USD Football 1997

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OKLAHOMA'S 47-GAME WINNING STREAK, BORN AFTER A 1953 LOSS TO NOTRE DAME, WAS STOPPED BY THE IRISH MIDWAY THROUGH THE '57 SEASON.

3-yard line and later at the six. At halftime Brennan told his team, "Just slant, gap and blow. Forget the several bad breaks and just bear down for 30 minutes. Change the plays and keep mixing them up. This is the big half." The standoff continued until late in the fourth quarter, when Notre Dame relentlessly marched to Oklahoma's 8-yard line. Fullback Nick Pietrosante got four yards on first down, Lynch was stopped without a gain on sec– ond, then quarterback Bob Williams added one on a sneak. Brennan con– sidered attempting a field goal on fourth down, but he didn't like the windy conditions, so he let everything hang on one running play - a pitchout to Lynch running around right end. Oklahoma's linebackers were so con– scious of Pietrosante's running that they converged on him at the slightest movement, so Williams faked an inside handoff to his big fullback, then pitched the ball to Lynch, who had a clear path to the end zone for the winning score. "I could have run 95 yards with that kind of blocking," said Lynch, adding with a smile, "It might have taken a while, but the way we blocked the play, there was nothing in front of me." The next day, columnist John Cron– ley in the Daily Oklahoman expressed local reaction: "Russia's two Sputniks collided in mid-air. The sun set in the east. Hitler was discovered alive in Washington, D.C. And almost as incred– ibly, Oklahoma University lost a foot– ball game." In South Bend, the reaction obvi– ously was more ple asant, as Notre Dame's administration declared a school holiday the following Monday. rDI

By Jack Clary

ovember 16, 1957: A most improbable day that ended in a most implausible way in Nor– man, Oklahoma. With 63,170 fans at Owen Field staring in disbelief and tens of thousands

more watching on their black-and– white television sets, Notre Dame stunned the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners 7-0 and ended college foot– ball's longest winning streak ever at 47 games. The streak had begun in the third game of the 1953 season and wound its way through the first seven games of the '57 season. At both ends of the streak was Notre Dame. The last time the Sooners had lost was to the top-ranked Irish, 28-21, in the opening game of the 1953 season. After a 7-7 tie against Pitt the following week of that season, Oklahoma reeled off 47 straight victories and was an 18- point favorite to make it 48. The game had even been declared the center– piece of the state's 50th anniversary celebration that year. The '50s were the heyday of Okla– homa football. Coach Bud Wilkinson served up a split-T formation offense that had terrorized opponents for almost a decade with a combination of speed and deception. Entering the game, the Sooners had compiled a 94-6-2 record since 1947, won national titles in 1950, '55 and '56, and appeared headed for an unprecedented third straight crown. The Irish, under fourth-year coach Terry Brennan, were struggling to

regain their football identity after a dis– mal 2-8 season the previous year, which included a 40-0 lacing by the Sooners. They were a young, gritty, hard-working team that included half– back Dick Lynch, a six-foot, 185-pound New Jersey native and the only senior on the starting unit. Compared to the Sooners, though, they were slow afoot, but on this day, gritty toughness and determination overcame athletic skill. Early on, the Sooners moved the ball easily until they got deep into ND territory, where the Irish stopped them on three occasions. But Oklahoma was just as tough, stuffing the Irish at OU's

JACK CLARY, afreelance sports journalist and author of nearly 60 books on sports, is a regular contributor to Touchdown Illustrated.