Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: The 10 best teams of the Wilkinson-Switzer-Stoops eras

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners throws to Mark Andrews #81 of the Oklahoma Sooners for a completion and first down in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners throws to Mark Andrews #81 of the Oklahoma Sooners for a completion and first down in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

No. 8 — 2017 Oklahoma Sooners (12-2, 8-1), Big 12 champions

With perhaps the greatest quarterback in OU football history at the controls in Baker Mayfield, the 2017 Oklahoma Sooners led the nation in total offense and ranked third in scoring offense.

The Sooners won 12 games under first-year head coach Lincoln Riley, the most by any Oklahoma head coach in his first season at OU. This undoubtedly was one of the best offensive teams in the Sooners’ storied football history, and it had to be because of how uncharacteristically bad OU was on defense.

OU ranked 64th in total defense among NCAA Division I teams in 2017 and was 87th in pass defense, something you would never find in the other great teams of the Wilkinson-Switzer-Stoops era.

The Sooners got the year off on an extremely high note, knocking off No. 2-ranked Ohio State early in the season on the Buckeyes’ home field. Oklahoma moved to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 after beating Ohio State, but dropped down to No. 12 after losing at home to Iowa State a couple of weeks later, only the sixth time the Cyclones have beaten the Sooners in 82 games.

The Iowa State loss was the only regular-season loss by OU in 2017. The Sooners defeated two ranked teams in the second half of the season, including conference runner-up TCU twice, on their way to a third consecutive Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Oklahoma was the No. 2 seed in the 2017 College Football Playoff, but fell to SEC regular-season champion Georgia in double overtime in the Rose Bowl in one of the two national semifinal contests. The Sooners lost despite rolling up more than 500 yards of total offense against a top-10 ranked Georgia defense.

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