No. 1 — 1956 Oklahoma Sooners (10-0, 6-0), national champions
Bud Wilkinson’s 1956 Oklahoma Sooners was a team for the ages and a defensive juggernaut. Teams averaged just 138.3 yards rushing and 55.5 passing yards per game against a stalwart Sooner defense.
Nineteen points was the most scored by any of 10 Oklahoma opponents that season, and only three reached double digits on the scoreboard. The Sooners defense was responsible for six shutouts in 10 games.
Among the six defensive shutouts in 1956 was a 40-0 victory at Notre Dame, the first of just two wins the Sooners have against the Fighting Irish in 10 games in the all-time series.
Tommy McDonald and Clendon Thomas led the run-heavy Sooners that season, both totaling more than 800 yards rushing for the season. Oklahoma. Sooner quarterback Jimmy Harris accounted for 37 of OU’s 100 total pass attempts in the 1956 season.
Oklahoma finished the season ranked No. 1 in both major polls (AP and Coaches Poll).
The Sooners were crowned national champions for a second consecutive year, despite not playing in a postseason bowl because of the Big Seven’s rule that the league champion could not represent the conference in a bowl in back-to-back years. The Sooners had gone to the Orange Bowl in the 1955 postseason, defeating No. 3 Maryland 20-6.