In 150 years of college football, there have been many teams that could stake a claim as being among the best of all-time. Among them, a number of Oklahoma football teams.
But which school truly deserves the distinction of producing the most outstanding team in the 150-year history of the college game? And which school has the most teams that would rank in an all-time top 25? Top 50? Or even a top 150?
The staff at ESPN took on that challenging task in recognition of this season being the sesquicentennial celebration of college football. Incorporating a panel consisting of 150 media members, athletic administrators and players, ESPN has produced a ranking of what its panel of experts consider to be the 150 best teams in the history of the college game. You can view the entire list here.
In the meantime, we’ll condense it for you and make it more Oklahoma relevant by letting you know that four Sooner teams are ranked in the ESPN All-Time Top 25, headed by the 1956 OU national championship team, coached by the late, great Bud Wilkinson. ESPN ranked the 1956 Sooners as the best of all of the great Oklahoma teams and as the ninth best team all-time in college football.
The ESPN panel listed 10 Oklahoma teams among the top 50 of all-time, all 11 in the top 55, the most of any school. The next closest among the top-50 teams was Nebraska and Alabama, both with six teams.
Oklahoma football history also played a factor in the two teams that finished at the top of the ESPN Top 150 ranking.
The 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers, who finished 13-0, including a 35-31 victory over Oklahoma in a game that, at the time, was labeled as the Game of the Century, were named the greatest college team of all-time, according to the panel.
Finishing in the No. 2 spot immediately back of the 1971 Cornhuskers was the 2004 USC Trojans, one in the same that steamrolled OU 55-19 in the BCS National Championship.
Of the 11 Sooner teams that ranked among Top 55 of all-time, four each were coached by Barry Switzer and Bud Wilkinson, two by Chuck Fairbanks and one by Bob Stoops. Four of the teams had their heyday in the 1970s and three in the 1950s.
Here is the full list of Oklahoma teams ranked in the ESPN All-Time 150:
9) 1956 Oklahoma team (10-0), national champions, coached by Bud Wilkinson
14) 1974 Oklahoma team (11-0), AP national champions, coached by Barry Switzer
19) 1955 Oklahoma team (10-0), national champions, coached by Bud Wilkinson
25) 2000 Oklahoma team (13-0), national champions, coached by Bob Stoops
31) 1971 Oklahoma team (11-1), coached by Chuck Fairbanks
32) 1985 Oklahoma team (11-1), national champions, coached by Barry Switzer
37) 1949 Oklahoma team (11-0), coached by Bud Wilkinson
44) 1975 Oklahoma team (11-1) national champions, coached by Barry Switzer
47) 1972 Oklahoma team (11-1), coached by Chuck Fairbanks
48) 1954 Oklahoma team (10-0), coached by Bud Wilkinson
55) 1973 Oklahoma team (10-0-1), coached by Barry Switzer
I actually agree, for the most part, with the ESPN ranking of these 11 teams being the best Sooner football teams of all time. Six of Oklahoma’s seven national championship teams made the ESPN 150, as well as five OU teams that did not win a national title.
I find it very interesting that the 1950 championship team, the first national champion in school history, was not ranked anywhere in the top 150. In many ways that team was the equivalent of the 1949 team, with a national championship trophy to boot. So you could also make the argument for its inclusion among the ten best OU teams of all-time.
I also take exception to the ranking of the 2000 Sooner team as the 25th best team in college football history, and also as the fifth best team in Oklahoma football history. The 2000 Sooners had a great season — and it brought back fond memories of a storied OU history that had begun to fade some during a sudden downturn in the 1990s. But I don’t believe that team would have beaten any of the other Sooner teams listed among the 50 best of all-time.
It is certainly an intriguing exercise — ranking the 150 best college teams of all-time — and highly subjective when it gets down to the actual positioning of the teams. But hats off to ESPN for giving it a go. It makes for a fun and interesting debate, and the tie in is a natural with this being the 150th season of college football.