Sooner or Later, Change Happens

While Oklahoma is once again a national championship contender, the days of the wishbone or a grind-it-out offense are long gone. Oklahoma now gets it done with the pass, led by record-setting quarterback Josh Heupel, who didn’t bother to follow in any of his predecessors footsteps. A look at some of Oklahoma’s best teams and the passing statistics of their quarterbacks, as well as Heupel’s two seasons:

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Year Record Season Passing Leader Result vs. and Statistics Nebraska 1950 10-1 CLAUDE ARNOLD Win, 49-35 57 of 114, 1,048 yards, 13 TD, 1 Int. 1955 11-0 TOMMY McDONALD Win, 41-0 17 of 24, 265 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int. 1956 10-0 JIMMY HARRIS Win, 54-6 23 of 37, 482 yards, 8 TD, 1 Int. 1971 11-1 JACK MILDREN Lose, 35-31 31 of 64, 878 yards, 10 TD, 2 Int. 1974 11-0 STEVE DAVIS Win, 28-14 26 of 63, 601 yards , 11 TD, 4 Int. 1975 11-1 STEVE DAVIS Win, 35-10 19 of 56, 438 yards 1 TD, 7 Int. 1985 11-1 JAMELLE HOLIEWAY Win, 27-7 24 of 58, 517, 5 TD, 2 Int. 1987 11-1 JAMELLE HOLIEWAY Win, 17-7 21 of 62, 548 yards, 7 TD, 4 Int. 1999 7-5 JOSH HEUPEL No game 310 of 500, 3,460 yards, 30 TD, 15 Int. 2000 7-0 JOSH HEUPEL Win, 31-14 164 of 244, 2,194 yards 12 TD, 4 Int.

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Note: Oklahoma won national championships in ‘50, ‘55, ‘56, ‘74, ’75 and ’85.