OU’s Williams in Cotton Bowl HOF
Superman has to be in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame, right?
Well, the single greatest play in Roy Williams’ Oklahoma career happened in the Cotton Bowl stadium. OU fans remember him flying over the line of scrimmage and batting a Chris Simms pass that Sooners linebacker Teddy Lehman intercepted for a touchdown in the 2001 Texas-OU game.
Williams has long maintained that he was not supposed to leave his feet at the line of scrimmage, per the OU coaching staff ’s orders. However, he did it anyway, leaping into college football history in the process.
But that play happened in the annual Red River rivalry matchup, not the actual Cotton Bowl game. Williams was honored Tuesday for his work against Arkansas in the 2002 Cotton Bowl against Arkansas.
He was practically a super man that day, too. Williams had six tackles, three tackle for loss and two sacks in OU’s 10-3 win.
“I’m never able to forget about that (2001) play, because everybody wants to talk about that play,” Williams said. “I actually just got back on social media, and when I posted that I was being inducted, people said, ‘You should have been inducted right after that game.’ They’re talking about the Texas game. People don’t know this is for the Arkansas game.
“That play will forever be in Oklahoma history, which is awesome,” he added. “I would have never thought that I would be a part of OU history. I thought I would be just one of many guys who walked those halls and played ball there. I’m honestly just floored that I got the call to be a part of this.”
Williams, 37, looked resplendent in a pinstripe suit. He wore a Cowboys-themed star on his lapel to honor his time with the Cowboys. Williams finally got to see that photo in owner Jerry Jones’ suite that he’s heard about all these years. “It’s in a bathroom stall!,” he said.
Apologizing to Mack: Only six coaches have guided more than one school to the Cotton Bowl. Houston Nutt is 3-1 in four appearances after leading Arkansas (2000 and 2002) and Ole Miss (2009 and 2010) to the game in the last decade.
Texas fans will never forget Arkansas’ 27-6 victory the morning after the Y2K hysteria subsided. And they’ll never forget Nutt flashing the “Horns down” hand signal to Razorbacks fans. Fox television cameras blasted that image everywhere. It was Arkansas’ first bowl win since 1985.
“I’m really good friends with (former Texas coach) Mack Brown right now, and we went to Baghdad together,” Nutt said. “He was upset at me about the ‘Hook ’em, Horns’ sign down, and I apologize 100 percent.”
Nutt grew up as an Arkansas fan and, given the heated history between the two schools, a lot of pent-up emotion was released. Texas holds 53-22 edge in the all-time series.