Battles of Cabin Creek

1966 Big Eight Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 6 Nebraska $	6	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
Colorado	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Missouri	4	–	2	–	1	6	–	3	–	1
Oklahoma State	4	–	2	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
Oklahoma	4	–	3	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Iowa State	2	–	3	–	2	2	–	6	–	2
Kansas	0	–	6	–	1	2	–	7	–	1
Kansas State	0	–	6	–	1	0	–	9	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1966 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. Led by first-year head coach Jim Mackenzie, they played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and competed as members of the Big Eight Conference.

A longtime assistant at Arkansas, Mackenzie was hired in December 1965.^[1]

Following one of the worst seasons in program history, the Sooners improved to 6–4, defeated rival Texas for the first time in nine years,^[2] and upset undefeated rival Nebraska on Thanksgiving,^[3]^[4] Mackenzie was named the Coach of the Year in the Big Eight.^[5]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 17	Oregon*		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 17–0	48,590	^[6]^[7]
September 24	at Iowa State		Clyde Williams Field Ames, IA		W 33–11	21,467
October 8	vs. Texas*		Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Red River Shootout)		W 18–9	75,504	^[8]
October 15	at Kansas		Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS		W 35–0	37,252
October 22	No. 1 Notre Dame*	No. 10	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		L 0–38	62,626
October 29	at Colorado		Folsom Field Boulder, CO		L 21–24	35,738
November 5	Kansas State		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 37–6	44,792
November 12	Missouri		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK (rivalry)		L 7–10	55,585
November 24	No. 4 Nebraska		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK (rivalry)	ABC	W 10–9	42,884
December 3	at Oklahoma State		Lewis Field Stillwater, OK (Bedlam Series)		L 14–15	36,581
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oregon	0	0	0	0	0
• Oklahoma	0	0	17	0	17

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Oklahoma	14	3	9	7	33
Iowa St	2	9	0	0	11

	1	2	3	4	Total
Texas	3	0	0	6	9
• Oklahoma	6	3	3	6	18

Source:^[2]^[10]

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Oklahoma	7	7	14	7	35
Kansas	0	0	0	0	0

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Notre Dame	0	17	21	0	38
Oklahoma	0	0	0	0	0

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oklahoma	7	0	14	0	21
• Colorado	7	0	10	7	24

	1	2	3	4	Total
Kansas St	0	0	0	6	6
• Oklahoma	0	10	13	14	37

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Missouri	0	0	10	0	10
Oklahoma	0	0	0	7	7

	1	2	3	4	Total
Nebraska	0	3	6	0	9
• Oklahoma	0	7	0	3	10

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oklahoma	0	0	8	6	14
• Oklahoma St	0	8	0	7	15

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	—	10	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

The following players were drafted into the National Football League or American Football League following the season.^[11]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Team
2	29	Jim Riley	Tackle	Miami Dolphins
3	80	Ben Hart	Running back	New Orleans Saints
4	96	James Roy Jackson	Wide receiver	Oakland Raiders
9	236	Eugene Ross	Defensive back	New Orleans Saints
13	292	Tom Stidham	Kicker	New York Giants

^ "Mackenzie faces two big problems". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. December 23, 1965. p. 10.
^ ^a ^b "Field goals boost OU past Texas". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. October 9, 1966. p. 11A.
^ "Sooners upset Nebraska, 10-9". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. November 25, 1966. p. 13.
^ "Nebraska loses bid for college crown". The Bulletin. (Bend, Oregon). UPI. November 25, 1967. p. 10.
^ Van Valkenberg, Jim (December 1, 1966). "Nebraskans lead All-Big 8 team". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. p. 15.
^ Uhrhammer, Jerry (September 18, 1966). "Oregon collegians blanked in openers". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
^ "Sooners shut out Oregon". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 18, 1966. p. 6, sports.
^ "Texas races by Texas Tech". The Daily Oklahoman. September 25, 1966. Retrieved April 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "SoonerSports.com". Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
^ "Field Goals Stop Texas." Palm Beach Post. October 9, 1966
^ "1967 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

Oklahoma Sooners football
Venues	Boyd Field (1905–1923) Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (1923–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Missouri Nebraska Oklahoma State: Bedlam Series Texas: Red River Showdown
Culture & lore	T formation Wishbone formation 1971 Nebraska game 2008 Big 12 South 3-way tie controversy 2016 Texas Tech game Oklahoma drill Sooner Schooner Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass Boomer and Sooner "Boomer Sooner" Marching band The Kick Play Like a Champion Today
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold