Oklahoma football: No one owns Big 12 football like the Sooners

In 22 Big 12 seasons, Oklahoma football has carted home the championship trophy 11 times.

That is eight more than the closest challenger, which happens to be the archrival Texas Longhorns with three (1996, 2005, 2009).

The Sooners have won three consecutive Big 12 crowns in football — all three with Baker Mayfield at quarterback — and are working to make it four straight. The 2018 Big 12 Preseason Media Poll has Oklahoma in the pole position to start the season for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

During the Big 12 era (1996 to present), Oklahoma has finished lower than fourth place in the final standings just three times, and all three were before Bob Stoops became head coach. In the 22 seasons since the Big 12 debuted, the Sooners average regular-season finish in the league standings has been 2.86.

In the 18 seasons Stoops was at the helm, OU’s average league finish was 2.05. And if you disregard Stoops’ first season in Norman, in 1999, when the team went 5-3 in the Big 12 and finished in a tie for fourth in the 12-team league, the Sooners average order of finish has been 1.94.

Since 2000, Oklahoma has finished first or second in the Big 12 13 times out of 18 seasons and never lower than fourth.

In the relatively short history of the Big 12 Conference, the Sooners have won 10 or more games in 15 of the 22 seasons, and 11 or more 13 times.

Another way of gauging Oklahoma’s overall dominance of the Big 12 is to look at the record of the eight original Big 12 teams that have been league members all 22 seasons against conference opponents only. In the Big 12 era, the Sooners lead all conference teams with a combined conference record of 137-46 (.749).

Nineteen of OU’s 46 losses came in the first four years of the Big 12. Since that time, the Sooners have won 124 of 151, or 82 percent of their games against Big 12 teams. The next closest team to OU is Texas (123-60, .672), followed by Kansas State (110-73, .601), Oklahoma State (99-84, .541) and Texas Tech (91-92, .497).

If the Sooners succeed in their quest for a four-peat, and a 12th Big 12 championship, it would be the first time a team from a Power Five conference has won four consecutive league championships since Florida did it in 1993-96.

Statistical information for this article have been obtained from the 2018 Oklahoma Football Media Guide and the 2018 Big 12 Football Record Book.