Editing Billy Sims (section)

===College career===
Sims attended the [[University of Oklahoma]], where he played for coach [[Barry Switzer]]'s [[Oklahoma Sooners football]] team from 1975 to 1979. After playing only one game in his freshman year of 1975, injuries kept Sims out of the lineup for most of his sophomore season, which allowed him to red-shirt to gain an extra year of eligibility. Injuries continued to plague Sims for half of his (red-shirt) sophomore season in 1977 (he rushed for only 545 yards total in two seasons in 1975 and 1977, plus one game in 1976.) In 1978, Sims rushed for 1,762 yards on 231 carries as a red-shirt junior, averaging 7.6 yards per carry. Including the postseason, Sims had 1,896 yards. Both the before and after bowl game totals led the NCAA. He also set a total yardage school record that stood until 2004, when freshman [[Adrian Peterson]] ran for 1,925 yards. Subsequently, Sims was awarded the [[Heisman Trophy]] for the 1978 season, becoming only the sixth junior to do so.<ref name=first>[https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-1978.html "1978 Heisman Trophy Voting."] ''www.sports-reference.com.'' Retrieved November 16, 2014.</ref><ref name=winner>[http://heisman.com/roster.aspx?path=football& "Heisman Trophy Winners."] ''www.heisman.com.'' Retrieved November 16, 2014.</ref> He was runner-up for the Heisman the following season in 1979, coming in second to [[Charles White (American football)|Charles White]] of [[USC Trojans football|USC]].<ref name=second>[https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-1979.html "1979 Heisman Trophy Voting."] ''www.sports-reference.com.'' Retrieved November 16, 2014.</ref>

In 1979, against then-unbeaten Nebraska, who had the No. 1 rushing defense in the country at the time, Sims ran for 247 yards and helped the Sooners to a 17–14 win. Including the bowl game he had 248 attempts for 1,670 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per carry, and scored 23 touchdowns.  He also became the first running back in [[Big Eight Conference|Big 8 Conference]] (now merged to form the [[Big 12 Conference]]) history to rush for 200-yards in three consecutive games, and had four 200-yard games in a single season.

After losing to the [[Arkansas Razorbacks football|Arkansas Razorbacks]] 31–6 in 1978, Sims led the Sooners to two consecutive [[Orange Bowl (game)|Orange Bowl]] titles in three straight appearances. In the Orange Bowl following the 1978 season, he rushed for 134 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 31–24 win over the [[Nebraska Cornhuskers football|Nebraska Cornhuskers]]. In his final game, he ran for 164 yards as Oklahoma beat the previously undefeated [[Florida State Seminoles football|Florida State Seminoles]] by a score of 24–7. Sims ended his career at OU with 3,813 yards; most of those yards came in his final two seasons.