#4 Oklahoma vs. #2 Florida State - 1981 Orange Bowl

For the 2nd straight season, the Sooners and the Seminoles clash in the Orange Bowl in Miami with JC Watts in charge. The Sooners win 18-17 with some late 4th quarter Sooner Magic.

[@jobu88]

Hard to believe this is about to be 40 years ago. I remember this game like it was yesterday. Great time to be a Sooner.

[@diablorojo1999]

Back when every New Years Day bowl mattered pre-BCS

[@randyware9645]

I agree, it was better match ups , every game on newyears day meant a hopeful championship to all teams ranked in the top 5

[@fridaysmith2567]

@@randyware9645 And it was all done by January 1st, not this endless series of games that make you wish it was over.

[@nmelkhunter1]

Better yet, players were interviewed on the sidelines during the game. I was way too young to remember this, but that would be pretty neat.

[@briankohl7431]

I used to love new year's day games. It needs to come back with a fury.

[@mikebridges7294]

Ron Simmons......WCW, ECW wrestling under his real name and then was Farooq in the WWE. He's still signed by the WWE in the Legends Program. Too bad he had that ankle injury in this game. I actually have this game on DVD, and I just turned 20 the day of this game....and any other Bowl Games played on New Year's Day lol. JC couldn't be kept down in this game. I remember running into him on the OU Campus my Jr year of HS, when we were there for a State Competition. He was gracious enough to give me his autograph (no such thing as mobile phones then, so no selfie with him lol) and a brief conversation as he was on his way to a Lecture. Great win for the Sooners, who have had FSU's number over their history with the Seminoles...most recently when Bradford was the OU QB.

[@eugenemcgirt]

This is a great game to post... Old School style. Sports is not what it used to be.

[@robjohnson8861]

That, or either you have aged and nothing is like it used to be. I swear the new clocks run faster bec time is racing by.

[@dlpogge]

Nor is anything else.

[@abrahamjackson6019]

That Forrest Valora 82# was a helluva player..

[@damienkirksey7026]

This was the game that Bobby Bowden got a lot of future NFL players on his FSU team along with Rohn Starks as the punter

[@bustano008]

Dr. Death Steve Williams a pro wrestler played for Oklahoma and Ron Simmons also a pro wrestler played for Florida State.🏈

[@MartinMcCauslin]

This was probably the first college football game I ever watched. I lived in Dallas and everyone I knew was pulling for Oklahoma but my family had strong ties to Florida State so we were all pulling for them. I remember the heartbreak and didn't realize at the time that this was one of the best college football games ever played...

[@luisvaldes1568]

What a hit on Overstreet at 23:55. Today player will be kick out of game.

[@luisvaldes1568]

Mic stuff is overated, don't need to hear the refs.

[@higgy04]

Lots of players in this game who went on to play in the CFL. One went on to wrestle in the WWF/E. Ron Simmons would later be known as Farooq, leader of the Nation of Domination in the late 1990's

[@mscrub]

The in-game player interviews are awesome!

[@ramm4me]

Wow i remember this game all too well....

[@TheChallenger1980]

Wasn't this game was played at the Orange Bowl the night before the "Epic in Miami" game between the Chargers and the Dolphins for the 1981 AFC DIV?

[@Bruce12867]

No, that was the following year between Clemson and Nebraska, when the Tigers were crowned national champions that night.

[@TheIsagregorio]

I watched that game on TV.

[@redbaronreborn3372]

Not one of Coach Bowden's better moments FSU really lost this game more than Oklahoma won it.Still you could see the FSU program rising and OU under Switzer was a running juggernaut.

[@yaknoff379]

Good ol Sooner Magic..

[@DonnoSooner]

Interesting to note how coverage of the game has changed. Talking to players on the sideline during the game, referees miked (though this was the first time that had happened and you can see why they stopped that), no heads up display with time, score, down & distance. And holy geez, how young do Switzer and Bowden look??

[@dadestarmysteries255]

Yeah, that's one thing I can't stand about watching games from the past-they hardly ever show the score! Talking to the player on the sideline before the game was over was kind of odd too.

[@robjohnson8861]

@@dadestarmysteries255 You would think very early on, some knitwit would have said lets include the score on the screen or show it more often. I wonder was that a show it when commercials are coming to keep people engaged?

[@manuginobilisbaldspot424]

Yes, I'm going to say it... DAMN!

[@GeorgiaKev]

More like damn...Damn...DAMN!!!

[@thedivomeister6308]

FSU possible Nation Champs: 79, 80, 87, 91, 92, 93, 96, 98, 99, and 2000. A good kicker would have helped

[@stevenlawton5528]

As an FSU fan I remember this game all too well I was 12 years old and just had my tonsils removed when Oklahoma came back and scored a touchdown with about a minute to go my father thought he'd have to take me back to the hospital cause I started throwing such a "hissy" fit it took him the rest of the night to calm me down little did I know this was a taste of what was to come with FSU ,Bobby and the wide rights.

[@danielarmstrong9971]

This was a great football game, I miss the old days of College Football, tough hard nosed physical football.

[@charlesvorones3612]

No doubt, brother! Can you believe the lame, high tackling today?! It seems like we're watching flag football!!

[@EderikSchneider]

The Seminoles were already a National Contender by 1980

[@robjohnson8861]

And Bobby Bowden would soon begin his unbelievable record. A losing record to every Cane coach with a NC. Count em, 4.

[@shawnyoung8752]

@@robjohnson8861 i dont recall the last time gators played Miami. Yes 2 times in last 60 years. Bowden in 4 years took a decent program to a national program. Lots of independant teams then. They went to nebraska 2 years and lost by 2 and 3? He recruited from panhandle and south georgia. Good kids who were inch and 15 pounds smaller to play back. Or a 6 ft 200lb linebacker who in 2 years will put on 20pds. I remember in mid 70s texas am had sherrill as coach and won swc . They had Bubba Bean at rb. They also had a linebacker who was 61 205 his name was Lester Hayes. Ended up being a pretty good pro.

[@dskyyksd]

I know Oklahoma won the game, but it was way premature for sideline reporters to be congratulating J.C. Watts on the sideline with almost two minutes and FSU only needing a field goal to win.

[@JasonColegrove-n3u]

"Damn" look who's playing nose guard for Florida State

[@RedElephantStampede]

DAMN

[@randyware9645]

roll tide my bama friend, alabama played in the cotton bowl earlier this day beating baylor 30-2 bama finish that year with a 10-2 record after comming off a national championship season

[@mackgiver875]

1:44:33 "Hi J.C.! We noticed you just got annihilated a few plays ago and you undoubtedly have a concussion, would you like to answer some questions while the trainers try to unscramble your skull?"

[@shaughnziech2193]

I think Steve Rhodes was 30 by this time, he was there a long time

[@zyxquark]

Yeah, jc watts was the greatest option quarterback to ever walk the earth until donovan mcnabb came along at least a generation and a half later. watts was great at running the option and he could THROW.

[@gocygo63]

...ummm...Thomas Lott...

[@chrisowen3264]

Mcnabb wasn’t an option QB lol

[@shawnyoung8752]

In mid 70s kansas was not a powerhouse that they were in 60s. I know it sounds wrong. Gayle Sayers. Forgot John Hadl who was a great QB for Chargers in Afl. John Riggins with Bobby Dougless in 68. Anyway they had a guy to play QB for the option offense. He was givin a track scholarship so to save it for anyone who would come to get the shit kicked out of them by sooners. Huskers. Buffalos. Nolan Cromwell rushed for over 1200 yards in his jr an sr sesson. He ended up with rams who saw his talent . Made 6 or 7 pro bowls as a free saftey. Ala Gary Fencik for the bears

[@briankohl7431]

That field was in terrible condition.

[@zyxmyk]

i know ou had better teams. i'm saying mcnabb could throw. I saw ou beat him in person when blake was coaching. mcnabb was sick and i was deeply impressed i had never seen anyone throw the ball that way at owen field before. i always felt watts could throw, too. he won the orange bowl by throwing. hey, i love all those old ou players. let's not argue. we belong to the same tribe. best of luck.

[@Spitzerman]

Good Lord……oh son….you need to google Jack Mildren, Thomas Lott, Jamelle Holieway…..McNabb could have never played QB on the great OU option teams…..Switzer would have moved him to another position….Didn’t an only average OU offense beat McNabb’s orange in the carrier dome?

[@TANTRUMGASM]

1:38:19 BUSTA RHYMES

[@robjohnson8861]

Bobby Bowden losing a nail biter. Who knew he started this far back. In sept 89, Bowden had to make a choice, join the SEC or ACC. The rest is history and all those BS 10 win seasons he amassed. 2-5 in NCs. I think to be considered great, he would have to have won at least 3.

[@dadestarmysteries255]

That's true, I'd consider him a good, maybe really good coach, but he doesn't strike me as great.

[@MrBeyondbelief]

Rick Stockstill??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@johncate9541]

+Christopher Socha Yep, the same guy who's the head coach at Middle Tennessee now. He was a junior at FSU when this game was played.

[@williamdunphy352]

Commentators: Don Criqui & John Brodie.

[@fridaysmith2567]

I did not realize Brodie was a scientologist.

[@thedivomeister6308]

Oklahoma is 6-0 vs FSU in the last 6 games. Bowden couldn’t beat Switzer and lose to Canes most of the time

[@beaverpitt]

1:33:54 TURN THE MICROPHONE OFF HA HA AH

[@robertrowlett5070]

Don Cricke is soooo bad he misses 95% of the stuff that happens on the field...

[@TAMPATLBLACK]

That FSU DE missed that gimmie int at the end of the of the game and OU scored on the next play to win by 1 point. smh

[@brantwilliams8449]

Are you serious? OU gave them four turnovers, plus a free touchdown and still beat FSU. You've got to get real.

[@johncate9541]

+brant williams I was just a kid when this was played, but my impression of FSU at the time was that they were overachievers and didn't really have the talent you expect of a team contending for a national championship in 1979 (when they were 11-0 before losing to OU in the Orange Bowl) and 1980. Barry Switzer in his autobiography said that FSU was much better in 1980 than they had been in 1979, when the Sooners won 24-7. After this season, they were a good team for the next several seasons, but didn't contend for the NC again until 1987. It took Bowden quite a while to get out of the 7-9 win class in the 1980s, but once he did, he sustained the program at an amazingly high level for years.

[@TAMPATLBLACK]

***** Still does not mean what I said was not a fact. turnovers are part of the game.

[@quincee33]

@neoconretard Iremember JC WATTS when he played in the CFL....he was a great CFL QB for Toronto and Ottawa....also Nebraska's Turner Gill and Tommie Frazier played in the CFL.....oh i almost forgot criminal Lawrence Phillips played 1 or 2 seasons in Montreal....i think he was deported....lol...something like that.