{"id":1686,"date":"2016-01-29T11:39:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T17:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=1686"},"modified":"2023-12-25T14:09:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T20:09:06","slug":"greatest-sooner-running-backs-number-one-and-two-how-would-you-rank-billy-sims-and-joe-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=1686","title":{"rendered":"Greatest Sooner Running Backs, Number One and Two: How would you rank Billy Sims and Joe Washington?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Billy Sims avoids Iowa defensive back Bob Stoops in a game in Norman, OK. No Photo Credit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To qualify this ranking of running backs at Oklahoma, I have included only players that I have personally seen in person at the stadium or live on television.\u00a0 I began watching Sooner football in 1958 and my remembrances go back to 1961.\u00a0 With that, I have not included any player before 1961. This is the first part of a series of greatest Sooner football players by position.\u00a0 Please comment on my lists and argue your best Sooner players.\u00a0 There are no right or wrong rankings.\u00a0\u00a0 The lists,\u00a0started with Joe Don Looney (10th best running back), will include offensive and defensive positions.\u00a0 Statistics, abilities, and overall significance to the OU football program are all included in picking the ten, but when all things are equal, my personal preference is the tie breaker.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The final two great running backs\u00a0in Oklahoma history, which I will rank number one and number two in this article, are Joe Washington and Billy Sims.\u00a0 Both have distinct styles but when on a college field, they were always the most exciting game breakers on either side of the field.\u00a0 Sims won the Heisman Trophy, while “Little Joe” Washington participated in two National Championship teams while in Norman.\u00a0 Both had successful careers in the National Football League after leaving Oklahoma.\u00a0 Both are Sooner legends of the highest order.<\/span><\/h6>\n

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Joe Washington (Photo Credit-Joe Washington 1974 – Tulsa World: Tulsa World: Tulsa News, Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The\u00a0punt return\u00a0Joe Washington made in his second game of his career (1973 season)\u00a0in the Los Angeles Coliseum against Southern California, the defending National Champs, was one of the greatest in the history of college football.\u00a0 Taking a punt return, Washington ran the\u00a0sideline, up and down, a whirling dervish that could not be contained.\u00a0 Yet when the run was over, his total gain of a negative three yards\u00a0was telling.\u00a0 Greatest punt return and you lose three\u00a0yards? \u00a0Little Joe became a college\u00a0name that night as OU tied the Trojans, but the football world would recognize who was the best offensive player on the field, which contained a USC Heisman winner that night.\u00a0 And the Sooner juggernaut that had been started by former Coach Chuck Fairbanks would grow into a full monster under the new Coach Barry Switzer.\u00a0 That team would not be beat or tied for the betterment of three years from that night, finally losing in 1975 to Kansas.\u00a0OU was dominate, on both sides of the ball, and in fact, the only team to really beat OU in 73, 74,and 75 was OU, fumbling that game away with Kansas. Add to the fact the Joe Washington was the most exciting player in the country on that team, OU dominated the country in those years, with two National Titles and two undefeated teams.<\/span><\/h3>\n

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