Simply Unbelievable...

The Oklahoma Sooners are College Football's National Champions

by: Jason Waganer

January 4, 2001

Just two and a half years ago, Oklahoma Sooners fans were depressed. Like an old man looking back on his life, the Sooners thought the best years were behind them. The likes of Barry Switzer, Bud Wilkinson, Benny Owen and Chuck Fairbanks were distant memories. They were embarrassed by the antics of Howard Schnellenberger and the ineptitude of John Blake.

However, when OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione named Bob Stoops the new head coach at Oklahoma, Sooner fans were  revived back to the world of championship college football. In a story too remarkable to be fiction, Bob Stoops resurrected the Sooner program from the gutter to the pinnacle of college football in two very short seasons.

Last night in Miami, Fla. the Oklahoma Sooners convincingly defeated the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles 13-2 in the FedEx Orange Bowl to capture Oklahoma's seventh national championship. The resurrection is complete. Oklahoma is back....and here to stay.

Next season, the Sooners won't have Heisman runner-up Josh Heupel at Quarterback and Orange Bowl MVP Torrance Marshall will be playing on Sundays. But the Sooners will return the vast majority of this National Championship team including nearly the entire secondary, All-American linebacker Rocky Calmus, the entire receiving core, Quentin Griffin and most of the offensive line. 

The Sooners should be able to replace Marshall with freshman sensation Jimmy Wilkerson. However, Josh Heupel's shoes won't be so easy to  fill. If Nate Hybl, Jason White, Hunter Wall or an unknown Sooner QB can have anywhere close to a Heupel-like season, the Sooners will have a great shot at making it to Pasadena next January for a shot at a repeat.

It  should be an interesting off season and a really exciting year to be a Sooner.