When Oklahoma and New Mexico line up on Owen Field on Saturday at 6:30 pm CT, it will be just the third meeting between the programs. The matchup also reaches back nearly a century to the last time the Lobos saw the Sooners.
The first time they played was Oct. 5, 1930, and Oklahoma rolled to a 45-0 win. Adrian Lindsey was in his fourth season as head coach then, having taken over after Bennie Owen and serving in what would be his second-to-last year before he later moved on to coach at Kansas. Lindsey finished his Oklahoma coaching career 19-19-6.
Five seasons later, on Oct. 4, 1935, the Sooners beat New Mexico again, this time 25-0 under Lawrence "Biff" Jones. That came after a three-year stretch with Lewie Hardage at the helm.
That 1935 shutout comes with a strange statistical wrinkle. Oklahoma posted five shutouts in its six wins that season and allowed points only in a 20-6 win over Missouri. In the three losses, though, the Sooners were blanked twice - by Nebraska and Kansas, then coached by Lindsey - and managed only one touchdown in a 12-7 Cotton Bowl loss to Texas.
Since then, Oklahoma has met a school from New Mexico only once. That came in the 1989 season opener, Gary Gibbs’ first game as head coach after Barry Switzer resigned, and the Sooners beat New Mexico State 73-3 on the way to a 7-4 finish.
The connection between New Mexico and Oklahoma football runs deeper than the schedule, though. Because of the state’s proximity, 28 players have come from New Mexico to play in Norman. That total is more than Georgia’s 23, Mississippi’s 16 and Alabama’s 6, and it leaves New Mexico tied for 10th with Illinois among the states that have produced the most Sooners.
One of the biggest names in Oklahoma history came out of Roy, a small town in northeastern New Mexico just west down I-40. After transferring to Albuquerque, Tommy McDonald became a multi-sport standout and caught the eye of then-Sooner basketball coach Bruce Drake. McDonald went on to become the face of Bud Wilkinson’s "Will to Prepare" approach, built on hard practice, hard play and hustling back to the huddle after every tackle.
McDonald’s Oklahoma career was loaded: he helped the Sooners win national titles in 1955 and 1956, won the Maxwell Award in 1956 and earned back-to-back All-American honors. He was later inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
Another New Mexico tie showed up on Switzer’s late-1970s teams, where tight end/guard John Cobbs helped Oklahoma go 41-6-1 over four seasons, winning two Big 8 titles and two Orange Bowls. Cobbs came to Norman from Del City High School, but he was born in Hobbs, New Mexico.
And then there’s Landry Jones, the career leader at Oklahoma in touchdowns, yards and interceptions, who was from Artesia, New Mexico. He was a blue-chip recruit before signing with the Sooners, and he stepped in for Sam Bradford after Bradford was injured in the 2009 season opener. In Jones’ first start, against Idaho State, he threw a then-school-record six touchdown passes.
Jones later helped Oklahoma win the 2010 Big 12 championship, the 2011 Fiesta Bowl and a share of the 2012 Big 12 championship.
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OU Fans Still Waiting As Palace Project Questions Hang Over Memorial Stadium
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Oklahomas Offense Has A Bigger Problem Than Last Weeks Loss
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Brent Venables has made clear the response has to come quickly, because this is no time for the offense to keep searching for answers on the fly. For Oklahoma, the issue is bigger than one bad afternoon, and the next stretch of games will show whether the staff can adjust enough to steady things before the seasons most demanding part arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Rocky Beers Has Become Exactly What Oklahoma's Young Tight Ends Needed
By the time Rocky Beers arrived in Norman, he had already spent years moving through college football and learning what it takes to stick. The seventh-year tight end has settled into a meaningful role for Oklahoma, giving a young room both production and perspective while handling the demands of football alongside life as a husband and father. For a Sooners offense still shaping its identity, that kind of steady presence has been useful in more ways than one.
Coaches and family members see the same thing in Beers: a player who brings maturity, reliability and a calm example to the program. He has become more than just another transfer finding a home. Around Oklahoma, he is regarded as a valued part of the team and the community, and his rise has given the Sooners a veteran voice in a position group that can benefit from every bit of guidance it gets. [Read more 🡒]