Oklahoma football: Sooners have been stellar in season openers

Eleven days from now, on Sept. 1, the 124th season of Oklahoma football will kick off with the Sooners hosting Florida Atlantic before a sellout crowd at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

OU is favored in its 2018 season opener ( a 21-point favorite, according to sportsbookreview.com), and based on their historical record in opening games, it’s advisable not to go against the Sooners in game one.

The Sooners have done very well in season openers over the years, posting a winning percentage of .795. In 123 season openers, Oklahoma has won 95, lost 23 and five games have ended in a deadlock.

After losing its very first game, in 1895, the inaugural season of University of Oklahoma football, the Sooners won 21 of the next 23 season openers.

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Oklahoma only played one game in its inaugural season and played just two games in each of the next three years.

In OU’s first 10 seasons of varsity football,  the Sooners compiled an overall record of 29-15-4 and were 7-3 in season openers. Oklahoma went through five head coaches in its first decade of football, with Benjamin Gilbert (Bennie) Owen becoming the sixth in 1905. Owen wasn’t just the football coach. He also served as the Sooners’ basketball coach and, in the spring, coached the baseball team.

In the first 14 of his 22 seasons as football coach, Owens did not lose an opening game. That still stands as a program record.

Because Owen coached longer than any of Oklahoma’s 22 football coaches, his 19 season-opening wins stand as the most, but he does not own the best winning percentage in season openers among the four OU coaches who won 100 or more games at the school.

Barry Switzer lost just one season opener in 16 seasons, a .938 winning percentage. Bob Stoops, the winningest Oklahoma football coach, was 15-3 in the opening games over 18 seasons.

Bud Wilkinson, who won three national championships and 14 conference championships in 17 seasons as the Sooners’ head coach, ironically owned the worst opening-game record among three Oklahoma head coaches who are members of the century club. Wilkinson’s record in season openers was 11-5-1.

Since 1947, Wilkinson’s first season as the Sooners’ head coach, Oklahoma is 54-12-1 in opening games.

OU was 31-5 in the first game every season as a member of the Big Eight Conference (1960-1995). The Sooners are 17-5 in season openers since the Big 12 was formed in 1996, and are 14-3 since 2000.