Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Six signature Bob Stoops wins

By Chip Rouse

Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops reacts during the third quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl against the Clemson Tigers at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops reacts during the third quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl against the Clemson Tigers at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans , LA, USA; The Oklahoma Sooners enter the playing field before the 2017 Sugar Bowl against the Auburn Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans , LA, USA; The Oklahoma Sooners enter the playing field before the 2017 Sugar Bowl against the Auburn Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

# 2 – Oct. 28, 2000 – Oklahoma 31, Nebraska 14

Oklahoma began the 2000 season, Bob Stoops’ second as head coach of the Sooners, ranked 19th in the nation after coming off a 7-5 year in his inaugural season in Norman.

By the fourth game of the season, the Sooners had moved up in the rankings, to No. 14. After beating then-No. 11 Texas, followed by a giant win at Kansas State over the No. 2-ranked Wildcats, Oklahoma was back home to take on another longtime rival in Nebraska, at that time to No. 1 team in the country.

By the Nebraska game, number seven in the season, the Sooners had risen to No. 3 in the land and were being lauded as one of the biggest surprises in college football that year.

The Cornhuskers took the Oklahoma crowd out of the game early, reeling off 14 unanswered points in the first seven minutes of the game. No one knew it then, but these would be the only points Nebraska would score in the game.

Beginning in the second quarter, quarterback Josh Heupel and the Sooners took charge of the game. OU ran, passed and kicked its way to 24 unanswered points of its own in the second quarter, and added seven more on a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown by defensive back Derrick Strait in the third quarter to complete a 31-14 victory over the top-ranked Cornhuskers.

It was Oklahoma’s third straight win over a top-10 team and moved them to No. 1 in the country for the first time in 13 seasons and the first of many weeks thereafter under Bob Stoops.

The Sports Illustrated cover the following week heralded the Sooners’ recent string of success and surge in the rankings with a photo of Quentin Griffin and the headline “Back on Top.”

On Nov. 21, 1987, the No. 2-ranked Sooners defeated top-ranked Nebraska 17-7 to win the Big Eight championship and take over the top spot in the national rankings. That was the last time before the last week in October 2000 that OU would command the nation’s No. 1 spot.

Oklahoma would later relinquish the top spot, losing to No. 2 Miami in the 1988 Orange Bowl.

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