Ten Reasons to Be Proud You’re an OU Sooners’ Fan in 2015-16
By Chip Rouse
There is plenty to like about OU Sooners’ sports in 2015-16.
We’ve boiled it down to 10 reasons, in no particular order, to be heart-pounding, fist-pumping, proud you’re a Sooners fan this sports season.
1. Baker Mayfield – There was plenty of excitement around the Sooner Nation when it was learned that the former Texas Tech quarterback was transferring to OU in 2013 after his freshman season as a Red Raider. While everyone believed Mayfield was an upgrade over the quarterback play the Sooners had received in the two seasons since four-year starter Landry Jones departed, no one candidly knew just how good OU would be with Mayfield leading the team from the QB position. The Austin, Texas, native – how gloriously ironic is that to have someone who grew up in the heart of Texas Longhorn country becoming the starting quarterback at Oklahoma? – proved to be better than good. The fourth-place finisher in the 2015 Heisman Trophy voting was a big part of the Sooners winning 11 regular-season games and claiming its ninth conference championship and going on to play in the second annual College Football Playoff. And even better news: He is back again in 2016.
2. College Football Playoff -The Big 12 was left out of the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014, but Oklahoma made sure that was not going to happen a second consecutive season. With the country’s fourth-ranked scoring offense, 28th-ranked scoring defense and a top-10 ranking in the national polls the entire season, the Sooners earned their way to college football’s version of the Final Four with an 11-1 regular-season record and a No. 4 finish in the final CFP standings. Unfortunately, the dream season ended with a 37-17 loss to Clemson in one of the national semifinal games on New Year’s Eve. What made it worse was it was the second consecutive double-digit defeat to the Clemson Tigers in a postseason bowl game.
3. Men’s cross country – Only two conference schools have won the Big 12 Men’s Cross Country Championship in the 20-year history of the Big 12. Colorado won it every year from 1996 through 2007. Oklahoma State has captured the title every year since. The Cowboys won again this past cross-country season, but Oklahoma, led by junior distance-runner Jacob Burcham, who missed winning the individual title by just one second, finished right behind the Cowboys in the team standings. OU senior Brandon Doughty finished fourth overall.
4. Buddy Hield – What can you say about Buddy Hield that doesn’t begin and end with superlatives. One of a rare breed of college superstars today who remain in school for all four years of their eligibility, Hield’s outstanding performance this past season is a giant reason the Sooners advanced all the way to the Final Four. His lethal three-point shooting and 25-points-per-game scoring average swung many a game in Oklahoma’s favor in 2015-16. The Sooner unanimous First Team All-American even drew a standing ovation from Kansas fans when OU and the Jayhawks played a triple-overtime thriller early in the conference season. The capstone to one of the greatest seasons in OU basketball history was receiving both the Naismith Trophy and the Wooden Award as college basketball’s most outstanding player this past season, equaling the feat of fellow former Sooner Blake Griffin in 2009.
5. Best OU men’s basketball season since 2001-02 – Lon Kruger’s OU basketball teams have made NCAA appearances in four of his five seasons at Oklahoma. Only once, though, before this season had the Sooners advanced past their opening tournament game. This season, behind arguably the best player in college basketball and a senior-driven lineup that included four starters who had played together for three full seasons and started over 100 consecutive games in an OU uniform, the Sooners not only made it through the opening weekend of March Madness, they made it all the way to the final weekend: the Final Four. In so doing, they became the fifth Oklahoma men’s team to do so in program history. Unfortunately, Oklahoma lost this season in the national semifinals to eventual national champion Villanova.
6. Double-double national gymnastics champions – The Oklahoma men’s and women’s gymnastics team became the first school to win the NCAA Championship in both divisions in the same season. For the OU women, it was their second national title in gymnastics in three years, having been crowned champions in 2014 as well, and it marked their sixth appearance in the past seven years in the Super Six (the national gymnastics equivalent of the Final Four in basketball). The Oklahoma men’s squad captured its 10th national championship in gymnastics, finishing undefeated for a second consecutive season.
7. OU wrestler wins 3rd place in 2016 NCAA Championships – Oklahoma has won seven national championships in wrestling and has produced 67 NCAA individual champions in the sport. The Sooners did not win any individual titles this season, but did have a pair of wrestlers finish in the top-10 in their weight class in the NCAA Championships. Cody Brewer took third place in the 133-pound division after being crowned national champion a year earlier. He finished his OU wrestling career with a 95-22 record, two Big 12 titles and is only the 11th Sooner in program history to earn four All-America honors. Sophomore Ryan Millhof finished seventh at 125 pounds in his first NCAA Tournament appearance. The Sooners placed 13th in the 2016 NCAA Championships team standings.
More from Stormin in Norman
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8. Another championship year for Sooner softball – Oklahoma wrapped up its eighth regular-season Big 12 softball championship and fifth consecutive conference title this past weekend with a three-game sweep over Texas Tech. Through Sunday’s games, the Sooners own a 49-7 overall record, 15-1 in Big 12 play and a No. 7 national ranking. Oklahoma has won two national championships in softball, with College World Series titles in 2013 and 2000, and would be making its 10th WCWS appearance if it were to get that far this season.
9. A shining star in a bummer of an OU baseball season – It has not been the best of seasons for Oklahoma Sooner baseball, but that has not been the case for junior shortstop Sheldon Neuse. With just a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season, Neuse ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in nine offensive categories. He is fourth in batting average (.376), tied for fifth in hits (64), tied for second in home runs (10), tied for first in triples (5), tied for third in RBI (42), fourth in stolen bases (11), first in total bases (118), fifth in walks (32) and sixth in on-base percentage (.466).
10. The anniversary of what would have been Bud Wilkinson’s 100th birthday – On April 23 of this year, legendary Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson would have been 100 years old. Wilkinson coached the Sooners for 17 seasons from 1947-1963. Over that time frame, his Oklahoma teams won 145 games, lost 29 and tied 4 and won three national championships (1950, 1955 and 1956). Between 1953 and 1957, the Sooners won an unprecedented 47 consecutive games, a record which may never be broken. Between 1947 and 1958, Oklahoma went 12 seasons (74 games) without losing a conference game. Wilkinson’s time at Oklahoma is when the Sooners truly became a national college football brand and one of the elite teams in the sport, a reputation it still proudly holds today.