“Go Joe” Game

[OU Guy]

[waddy's ghost]

I vividly recall that game . It came the week after the turnover filled loss 23-3 to Nolan Cromwell and KU. We lead 20-0 at half ,trailed 27-20 with around three minutes to go with OU facing 4th and 1 on OUr on 29.I just knew we were going to punt and end up losing so I snapped off the radio and stormed out of the house .I started walking aimlessly around town to nowhere in particular .I happened to run into my girlfriend and her best friend and they asked why I looked so down . I said we just blew a 20- lead and lost to Missouri. They laughed and said no that the Sooners had won .I ran back home and saw the highlights on the 6 o'clock sportscast on WKY TV .

[SoonerinLA]

I was there with three OU friends and a Mizzou friend. A truly great memory. Let's not forget we needed the 2 point conversation to win. Joe got it.

[RussC]

The very great Mike Treps with the exciting radio call!!!

[Fly]

Little Joe my all time favorite. The King did not even know who he was. Windell Mosey one of our recruiters saw him play at
A high school game & call him on the phone telling him how good this kid was. The rest is history. He was the most fun running
back I ever watched next to Berry Sanders. Little Joes nick name was show time, the first show time. You never knew what
was going to happen when he got the ball in his hands. If anyone can find that film of him catching that put return bring it
Up Felid can,t remember how many yards, but he was trapped & retreated I can’t remember how many yards then they
Surrounded him & out the back side here he comes. That has to be the neatest run ever. If I can find it I will post it.For the
Newer fans you will love it. That run was just one of many.

Fly

[Fly]

Ok here you go for the young guy the never go to enjoy him as us ole guys did. I still need to find that one run, but sit back
& in joy the REAL SHOWTIME. LITTLE JOE




Fly

[AllSooner]

Fly, not sure if this is the punt return you were looking for.....but it's one of my all time favorites.

[Fly]

Thank you All Sooner that had to be viewed .
You just have to see it to believe it. Can you imagine how excited we the fans got every time they kicked the ball to him!

You got to love it! Fly

[TropicalSooner]

I'll never forget how Little Joe always carried the ball like it was a loaf of bread.
After a game in which he had a fumble, a writer asked Switzer about it post game and Switzer said something to the effect: "What am I supposed to say? I said Joe, don't fumble. I don't know what else to say to him." Classic.

[Fly]

That’s Classic! sounds like something he would say! We lived in the best time in America I could die tomorrow & say, Thank
you God for such a great time to live.

Fly

[EMan]

75 Mizzou2.jpg (31.58 KiB) Viewed 940 times

OU-Missouri - November 15, 1975 – Columbia, Missouri

This was the most eagerly anticipated game of the season in Columbia, sold out since the beginning of the year as the Missouri faithful anxiously awaited an opportunity to upend the juggernaut that was the Sooner wishbone attack. However, in a surprising turn of events, Oklahoma suffered its first ever defeat in the Switzer Era the previous week, falling at the hands of the upstart Kansas Jayhawks, 23-3. In Norman no less! As a freshman student at OU at the time, I was in the stands to witness that shocking loss which to this day I still can’t believe happened. But nevertheless, it did occur, and suddenly the Sooners were not only going on the road to face a tough opponent but having to deal with the mental aspect of taking a critical hit in their quest to win back-to-back national championships.

Even though the contest had been sold out for weeks, the OU Athletic Department was sponsoring a bus trip to Columbia with tickets and a hotel as part of the package deal. So, being the fanatic Sooner fan I was two buddies of mine and I decided to make the trek to Tiger Land, confident in the knowledge that the Sooners would bounce back and take out a basketful of frustrations on the Tigers.

We left Norman on Friday afternoon (I blew off my English class that day!) and spent the night in Kansas City. We were up early the next morning and made our way into Columbia in time to grab some lunch before the early afternoon kickoff. The weather that day was great. Just a beautiful November day with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the mid to upper 60’s.

As we made our way into the stadium that afternoon, we quickly realized we certainly weren’t going to be confused for someone having the best seats in the house. As you will notice by my ticket stub, I was on Row 1 of Section 36. But it wasn’t Row 1 in the coffin corner of the stands. It was Row 1 in some bleachers set up behind one of the end zones. In other words, I was literally sitting on ground level. Yep, if I stood up and took a few steps forward, I would’ve been standing in the end zone. To be honest, these were some pretty crappy seats to see the game from, but at the same time, it gave me a most unique perspective on one of the most memorable games in Sooner history.

By the end of the first half it looked like the blue skies overhead were going to be smiling on the Sooner contingent all day. OU took the lead just 6 minutes into the contest when Steve Davis made a perfect downfield pitch to the trailing Elvis Peacock, who ran the last 25 yards untouched into the end zone for a touchdown and a quick 6-0 Sooner advantage. But the margin remained right there as Tony DiRienzo’s extra point attempt was blocked.

That didn’t appear to matter though as OU upped the ante to 12-0 when senior half back Joe Washington scampered 3 yards for another touchdown just before the end of the first quarter. Chasing that elusive point, the Sooners went for 2, but were denied.

However, OU remained undaunted and tacked on yet another score just before the half, driving 70 yards in 10 plays with Davis covering the final yard for the TD. This time Peacock ran it in for the 2-point conversion and OU was up 20-0 at the half. The Big Red Machine was rolling again!

Unfortunately for the Sooners though, the roller coaster ride was about to begin.

Missouri managed to hit pay dirt early in the second half and cut the OU lead to 20-7. A 50-yard bomb to the Sooner 3 set up the score.

However, it looked like OU would answer that salvo and regain the momentum when they took their second possession of the half down to the Tiger 7. But the Sooners came up empty when DiRienzo missed a 29-yard FG attempt. From that point forward Missouri could do no wrong, and the Sooners could do nothing right. It was a complete reversal of the first half. Tiger signal caller Steve Pisarkiewicz passed the Sooners silly in the second half, and running back Tony Galbreath kept the ground game churning, and with a little over 5 minutes to go in the game, the Sooners found themselves trailing 27-20.

That was when Switzer put in a call for a heaping dose of Sooner Magic. And it was Little Joe Washington that picked up the phone.

We all know the story. Facing fourth and one from the Oklahoma 29, Switzer opted to go for the first down instead of punting away and hoping the defense could get the ball back. The Tigers had pretty much had their way in the second half and momentum was definitely riding shot gun on the Missouri sideline. So, the Sooners ran the option to the right side with Washington as the pitch man. As Davis made the pitch to Little Joe, he planted, cut back against the grain to the left, avoided a Tiger hand-tackle and burst into the secondary, finding nothing but green grass and daylight between him and the end zone. The ensuing 71-yard touchdown is arguably the most famous run in Sooner history. Every Sooner fan remembers Mike Treps’ famous “Go, Joe!” call of that run. But my memories are little different than most OU fans since I never heard Treps’ call until much later.

The Sooners were heading away from our end of the field in the 4th quarter that day, so we had a great view of the offensive side of that play as it developed. We could see Little Joe take the pitch and survey his openings. We could also see very quickly that he was going to get the first down and keep the drive alive, but then he cut back up inside and disappeared into the secondary. We really couldn’t see much of Joe once he made that cut. He just kind of disappeared behind the two lines. But we knew something big was happening because the Missouri crowd went silent, the OU bench went wild, and just about every player on the Sooner offense was running down field with their arms raised high. Touchdown, Oklahoma!

But that was only the beginning. Still needing the two-point conversion to take the lead, the Sooners had called time out to talk about what play they wanted to run. Unfortunately, now the action was taking place on the opposite end of the field from us, so we didn’t have the best view of what was about to transpire.

Davis took the snap and once again headed to the right with Washington as his pitch man. As Davis made the pitch and Joe came around the right side he suddenly disappeared from our view. Why? Because practically every player on the sidelines stepped out on the field so they could see the play as Joe headed for the corner of the end zone. We never saw the end of that play until we got home the next day and watched it on the playback show. What we could see however was Steve Davis leaping high into the air signaling the conversion was good and the explosion of happiness on the OU sideline as Sooner players started jumping up and down celebrating. I looked at my buddy and said, “I guess he got in!”

Of course, a lot of Sooner fans fail to remember that Missouri still had 5 minutes left to regain the lead, and that OU had to fend off a couple of late Tiger FG attempts to preserve the victory. But when Missouri’s last kick failed to find the uprights, the game finally belonged to the Sooners.

Now you’d think the story would end there, but as a brief epilogue to this tale let me describe the scene as we headed back to the bus.

Needless to say, Missouri fans were extremely disappointed. In fact, many were down right PO’d, I remember one obviously distraught Tiger fan took one of those rented chair-back seats (the ones with the brownish-gold colored cloth for the back and a metal frame) and threw it out of the stands. I remember it sticking into the ground a short distance away and thinking to myself, I’m glad I’m not going home with that guy!

Anyway, we headed back to the bus and as we were waiting for everyone to get there the driver put the post-game show on the radio. Again, most Sooner fans remember Treps’ “Go, Joe!” call. Interestingly enough though, we were able to hear the other side of the coin. We were listening to the Missouri broadcast of the game (since we were in Columbia) and it had a slightly different perspective as you can imagine. They were replaying the actual on-air broadcast of each big play in their post-game wrap up show, and needless to say Little Joe’s run had a little bit different flavor to it than what you heard from Treps. You could hear the incredible excitement in the announcer’s voice as the Sooners lined up to run that 4th down play because he just knew if Missouri stopped the Sooners right there the Tigers were going to win. As Davis made the pitch and Joe cut back up inside and burst into the clear, you’d have thought someone just died. That announcer went from complete excitement to total disappointment. I can’t even describe how he sounded when he said Joe was going to go all the way.

However, realizing OU still needed the two-point conversion to take the lead he regained some of his enthusiasm as the teams lined up for the attempt. But it was just an instant replay for him when Joe leaped into the end zone. The realization that the Tigers had just gone from one play away from winning to trailing two plays later was evident in everything he said.

Man, talk about some fond memories!

[OU Chinaman]

...the "magic" of the silver shoes!

OKLAHOMA HAS HAD SO MANY GREAT RB'S!!!
Over the years of my life stretching back from Joe Don Looney in the early 60's to Gavin Sawchuck today, it's been an endless parade of not good, but GREAT backs.

And God, how much I love to see the Wishbone T offense executed to perfection.
Emory Ballard @ texass may have invented it...but OKLAHOMA perfected it! Even though half the programs in the nation installed it,...nobody ever did it better!
Switzer recruited to it so damn well too. I remember before the scholarship limits were instituted, there'd be 120 players on the OU sideline.
A lot of them could have started anywhere in the country, but rode the aluminum at OKLAOMA, and were glad to say they were SOONERS.
BARRY STILL MAINTAINS THAT THE TRIPLE OPTION WOULD STILL WORK TODAY, IF A PROGRAM COMMITTED TO IT, AND RECRUITED TO IT! I believe him!

Personally I hated it when Gary Gibbs & Cale Gundy left the triple option offense. The 3 losses in 3 years, 85-87 to Miami, was the Wishbone's death knell.
But the score was close every time and in 1987 the 20-14 loss couldn't have been closer
In the dark back recesses of my chinaman mind, I've always hoped that somehow, some way, maybe I'd live long enough to see the collegiate game come full circle and OKLAHOMA would return to it.

Alas, I'm resigned to watching HC Troy Calhoun's Fighting Falcons @ Air Force run the best modern version of it today.
He makes only $882,000 a year, but he's 8-1 and the leading rushing team in the country. sigh

LITTLE JOE WAS AS GOOD A RUNNING BACK THAT EVER PLAYED IN THE WISHBONE ERA...and it's easy to understand why he's one of the ALL TIME FAVORITE SOONER PLAYERS.

[OU Guy]

This place continues to amaze me with the history of posters!!

[Triple Option]

Fly, not sure if this is the punt return you were looking for.....but it's one of my all time favorites.

So, he fields the punt at the 48, retreats 30 yards to the 18, then runs it back to the 45 for the most exciting -3 yard return in football history.

"Anybody who tries to cut with him, who tries to go east, west and north at the same time with him, will break both knees and ankles." - Barry Switzer

[Raul]

I'll never forget how Little Joe always carried the ball like it was a loaf of bread.
After a game in which he had a fumble, a writer asked Switzer about it post game and Switzer said something to the effect: "What am I supposed to say? I said Joe, don't fumble. I don't know what else to say to him." Classic.

That was one reason Elvis Peacock was so valuable. It was his job to be there to recover Joe’s fumbles.