Mark McMahon Takes Charge of Oklahoma Football

The Rough Riders returned from the nightmare trip to Texas with a new coach leading the team, only the second "full" coach to lead Oklahoma. Mark McMahon was almost nothing like Vernon Parrington and was ready to leave his legacy on the early years of this program with his unique way of controlling the momentum of a game. McMahon's boys were ready to open it up when they played the Arkansas Razorbacks upon their return from Texas.

Oklahoma got back on track against their old whipping boy, the Arkansas Razorbacks, 28-0. The Razorbacks had developed quite a reputation and rolled into town undefeated. Tom Tribbey took the violence of football to new heights in this contest, taking out four Arkansas players with his signature headlock tackle. The visitors eventually had to call it quits early because of the lost manpower. Things were certainly looking up for the University boys.

McMahon's boys then took out the Oklahoma City Athletic Club 30-0. The Daily Oklahoman reported that the University boys got off to a bad start by fumbling several times in the first half and taking a 6-0 lead into halftime. The second half was dominated by the University squad that featured "famed 100-yard sprinter Fred McCoy."

McCoy scored several times on the day, once from 75 yards, leading OU to the 30-0 final that the paper remarked left, "Several of the city boys..scratched and bruised". The game was the first of many for the University inside Colcord Park, a gem of a place to make a profit by giving the Oklahoma City crowd an opportunity to partake in the game's festivities.

Oklahoma's next opponent Kingfisher College was little more than a sacrificial lamb in the way of a northern trip to play the famed Missouri University team. Oklahoma cruised to a 15-0 win over Kingfisher and prepared for a trip north for both Missouri and Emporia Normal College, an extra game scheduled to help financially on the trip.

An important cog in the Oklahoma lineup was disallowed from the trip due to his Mother's concern for his safety, a common occurrence during the period. Oklahoma managed to fill in the void with former player/coach Fred Roberts, who took leave for the weekend from his farm. The Rough Riders opened the game with the trickery they bargained for in the hiring of their new coach. Harold Keith summarized the play in Oklahoma Kickoff:

Missouri kicked off out of bounds over the left side line and complacently prepared to line up for the first play, totally unaware that the varsity was going to try the wing shift. When the referee brought the ball in and set it down just inside the sideline, nobody from Missouri noticed that for each Missouri man on the outside of the ball, there were two Oklahomans. Nor did they perceive Matthews, the Oklahoma center, carelessly lag behind until he was the last man next to the sideline.

The referee had scarcely set the ball down before Matthews snatched it up with one hand and tossed it to Byrom McCreary, varsity quarterback. McCreary turned and pegged a long lateral pass to Frank McCoy, fastest man on the varsity team. ... McCoy was in motion almost before he caught the ball. Not a signal had been called. Missouri hadn't entirely lined up and like the varsity at Dallas, was mentally, as well as physically flat-footed. The strategy worked perfectly. Leaping into their interfering duty, the fore-warned Oklahoma players quickly put blocking pressure on the few Missourians having a chance to stop McCoy. Before Missouri could comprehend, all the nearest Tigers had been fenced out of the way and the red-headed McCoy was swallowing up the turf with his beautiful racing stride, out-running his own interference and streaking toward the Missouri goal with only the Tiger safety to bar his path. ... Without slackening speed, McCoy deftly threw him off balance with a feint of his hips, then whipped into high gear and ran off from him to score the touchdown without being touched. It was a run of 80 yards and despite a missed conversion, Oklahoma led in the first minute of play, 5-0.

Oklahoma would actually wind up with this only score to their name that day, losing 22-5 in Columbia. However, this was a great signal to the competitors in the area and to the Oklahoma fans and players themselves...Oklahoma was embarking on a new era with new strategy. The hard-nosed, vicious style that had worked so well for Vernon Parrington wasn't shunned, but Oklahoma moved into the new football generation. A generation where strategy did consist of outsmarting the opponent, as well as overpowering them.

Sources

1. Oklahoma Kickoff by Harold Keith
2. The Daily Oklahoman Archives