Stormin in Norman
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Two Oklahoma Football Teams Among 10 Best in Last 7 Decades

By Chip Rouse

Dec 3, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners safety Ahmad Thomas (13) runs off the field with the Big 12 championship trophy after the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 3, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners safety Ahmad Thomas (13) runs off the field with the Big 12 championship trophy after the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oklahoma football teams have been among the nation’s best for a good part of the 2000s and over several decades before that.

Oct 24, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; The Oklahoma Sooners take the field prior to action against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 24, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; The Oklahoma Sooners take the field prior to action against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

With seven national championships and 46 conference championships (10 in the 21-year Big 12 era), the Sooners are among the elite brands in the college football universe.

According to the research analysts at FiveThirtyEight, which does opinion analysis on political, economic and sports subject, Oklahoma has two of the greatest college football teams in the Associated Press poll era, which dates back to 1936.

In a recent article on the FiveThirtyEight.com website, Neil Paine writes: “(The 2016) Alabama (football team) might be on track to become the greatest college team of the AP poll era.

FiveThirtyEight examined the top college football teams of every season going all the way back to the mid-1930s and ranked the best teams according to the Elo rating system, a popular method of calculating the relative skill of players and teams in competitor vs. competitor situations.

Wins against Washington followed by a victory over the winner of the Clemson-Ohio State game in the College Football Playoff national championship game could easily be enough to vault Alabama over the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers as the best team in history, based on the research by the folks at FiveThirtyEight. Alabama currently sits No. 2 behind the undefeated (12-0) ’95 national-champion Cornhusker team coached by Tom Osborne.

Oklahoma is ranked No. 4 and No. 6 on the FiveThirtyEight list of the greatest college football teams ever. Barry Switzer’s 1974 Sooners’ team in No. 4, and the 1973 Oklahoma team is No. 6. The Sooners were national champions both years.

The complete ranking, done prior to the conference championship games last weekend follows:

  1. 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-0)
  2. 2016 Alabama Crimson Tide (12-0)
  3. 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide (14-1)
  4. 1974 Oklahoma Sooners (11-0)
  5. 1988 Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes (11-1)
  6. 1973 Oklahoma Sooners (10-0-1)
  7. 2008 Florida Gators (13-1), defeated Oklahoma for the national championship
  8. 2012 Alabama Crimson Tide (13-1)
  9. 2004 USC Trojans (13-0), defeated Oklahoma for the national championship
  10. 2014 Oregon Ducks (13-1)
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