Hello, I'm David Funk, and welcome to this edition of FSD History Flashback for November 16. Today's FSD History Flashback talks about one of the most impressive record-breaking winning streaks that came to an end.
On November 16, 1957 in Norman, Oklahoma, the defending college football champion Oklahoma Sooners hosted Notre Dame in what turned out to be the end of one of the most impressive feats in sports history. Oklahoma had a 47-game win streak going into the contest against the team that was the last to defeat them.
Fighting Irish coach Terry Brennan brought his team to town against Bud Wilkinson's Sooners in a nationally televised game in "living color". Both teams were highly motivated for this game as Brennan was under fire for having a 2-8 season the year before. They came into the game with two straight losses against Navy and Michigan which knocked them out of the polls.
The Sooners were trying to win their third title in a row, and were still very disappointed that Notre Dame QB Paul Hornung won the Heisman Trophy the year before for a losing team. The Sooners went undefeated, and felt running back Tommy McDonald should have won it. Also, the Sooners fell out of the top spot in the polls, and were eager to regain that by beating Notre Dame here. So the stage was set for a great game in Norman as over 62,000 fans came out for the game.
In the opening quarter of the game, the Sooners got an early turnover as Notre Dame's Pat Doyle fumbled and Oklahoma's Dick Corbitt recovered at the Irish 34-yard line. But the Sooners lost five yards on three plays, and were forced to punt.
Then, the Sooners forced the Irish to punt as they could not advance the ball down the field. Oklahoma drove the ball down to the Irish 13-yard line, but QB Carl Dodd's pass on a 4th-and-short play was incomplete as Allen Ecuyer of the Irish broke the pass up at the line.
Oklahoma took the next drive to the Irish 23-yard line, but Dodd fumbled and the Irish recovered the ball in the second quarter. Dodd fumbled again near midfield on the next drive as Oklahoma kept throwing away scoring opportunities.
Notre Dame was able to move the ball a little through the air after not moving the ball hardly at all on the previous drives. Notre Dame QB Bob Williams used short passes, and was able to move the ball to the Sooners 1-yard line as they had 1st-and-goal. However, the Irish ran the ball three straight times, and the Sooners defense stiffened to force a turnover on downs after FB Bob Reynolds was stopped short on 4th down.
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