ABC’s of Oklahoma football heading into 2017 season
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football begins every season with two established goals: win the conference championship and win a national championship.
The difference between the Sooners and most all other college programs is that, relatively speaking, OU has a track record better than most at accomplishing both.
Oklahoma has won seven national championships in football in its history, third most of any school in the history of the Associated Press poll (introduced in 1936). The Sooners also have 46 conference championships to their credit, dating back to 1915, and 10 in the 21-year history of the Big 12.
The Sooners will kick off the 2017 season as two-time defending conference champions and most likely ranked in the top 10 in all of the major preseason polls. They also will begin the new season with a new head coach for the first time in 18 seasons.
Former offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley takes over the coaching reins from Bob Stoops, who announced his retirement last month as the winningest coach in OU’s storied and highly successful football history.
Here is an ABC breakdown of what to look for from Oklahoma football in the season ahead:
A – Injuries have kept running back Rodney Anderson on the sidelines the past two seasons, but all indications are that if his health holds up he could be a breakout star in 2017.
B – The rematch with the Ohio State Buckeyes the second weekend of the season will be one of the marquee games of the entire college football season.
C – The jury is out on what impact Bob Stoops’ retirement and the head-coaching change will have on the 2017 season, but besides Stoops, all of the Sooner assistant coaches who were there last season are still in place.
D – The Cotton Bowl in Dallas is the site for the 112th edition of the Red River Showdown, one of the best and longest-running college football rivalries. This will be the first time in 70 seasons that there has been a new head coach on both sidelines.
E – Redshirt sophomore Bobby Evans is projected as the starting right tackle on the Oklahoma offensive line entering preseason training camp in August. He started 12 games a year ago. Evans was an Honorable Mention on the All-Big 12 team last season, but an Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree.
F – Keep an eye on senior fullback Dimitri Flowers this season. The 6-foot, 2-inch, 247-pound Flowers was the lead back in the Iowa State game last season when both Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon did not play and rushed for 115 yards, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He also caught 11 passes last year, averaging 18.2 yards per catch, and four touchdowns.
G – Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (also known as Owen Field) has been sold for 110 consecutive games. The Sooners have prevailed in 101 of the 110.
H – When leading at the half, Oklahoma was 11-0 last season and 169-11 in 18 seasons under Bob Stoops.
I – Of all of the Sooner’s Big 12 opponents, they have the biggest winning percentage against Iowa State. Oklahoma is 74-5-2 all-time vs. the Cyclones, who travel to Norman this season for a game on Oct. 7, one week ahead of the Red River Showdown with Texas.
J – Oklahoma is 6-6 in the last 25 years in postseason bowl games played in January, four of which were for the national championship.
K – The Sooners play both Kansas State and Kansas on the road this season. The last time an Oklahoma team lost a game at Kansas State and Kansas was in 1997, when OU lost to both teams on the road in the same season.
L – Oklahoma has not lost more than five games in a season since 1998. Bob Stoops’ 18 Sooner teams never lost more than five games in a season. The four seasons before Stoops arrived, OU never won as many as five games.
M – The Sooners have won 22 of 26 games the past two seasons and are on a current 10-game winning streak with Baker Mayfield at quarterback. And Mayfield, a two-time Heisman finalist, is back for one more season.
N – Oklahoma ranks third all-time with seven national championships, as recognized by the Associated Press. (1950, 1955, 1956, 1973, 1974, 1985, 2000). Alabama in first with 10, followed by Notre Dame with eight.
O – Oklahoma’s offensive line, with all five starters returning, should be one of the best in college football in 2017.
P – Sooner QB and two-time Heisman Trophy finalist Baker Mayfield set a new NCAA single-season passing efficiency record last season with a rating of 196.4, more than five points better than the previous record.
Q – Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield, a two-time Heisman finalist and the preseason choice as Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, set a new NCAA record last season for passing efficiency. Mayfield’s passing efficiency rating in 2016 was 196.4, shattering the old mark by more than five points.
R – Ruffin McNeill has joined the Oklahoma coaching staff this season as assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach. McNeill was on the staff at Texas Tech when Lincoln Riley was there, and was Riley’s head coach at East Carolina, where the new OU head coach was defensive coordinator.
Oklahoma Sooners Football
S – Oklahoma averaged almost six points per scoring opportunity (offensive possessions inside the opponent’s 40 yard line) last season. The question going into the 2017 season is how good the Sooners will be finishing missing the offensive weapons provided by Joe Mixon, Samaje Perine and Dede Westbrook
T – The Sooners’ final nonconference game of 2017 is at home against Tulane, a team Oklahoma has never faced in football. The Green Wave run the triple option. The last time an OU team went up against a triple-option offense was in 2010 against the Air Force Academy.
U – The last time Oklahoma played at Ohio State was in 1977. That is the only other time the Sooners have played at OSU before this coming season. Oklahoma won the 1977 game on the foot of Uwe von Schamann. The player they nicknamed Uwe von Foot kicked a game-winning 41-yard field goal with time running down to give the Sooners a come-from-behind 29-28 victory.
V – Since the end of World War II, no team in college football has more victories than the Oklahoma Sooners (628). The closest challenger is Ohio State with 583. The Sooners and Buckeyes will play each other on Sept. 9 in Columbus.
W – Oklahoma has won two consecutive Big 12 football championships and 10 overall. That is three times more than the closest challenger. Texas has won three conference championships under the Big 12 banner.
X – Austin Seibert has kicked 70 and 72 extra points, respectively in his first two seasons at Oklahoma. The junior placekicker needs just 78 more to become the career leader at OU in extra points. Michael Hunnicutt is holds the record currently with 219.
Y – Oklahoma averaged 554.8 yards of total offense per game in the 2016 season, which ranked second-best in the nation.
Z – Oklahoma has held its opponents to zero touchdowns four times in its last 65 games. In 18 seasons under Bob Stoops, the Sooners’ defense held opponents to zero points 15 times.