Alabama and Oklahoma share passion and a rich legacy of success, not to mention a genuine respect for each other
"They've looked at it as a great opportunity to see where we're at against the elite program in college football," Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said Sunday of his players. Stoops' counterpart at Alabama, Kirby Smart, said, "We've actually visited a lot of offseasons with their staff and their team."
When the No. 3 Tide and the No. 11 Sooners take the field Thursday night in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, it will be only the fifth time they have played one another in a history that spans 1,668 victories. Oklahoma has won 836 games, Alabama 832.
Alabama won six Associated Press national championships in the pre-BCS era. So did Oklahoma.
The Crimson Tide won three BCS titles, the Sooners one.
Oklahoma had Bud Wilkinson, Alabama had Bear Bryant.
Until Urban Meyer (.842) passed him late this season, former Sooners coach Barry Switzer had the best career winning percentage (.837) in FBS history (and if Ohio State loses the Discover Orange Bowl to Clemson, Switzer will be in first again).
In the last five seasons under Nick Saban, Alabama has gone 60-6 (.909), best in the FBS. If the Sooners upset the Tide, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops will join Joe Paterno and become only the second coach in FBS history to win every major bowl (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta). The programs even share colors: the Crimson Tide wears crimson and white. The Sooners wear crimson and cream. The only thing they haven't shared very often is a football field. But their connection covers almost the entire post-World War II era.
Wilkinson and Bryant had been friends for years, though they coached against each other only twice. In the 1951 Orange Bowl, Bryant's Kentucky Wildcats upset Oklahoma, which already had been named national champion, 13-7.
"And Bud Wilkinson taught me something that day," Bryant would write in his autobiography. "He showed me the class I wish I had. He came into our dressing room afterward and shook hands with me and as many of the players as he could reach. I had never done that before, or seen it done. But I've done it since."
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"They've looked at it as a great opportunity to see where we're at against the elite program in college football," Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said Sunday of his players. Stoops' counterpart at Alabama, Kirby Smart, said, "We've actually visited a lot of offseasons with their staff and their team."
When the No. 3 Tide and the No. 11 Sooners take the field Thursday night in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, it will be only the fifth time they have played one another in a history that spans 1,668 victories. Oklahoma has won 836 games, Alabama 832.
Alabama won six Associated Press national championships in the pre-BCS era. So did Oklahoma.
The Crimson Tide won three BCS titles, the Sooners one.
Oklahoma had Bud Wilkinson, Alabama had Bear Bryant.
Until Urban Meyer (.842) passed him late this season, former Sooners coach Barry Switzer had the best career winning percentage (.837) in FBS history (and if Ohio State loses the Discover Orange Bowl to Clemson, Switzer will be in first again).
In the last five seasons under Nick Saban, Alabama has gone 60-6 (.909), best in the FBS. If the Sooners upset the Tide, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops will join Joe Paterno and become only the second coach in FBS history to win every major bowl (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta). The programs even share colors: the Crimson Tide wears crimson and white. The Sooners wear crimson and cream. The only thing they haven't shared very often is a football field. But their connection covers almost the entire post-World War II era.
Wilkinson and Bryant had been friends for years, though they coached against each other only twice. In the 1951 Orange Bowl, Bryant's Kentucky Wildcats upset Oklahoma, which already had been named national champion, 13-7.
"And Bud Wilkinson taught me something that day," Bryant would write in his autobiography. "He showed me the class I wish I had. He came into our dressing room afterward and shook hands with me and as many of the players as he could reach. I had never done that before, or seen it done. But I've done it since."
Read more here...
