The 1955 Oklahoma Sooners football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

in the Big Seven Conference (Big 7) during the 1955 college football season. Led by ninth-year head coach Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners compiled an 11–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 385 to 60, won the Big 7 and

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

s, and defeated No. 3

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, 20–6, in the

1956 Orange Bowl The 1956 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Maryland Terrapins. It was played on January 2, because New Year's Day was Background Oklahoma and Maryland were the respectives champions of the Big Se ...

. In the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma trailed by six at halftime, and then outscored Maryland, 20–0, in the second half. Oklahoma's 1955 season was the school's tenth consecutive conference championship and part of a record-setting 47-game winning streak that lasted from October 10, 1953, through November 9, 1957. The Sooners played their home games at Owen Field in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...

National championship

In the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

released on November 28, 1955, Oklahoma was ranked No. 1 with 3,581 points, more than 300 points ahead of No. 2

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. The Sooners also finished with the No. 1 ranking in the final UPI coaches poll. The team was also recognized as the 1955 national champion in rankings and analyses issued by Berryman (QPRS),

Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...

College Football Researchers Association The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football n ...

DeVold System A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best coll ...

Dunkel System The Dunkel System, also known as the Dunkel College Football Index, is a college football rating system developed in 1929 by Richard C. "Dick" Dunkel, Sr. (1906–1975), to determine a national champion. Dunkel rated college football teams from 192 ...

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

Litkenhous A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best co ...

National Championship Foundation The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected college football national champions for each year from 1869 to 1979, and its selections are among the historic national ch ...

Poling System The Poling System was a mathematical rating system used to select college football national championship teams on a current basis from 1935 to 1984. Its selections were published in the ''Football Review Supplement'' and several newspapers.

Sagarin Ratings Jeff Sagarin is an American sports statistician known for his development of a method for ranking and rating sports teams in a variety of sports. His ratings have been a regular feature in the ''USA Today'' sports section since 1985, have been use ...

, and

Williamson System The Williamson System was a mathematical system used to rank college football teams. The system was created by Paul B. Williamson, a geologist and member of the Sugar Bowl committee. The NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCA ...

Honors and statistical leaders

Guard

Bo Bolinger Virgilee Clinton "Bo" Bolinger (December 26, 1932 – August 5, 2011) was an American football guard who played one season with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals of the National ...

was a consensus first-team pick on the 1955 All-America college football team. Halfback Tommy McDonald led the team with 102 points scored, 715 rushing yards, and 284 passing yards. McDonald received first-team All-America honors from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. Three of the coaches and two of the players on the 1955 Sooners were later inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

: coach Wilkinson (inducted 1969); assistant coach

Gomer Jones Gomer Thomas Jones (February 26, 1914 – March 21, 1971) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football as a center at Ohio State University from 1933 to 1935. After serving as an assist ...

(inducted 1978); Tommy McDonald (inducted 1985); assistant coach

Pete Elliott Peter R. Elliott (September 29, 1926 – January 4, 2013) was an American football player and coach. Elliott served as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1956), the University of California, Berkeley (1957–1959), ...

(inducted 1994); and center

Jerry Tubbs Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian film ...

(inducted 1996).

Schedule

Personnel

Players

, guard * Bob Burris, back *

Gene Cockrell Eugene Oliver Cockrell (June 10, 1934 – May 16, 2020) was an American football offensive tackle who played three seasons with the New York Titans (football), New York Titans of the American Football League (AFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland ...

, tackle * Robert Derrick * Carl Dodd * Tom Emerson, tackle * Ed Gray, end * Jimmy Harris, quarterback *

Bill Krisher William Irwin Krisher (born September 18, 1935) is a former American football guard who was an All-American at Oklahoma in 1956 and 1957. Krisher played two seasons in the American Football League (AFL), from 1960 to 1961, for the Dallas Te ...

, guard * Tommy McDonald, halback * Joe Mobra, end *

Cecil Morris Cecil Ray Morris (November 8, 1933 – September 12, 2001) was an American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma from 1981 to 1983. Morris played at the University of Oklahoma ...

* Dennit Morris, linebacker * Jay O'Neal *

Billy Pricer Billy Carol Pricer (September 3, 1934 – September 24, 1999) was a professional American football player who played running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a runn ...

, back *

Don Stiller Don Stiller is an American former football player who was part of the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Stiller was born in 1936 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to Arthur W., a local grocer, and Esther L. Stiller, and younger broth ...

, end/guard *

Clendon Thomas Clendon Thomas (born December 28, 1935) is a former American football halfback and Defensive back who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). In college, he was a star athlete for the Oklahoma Sooners under coach Bud Wilkinson. ...

, halfback *

, center

Coaches

* Head coach - Bud Wilkinson * Assistant coaches -

, Sam Lyle

Rankings

1955 NFL draft

The following players were selected in the 1955 NFL Draft following the season.

References

{{Big Eight Conference football champions

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Oklahoma Sooners football seasons College football national champions Big Eight Conference football champion seasons Orange Bowl champion seasons College football undefeated seasons

Oklahoma Sooners football The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma (variously "Oklahoma" or "OU"). The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (forme ...