Paul Thompson stood inside the Barry Switzer Center, surrounded by rings and awards galore, commemorating seven national championships, seven Heisman Trophy winners, 50 conference titles and more.
Speaking to recruits before Oklahoma’s Oct. 30 game against Texas Tech, the former Sooners standout grounded his pitch on the competitive pedigree emanating from the bejeweled room surrounding him. Two days later, four-star wide receiver Nicholas Anderson, the younger brother of former OU running back Rodney Anderson, flipped his commitment from Oregon to the Sooners, perhaps in part thanks to Thompson, but also, thanks to a winning culture that sells.
Thankful for another special weekend for @OU_Football! 🎉Loved having @OUPaulThompson and @ClaytonMC9 back home to talk to our recruits about why they chose Oklahoma!#ChampU22 | #CHO23N | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/uVvx8Uhhmz
— Annie Hanson (@AnnieHanson_) October 31, 2021
“It’s pretty obvious OU has been more consistent than any other program over the last 20 years as far as being relevant during that time frame,” said Thompson, an OU quarterback and receiver from 2002-06. “Being competitive and being part of championships was my message to them.”
After the recruiting engagement, Thompson and his former teammate Mark Clayton watched No. 8 Oklahoma’s 52-21 dismantling of the Red Raiders, marking its most complete game this season. Freshman quarterback Caleb Williams threw for 402 yards and six touchdowns and the Sooners’ struggling defense forced three turnovers. With the victory, OU improved to 9-0 for the first time since 2004. While Thompson redshirted that year, he had a front row seat to see what it took for Oklahoma to finish the regular season undefeated and capture a Big 12 title. Oklahoma reached the national championship game for the third time in five seasons before falling considerably short against USC.
Seventeen years later, the 2021 calendar has flipped to “Championship November,” the phrase used since 2015 to describe OU’s dominance in the last full month of regular season games. The Sooners boast 23 straight victories in November, including 11 wins over Associated Press Top 25 opponents and a 14-0 record since Lincoln Riley became head coach in 2017. They’ve captured six straight Big 12 titles in subsequent Decembers but have no national championship berths or trophies to show for their November supremacy.
It remains to be seen if OU can replicate the performance of its early 2000s counterparts by running the table and breaking through the College Football Playoff semifinals to reach the title bout. However, elite teams that compete for trophies have prevailed in adverse situations, and like in years past, a looming matchup with No. 13 Baylor on Saturday provides OU a chance — as Riley suggests his team draws ever closer to on a weekly basis — to register a completely dominant performance like one of the nation’s elite teams. From the perspective of the last Oklahoma players to reach the national championship off an undefeated regular season, plenty is working in the current Sooners’ favor, but they still have much to prove compared to championship-caliber teams past.
“They have the potential to be,” Thompson said when asked if the Sooners are truly a title contender. “There's been signs, there's been glimpses of it. … But from a national championship standpoint, we've definitely got to be more consistent from quarter one to quarter four to the end of the game and put a couple games together of just consistent domination.”
OU takes a team photo after the Sooners defeated Texas in the Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 9.
‘What’s this team really about?’
Dan Cody was ready to turn off the TV. With Oklahoma trailing Texas 28-7 in the first quarter of the Oct. 9 Red River Showdown, the Sooners defensive end from 2000-04 had seen enough.
“I’ve never cared if they won or lost, I’ve been on both sides of that deal,” Cody said. "My boy was just like, ‘Man, chill out.’ I couldn’t believe how mad I was. I was like, ‘I can’t even believe you’re not gonna show up.’”
Cody came from Ada to Norman in 2000, where, during his redshirt season, he observed the Sooners’ most recent national championship. OU overcame Florida State 13-2 in the title game, completing an undefeated season that reestablished the standard for performance lost in the decade of struggle beforehand. From there, Cody was part of the team in 2003 and 2004 that reached the national championship game undefeated before falling short of a title.
“We found ourselves then,” Cody said. “The standard was set then. It was like the expectations of being undefeated took a life of its own ... immediately then. It was just such an unbelievable run with so much winning.”
More elite Oklahoma teams have been developed since. The 2008 squad, led by Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, reached the national championship and the Sooners have reached the College Football Playoff four times since its creation in 2014 behind more Heisman winners like Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.
Not only did those teams win, but along the way, they also overcame perilous situations to create season-defining moments.
For Cody’s 2004 bunch, that manifested in a comeback road win over Texas A&M on Nov. 6, where the Sooners prevailed 42-35 after trailing 21-7 in the second quarter. OU was playing catch-up until the third quarter when it finally took a 35-28 lead. Then the Sooners fought a back-and-forth battle in the fourth quarter before 2003 Heisman winner Jason White’s 40-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradley sealed the deal.
Years later, as a flustered Cody’s patience wavered, 2021 Oklahoma faced a similar deficit. It took the heroics of a freshman nicknamed Superman to keep him from shutting off his television and going about his Saturday. Williams, a former five-star recruit from Washington, D.C., exploded onto the scene with a 66-yard touchdown run on his first play against Texas. Later, after starter Spencer Rattler fumbled, Williams led a 55-48 come-from-behind win and has owned the starting quarterback job since.
This season, Williams has amassed 1,189 passing yards and 14 touchdowns plus 288 rushing yards and four more scores. He also averages 10.5 yards per play to Rattler’s 6.9 and has solidified an offense that was volatile with Rattler at the helm, scoring Riley-era lows of 23 and 16 points against Nebraska and West Virginia.
“He's got command of the offense like he’s a guy that’s been in the system at least three years,” said Thompson, who played in eight games as a freshman. “Caleb just seems like he fits right in, which is very, very impressive. The timing on his throws, making people miss ... the electricity just turned up 10 notches with him in there and you can just see on the sidelines, his energy, his charisma is infectious.”
While OU’s Williams-led resurgence against Texas kept its perfect season alive, in Cody’s eyes, the victory doesn’t carry the same weight as wins like the 2004 Sooners’ defeat of Texas A&M. Oklahoma’s lack of consistency since the Red River Showdown suggests a season-defining juncture remains elusive.
On Oct. 16, OU allowed TCU 183 rushing yards, which was the most it has ceded in a single game this season. The Horned Frogs’ 346 passing yards and 525 total yards were also the second most the 2021 Sooners have surrendered.
After finishing 2020 ranked 29th in total defense, coordinator Alex Grinch’s group has plummeted to 64th. OU also ranks 114th in passing defense and 96th in opposing third-and-fourth down success. More recent games have seen a startling collapse from a unit that carried the Sooners when their offense sputtered early.
On Oct. 23, Oklahoma trailed Kansas — one of the worst teams in college football — 10-0 at halftime. The Jayhawks seized a season-high 23 first downs and tied their second-most yards in a game this fall with 412. Meanwhile, the OU offense was shut out in the first half for the first time since the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl, the last game before Riley arrived from East Carolina. The Sooners’ subsequent domination of Texas Tech was a step in the right direction, but hasn’t addressed every doubt.
“I’ve never seen a team that’s undefeated with so much to prove and so much to evaluate here and figure out really what the truth is,” Cody said. “We’re still having a lot of the same questions and conversations of ‘What’s this team really about?’”
Senior quarterback Jalen Hurts and senior cornerback Parnell Motley celebrate with fans after the game against Baylor in Waco, Texas, Nov. 16.
‘We’re never out of the fight’
Two weeks after overcoming Texas A&M in 2004, Oklahoma steamrolled Baylor 35-0 in Waco to finish the regular season unscathed and cruise into the Big 12 Championship Game. Back then, Baylor was one of the punching bags of the conference. Of late, the Bears have become a formidable adversary for OU, especially in games they’ve hosted at McLane Stadium in Waco.
“Every time we play there, they're always sold out,” said redshirt senior H-back Jeremiah Hall. “Their student section is actually pretty fun. They're not too disrespectful, but they get you going enough to where you want to talk back, but it's not super annoying. … It's not a huge stadium, but it's small enough to where it feels compact, and everybody's against you.”
In 2015, Baylor trailed by just three with over 10 minutes remaining, before Mayfield’s gritty six-minute touchdown drive and linebacker Ahmad Thomas’ interception helped put away the Bears, 44-34. Then in 2017, the Bears were down 49-41 with a chance to tie before linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo forced a fumble and Caleb Kelly, a sixth-year senior on the current team, recovered it.
“We've had several competitive games down there, a couple of really good Baylor teams,” Riley said during Monday’s Big 12 coaches conference call. “They’ve been fun games, they’ve all been a little bit different and kind of what you would expect going and playing a good football program on the road.”
The pinnacle of OU’s recent wrestling with Baylor came in 2019, where after already losing to Kansas State, it could afford no additional slip ups. Yet, Oklahoma found itself down 28-3 in the second quarter after Alabama transfer and Heisman finalist Jalen Hurts fumbled and threw an interception.
But the Sooners — who in days beforehand had watched film of Super Bowl LI, where the New England Patriots erased a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons — were motivated to respond. With little over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, OU scrubbed a 21-point halftime deficit to tie the Bears 31-31. A field goal with under two minutes remaining gave Oklahoma a 34-31 lead.
Senior linebacker DaShaun White was talking trash from the sideline, warning Bears quarterback Charlie Brewer not to throw an out-route. Two plays later, fellow linebacker Nik Bonitto dropped a potential interception before making the game winning pick on the following play — on an out-route. Though most of the aftermath became a blur, Hall recalls watching Hurts flash a rare smile amid a sea of celebrating fans.
“You just don't get opportunities to do those very often, and the largest (comeback) in the history of the school was something very special,” Riley said. “It was obviously a very meaningful game at the time. I think it kind of sets a precedent for us. We're never out of the fight. There's a belief and expectation that no matter how our game starts out, we can always make a run.”
Fast forward two seasons and OU’s trip to Waco on Saturday again boasts the makings of a season-defining moment. Baylor, despite its upset loss to TCU last weekend, is the 2021 Sooners’ toughest test yet.
Bears quarterback Gerry Bohanon leads the Big 12 with 22 total touchdowns. Running back Abram Smith’s 7.3 yards per carry is the best in the conference and receiver Tyquan Thornton has amassed a Big 12-leading 722 yards. Trestan Ebner, who leads the Big 12 in punt return yards and yards per return, adds another wrinkle on special teams.
“Every single year we play them, it’s a big game, it’s a big challenge,” White said. “It’s one of those things, like we have to respect them every single year because they’re a talented team, and this year they’re talented again.”
Head coach Lincoln Riley celebrates with freshman quarterback Caleb Williams after Williams threw a touchdown during the game against Texas Tech on Oct. 30.
‘Those will be impressive wins’
Oklahoma’s remaining schedule is a curse and a blessing.
After battling the Bears, OU hosts Iowa State, which has underachieved since ranking No. 7 in the preseason AP Poll, on Nov. 20. However, the Cyclones did snag a resume victory over No. 10 Oklahoma State and are fourth nationally in total defense. On Nov. 27, the Sooners travel to Stillwater for Bedlam against the Cowboys, who rank third nationally in total defense. It’s likely Oklahoma will face OSU again in the Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 4.
It’s a grueling final stretch, but it's one that could’ve benefitted the Sooners in 2004.
Then, a dominant OU squad waltzed through November and the first week of December after overcoming Texas A&M, slamming Nebraska, Baylor and Colorado by an average of 33.7 points. But, after blitzing the Buffaloes 42-3 in the conference title game, OU fell flat on its face in the national championship game. No. 1 USC routed the No. 2 Sooners 55-19 after mounting a 35-10 halftime lead Oklahoma couldn’t recover from.
“I think one of the biggest things that hurt us that year was playing Colorado in the Big 12 Championship,” Cody said. “We needed some better batting practice. I’m not saying that was the difference between winning or losing the (national championship) game, but there was something very funky about that game that year. There was a little bit of a loss in the momentum to me.”
With its tough November slate, 2021 Oklahoma has a chance to build momentum past teams didn’t, and that starts Saturday in earnest against Baylor. Those victories could also help the College Football Playoff committee look past OU’s early season inconsistencies and boost its ranking.
The Sooners, who seemingly control their destiny and should make the CFP if they win out, have every opportunity to finish the season strong and once more push for their first national title in 21 years.
“Those will be impressive wins at the end of the year, and everybody always remembers what happens at the end of the year more so than anything else,” Thompson said. “So they'll forget the Kansas (game), they'll forget being down to Texas. If we can finish out this season in a strong way, then it'll do us well.”
