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OU Football: Sooners Have Biggest Edge Over ACC Among Power-Five Leagues

By Chip Rouse

Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners cornerback Zack Sanchez (15) intercepts a pass intended for Clemson Tigers tight end Jordan Leggett (16) during the second quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners cornerback Zack Sanchez (15) intercepts a pass intended for Clemson Tigers tight end Jordan Leggett (16) during the second quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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Of the 861 OU football wins all-time, roughly one-third of them have come against teams currently in one of the four other Power Five conferences.

Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Sterling Shepard (3) dives over Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Brian Randolph (37) to score the winning touchdown during double overtime at Neyland Stadium. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Sterling Shepard (3) dives over Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Brian Randolph (37) to score the winning touchdown during double overtime at Neyland Stadium. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /

In and of itself, that statistic is not all that surprising. But when you dig a little deeper into that subject, there are some interesting revelations.

For example, Oklahoma has had its greatest success against teams from the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), according to a data base compiled by Winsipedia.com. This finding sort of smacks in the face of the two smash-mouth defeats handed to the Sooners in the past two postseasons by the Clemson Tigers, who obviously weren’t paying the least bit of attention to historical story lines.

The Sooners are 41-9-1 against teams that currently make up the ACC. If you were to back out Miami (Fla.) and Clemson from the analysis, Oklahoma’s record against teams from the ACC would improve to 36-2. That, of course, ignores the fact that Sooner teams have had difficulty against the aforementioned ACC opponents.

Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma teams had some classic battles with Miami in the 1980s but, in truth, the Sooners’ four losses to the Hurricanes in seven all-time encounters were quite a bit closer at the end than the back-to-back postseason defeats Bob Stoops’ Sooners suffered against Clemson the past two years.

Prior to the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl matchup with Clemson, Oklahoma had one two of three games between the two teams.

Oklahoma is a combined 22-2-1 against the ACC threesome of North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Florida State. The Sooners have never loss to North Carolina in seven all-time meetings; they are 9-1-1 vs. Pittsburgh and 6-1 over Florida State.

Bob Stoops is undefeated against Florida State in three games, winning by the combined score of 83-32. The Sooners, of course capped off a perfect 13-0 season by defeating the Seminoles in the Orange Bowl for the 2000 national championship.

Insofar as the other Power Five conferences are concerned, the Sooners are an impressive 108-46-8 against teams from the all-mighty SEC (Southeastern Conference), but that is wildly misleading because it also includes games against former Big 12 teams Missouri and Texas A&M. Excluding those two schools, Oklahoma is a modest 12-10 vs. the SEC, but that includes a 3-1-1 record over Alabama and 3-1 vs. Tennessee.

Against teams from the Pac-12, the Sooners are 65-32-3 all-time. OU’s biggest challenge historically appears to come against teams from the Big Ten. Surprisingly, Oklahoma’s worst record against a Big Ten opponent is a 1-3 record vs. Northwestern.

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