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Some long-time observers of the Sooners think that the very young 1973 team, 10-0-1 with a tie at defending NC USC in the 2nd game, was the best of the '73-75 bunch.  They were on probation, and ineligible for the then-UPI rankings, but that tie might have cost them the AP championship.  Maybe not, though, as Notre Dame finished 11-0 and finished #1 in both polls.  The Nebraska game over Thanksgiving weekend wasn't the last, but it was the best--27-0 with Nebraska (who finished AP #7) never starting a play in Sooner territory.  OU's DC Larry Lacewell said after that one that he would take his defense and go fight Russia.  It was the last televised Sooner game until the 1975 (season) Orange Bowl vs. Michigan.

The '74 team might have been a bit better, though.  At the time, some national pundits were calling it the best team that no one would ever see, as there was no TV coverage and no potential for a bowl game.  It went 11-0, and Joe Washington had his best year.  They finished AP #1, while 11-0 Alabama finished #1 in the UPI.

as you're well aware, Switzer and Osborne believed the 74 team was the best
I will agree.  Although all 3 teams were outstanding

The QB for the 71 Sooners had as good a passer rating as Tua and Kyler Murray last year (199).  An option QB with a 47% completion percentage matched those two.  How?  10 TD, 2 INT and massive yards per attempt and yards per completion numbers.


Pretty incredible.  Famous, name option QBs routinely had low TD-high INT seasons in the past...it was the norm.  But for one of them to have that TD/INT ratio is crazy sauce.


Jack Mildren.

Mildren was highly recruited as an all-purpose QB out of Abilene, TX.  He was a sophomore starting at QB for OU in '69, when Steve Owens won the Heisman.  OU switched to the veer offense for 1970 and it didn't work well, as the Sooners lost at home to Oregon State in game 3.  So, during the bye week before the Texas game, OC Barry Switzer installed the wishbone (which he had learned with the help of Darrell Royal and the UT assistants), with Mildren running the offense.  They got shellacked in the RRS, 41-9, but the promise was evident.  They lost 19-14 to K-State 2 weeks later, lost 28-21 in Lincoln to eventual MNC Nebraska (it was a split MNC that year, as Texas won the UPI championship, before losing to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl), and tied Bama 24-24 in the Bluebonnet Bowl to finish 7-4-1.  They finished ranked #20, which was an improvement from 6-4 unranked in 1969.  In '71, Mildren and the wishbone offense were Hell on Wheels.  He had a strong arm.  After Nebraska scored the winning TD late in the GOTC, he twice had Jon Harrison open deep and beyond the coverage, but overthrew him by about a foot both times.
Mildren was a state hero. He entered politics but had the misfortune of being a Democrat as the state was starting to go Republican, so he topped out as Lt. Governor.  Post-politics, he became a beloved sports-radio guy, known as "the godfather of the wishbone."
He died of stomach cancer in 2008, 58 years old.

with Mildren running the offense.  They got shellacked in the RRS, 41-9, but the promise was evident. 

This is where coaching genius happens.  You got stomped.  You only score 9 points.  But to see the potential and to stick with it - wow.

In researching, I came across a team that finished the year with one loss, by one point.  That made me wonder how many such teams there have been...one point away from an undefeated season.



I know '94 Alabama was such a team, losing by 1 to Florida in the SECCG.  2016 Clemson was another, in their upset loss to Pitt.  



If you know of any others off hand, please post them for me.

1971 Michigan (vs Stanford in the Rose Bowl)

2011 Alabama and this year's Georgia teams have a separate, similar slant to their seasons - their only loss was in overtime.


If you're wondering why I'm doing this, it's because when we look back in the record books, the black-and-white pages show a win, a loss, or a tie.  The ties have their own place, so we know who went 10-0-1 or 11-0-1 and realize they were very nearly great.  But when there's a '1' in the loss column, it doesn't specify if you lost by one or a hundred.  So there are those teams out there that lost out on undefeated seasons by one little point.  

And for those who's '1' in the loss column simply came after college overtime was put into practice, these teams played well enough to go undefeated (with a '1' in the tie column), but because of WHEN they played, wound up losing a game they wouldn't have lost years back.


Really, I'm just burnt out on researching for Whoa Nellie and I'm yanking interesting things out of the hundreds (thousands?) of pages of history I've been perusing.  

Probably the most famous one:
1983 Nebraska (vs Miami in the Orange Bowl, for all the marbles)