1952 Oklahoma Sooners football team

The 1952 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1952 college football season. It was the 58th season of play for the Sooners. Led by head coach Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners offense scored 407 points, while the defense allowed only 141.

1952 Oklahoma Sooners football
Big 7 champion
Conference	Big Seven Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 4
Record	8–1–1 (5–0–1 Big 7)
Head coach	Bud Wilkinson (6th season)
Captains	Tom Catlin Eddie Crowder
Home stadium	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1951 1953 →

1952 Big Seven Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Oklahoma $	5	–	0	–	1			8	–	1	–	1
Missouri	5	–	1	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Nebraska	3	–	2	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Kansas	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Colorado	2	–	2	–	2			6	–	2	–	2
Iowa State	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 27	at Colorado	No. 4	Folsom Field Boulder, CO		T 21–21	30,569
October 4	Pittsburgh*	No. 20	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 49–20	37,716
October 11	vs. Texas*	No. 12	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (rivalry)		W 49–20	75,504	[1]
October 18	at No. 8 Kansas	No. 6	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS		W 42–20	37,946
October 25	Kansas State	No. 3	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 49–6	38,168
November 1	at Iowa State	No. 3	Clyde Williams Stadium Ames, IA		W 41–0	9,619
November 8	at No. 10 Notre Dame*	No. 4	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC	L 21–27	57,466
November 15	Missouri	No. 8	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK (rivalry)		W 47–7	43,393
November 22	Nebraska	No. 5	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK (rivalry)		W 34–13	42,489
November 29	at Oklahoma A&M*	No. 4	Lewis Field Stillwater, OK (Bedlam)		W 54–7	21,408
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[2]

Rankings

See also: 1952 NCAA football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Final
AP	4 (16)	20	12 (1)	6 (5)	3 (23)	3 (20)	4 (27)	8	5 (1)	4 (3)	4 (14)

Roster

• QB Eddie Crowder Sr.
• G J. D. Roberts Jr.
• HB Billy Vessels, Sr.
• E Carl Allison, So.

Awards and honors

• Billy Vessels, Heisman Trophy^[3]

NFL draft

Six Sooners were selected in the 1953 NFL draft, held on January 22.^[4]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL team
1	2	Billy Vessels	Running back	Baltimore Colts
2	22	Eddie Crowder	Quarterback	New York Giants
3	26	Buck McPhail	Back	Baltimore Colts
4	38	Tom Catlin	Center	Baltimore Colts
15	177	Dick Bowman	Guard	New York Giants
15	180	Tom Carroll	Back	Los Angeles Rams

References

1. "O.U. shocks Texas, 49–20, in power display". The Ponca City News. October 12, 1952. Retrieved April 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
2. 1952 OU Football Season Schedule - SoonerStats - Historical scores, records, and stats for Oklahoma Sooners football, basketball, baseball, and softball
3. "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on September 16, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
4. "1953 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 29, 2020.