Switzer denies it, but Miami defender is convinced the 1988 Orange Bowl did in OU's trademark offense
1988 Orange Bowl: The game that killed the wishbone

By John Rohde

Published: September 6, 2007

Barry Switzer installed the wishbone offense during an open week early in the 1970 season.

It was that same moment when Jimmy Johnson started figuring out ways to defend it.

And during the 1988 Orange Bowl, more than a few people were convinced Johnson officially broke the wishbone.

Johnson beat Switzer 20-14 for the national title, limiting an OU offense that averaged 43.5 points and 499.7 yards per game to just 255 yards on 66 plays.

OU's longest play from scrimmage was a 29-yard "fumblerooskie” touchdown run by offensive guard Mark Hutson with 2:05 left in the game.

It marked the third straight season the Hurricanes beat the Sooners, having previously won regular-season games in Norman and Miami.

Take away those games against Johnson, and Switzer went 33-0 from 1985-87.

OU entered the Orange Bowl riding a 20-game winning streak. The school was seeking its seventh national championship since 1950 and Switzer was after his fourth crown.

The Sooners wouldn't get their seventh title until 2000 under second-year coach Bob Stoops. By that time, they had adopted a spread attack while using a left-handed junior-college transfer quarterback out of Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.

Go figure.

So, did Johnson kill the wishbone?

"Nah, he didn't kill it,” Switzer said. "The wishbone still worked, it's just that his players were able to handle it. They handled everything. Let's put it this way, they killed a lot of offenses. They shut down a lot of people.”

Such things tend to happen with UM defensive standouts like Jerome Brown, Bennie Blades, Daniel Stubbs, Winston Moss, Bill Hawkins and a late-round NFL draft pick at linebacker named Randy Shannon, who will coach the Hurricanes when they visit Owen Field on Saturday for the first time in 22 years.

Blades said he believes the Hurricanes actually did kill the wishbone.

"We had a match for the wishbone,” Blades said. "You need a lot of team speed, but the wishbone was based on teams not protecting their territory. If you weren't disciplined in stopping first the fullback, then the quarterback and the two options that he had, you were going to get beat 63-0.

"We just basically built a line at eight yards and with the speed we had on defense, took away the first two options. Hey, I was right there. I think one game I had 10 tackles and another I had 16 tackles. We just beat them to the punch most of the time.”

Switzer was offensive coordinator when he installed the wishbone prior to the 1970 game against Texas in Dallas (a 41-9 loss). Johnson was the Sooners' defensive line coach at the time.

"I had an advantage,” Johnson said of being part of the OU staff during the wishbone implementation. "I knew how to defend it, and we had good enough players that we could have defended any solid offense. Having great talent, plus understanding how to defend the wishbone, we shut it down completely.”

Switzer resigned as the Sooners' coach in June of 1989. Had he remained at OU, Switzer said he eventually would have switched to the same I-formation option attack used by Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, which brought the Cornhuskers three national titles in a four-year span (1994, 1995 and 1997).

As Oklahoma State's head coach from 1979-83, Johnson went 0 for 5 against Switzer.

Explaining the discrepancy is rather simple.

"He couldn't beat us at OSU, and you know why? He didn't have the players,” Switzer said. "It's like I always told Jimmy, ‘When I had the players, I won. When you had the players, you won.' It didn't matter whether it was college ball or pro ball.”

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