Wolfpack drive was capped by an eight - yard touchdown run . In the final quarter , the Sooners took over on downs on their 36 - yard line and advanced downfield to score on a 15 - yard option pass . The final result was 34 – 13 in Oklahoma ' s favor . During the game , Oklahoma recorded 195 rushing and 74 passing yards , while NC State compiled 136 rushing and 103 passing yards . Sooners ' halfback Joe Golding rushed for 91 yards on 12 attempts and was named the most valuable player . Postseason . Individual honors were bestowed upon several Oklahoma players , and at the time , the 1946 team included the most all - conference honorees to date . First - team All - American honors were granted to guards Plato Andros and Buddy Burris , and center John Rapacz . The All - Big Six first team included those three as well as end Warren Giese , back Joe Golding , and tackles Homer Paine and Wade Walker . After the Gator Bowl , university president Cross learned that Tatum had paid each player $ 120 ( $ , adjusted for inflation ) , despite Cross ' s order not to do so . He later learned that $ 60 , 000 ( $ in inflation - adjusted terms ) was unaccounted for in the athletic department budget . As a result , athletic director Jap Haskell was fired . Tatum accepted an offer to coach at Maryland , and Cross promoted Bud Wilkinson into the head coaching position .