The 2001 defensive beatdown of Florida State by Oklahoma stands above all the rest The 2001 defensive beatdown of Florida State by Oklahoma stands above all the rest
By Berry Tramel
Published: July 15, 2007
Oklahoma-Nebraska 1971 was the Game of the Century, and it was an Oklahoma (statehood) century.
Little Joe Washington and Boise State, Texas showdowns and Bedlam tensions, they all have made up the wondrous tradition of Oklahoma football.
But as we approach our state centennial, I picked a different OU game as the greatest sporting event of Oklahoma's first 100 years.
OU 13, Florida State 2.
The Orange Bowl beatdown of Bobby Bowden's vaunted Seminoles stands atop the list despite my tendency to require more distance. Only 6 ½ years ago did Roy Williams and Torrance Marshall and Rocky Calmus put on the greatest defensive show in Sooner history. Only 6 1/2 years ago did OU win its most improbable national championship.
Generally, I like a few more whiskers on an event. Like to have some passing of time to judge how big and significant and lasting of an impact a ballgame might have.
But the Orange Bowl played three days into 2001 stood too tall to pass up. Stood too tall to bow to the epic Oklahoma A&M-DePaul showdown in the 1945 Red Cross benefit game, or Freckles Brown's magic ride of Tornado in the 1967 National Finals Rodeo, or Carl Hubbell's amazing strikeout streak in the 1934 All-Star Game, or any of the other Sooner gridiron classics.
And here's why.
OU-Florida State III (the Sooners beat the Seminoles in the Orange Bowls of 1980 and 1981) is Oklahoma's only victory in an absolute national championship setting.
Three OU titles were claimed in the days when polls closed before the bowls. The 1974 team was saddled with probation and ineligible for a bowl. The '75 team played non-contender Michigan in the Orange Bowl and needed an Ohio StateRose Bowl defeat earlier in the day. The '85 team played top-ranked Penn State in the Orange Bowl but kept one eye on the scoreboard, needing a MiamiSugar Bowl loss to end all discussion.
The 2000 season was different. The BCS created a two-team playoff. OU and Florida State. The trophy was in Pro Player Stadium that night, awaiting the victor. No worry about votes.
But it was more than that. It was the meteoric return of the Sooners to prominence.
When Bob Stoops arrived in December 1998, the Sooners had gone five straight years without a winning record, four straight without a bowl trip and what seemed like a full decade without hope.
The 1999 season offered promise — 7-5, an Independence Bowl trip — but no clue that the Stoops era was about to jettison.
Then came October 2000. Down went 11th-ranked Texas 63-14. Down went No. 2 Kansas State 41-31. Down went No. 1 Nebraska 31-14.
If we ever rank the greatest sports months in state history, October 2000 is No. 1, trumping anything any hoops team ever did in March.
The Orange Bowl arrived almost as a consolation prize. Florida State, despite a defeat, came in as a 12-point favorite. The Orange Bowl was considered gravy for OU; the Sooners already had won their prize, a return to respectability.
Except for one thing. Florida State still hasn't scored on the Sooners.
The defensive clampdown on Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke turned Florida State impotent. We sat there watching, either at Pro Player or in our living rooms, amazed at how the Bob Stoops-Mike Stoops-Brent Venables defense dominated.
By halftime, despite just a 3-0 lead, it seemed that only a fluke could beat the Sooners. By the fourth quarter, when Quentin Griffin scored the game's only touchdown, 13-0 seemed more daunting than the 42-zip halftime score at the Cotton Bowl that October.
Not the greatest finish in OU or state history. Not the greatest theatrics. But the greatest stage. The greatest performance. The greatest game.
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