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Oklahoma football: Sooners have shined in November spotlight

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 27: Running back Kennedy Brooks #26 of the Oklahoma Sooners scores against the Kansas State Wildcats at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 27: Running back Kennedy Brooks #26 of the Oklahoma Sooners scores against the Kansas State Wildcats at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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November is known as championship month in the world of college football. That’s when conference championships are won or lost, and no one knows this better than Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma football team.

While the actual conference champions in the Power Five leagues aren’t determined until the first weekend in December, the participants in those championship games are generally the teams that rise to the occasion in November, the critical final month of the regular season.

November has been a very good month for Oklahoma in the 2000s, a strong reason why the Sooners have won 12 Big 12 championships over 19 seasons.

Lincoln Riley has never lost a game in November since coming to OU in 2015 as the offensive coordinator. The Sooners are 15-0 in November in the time he has been on the OU coaching staff.

Oklahoma has won 17 consecutive November games since its last November loss. The Sooners lost in decisive fashion, 48-14 at home to Baylor, on Nov. 8, 2014. That was the last game they lost in November.

Since 2000, Oklahoma has a 61-11 record in November, a winning percentage of 85 percent. Ten of the 11 losses were away from home.

In the 12 seasons since 2000 in which the Sooners have gone on to win the Big 12 championship, their combined November record has been 42-5, and all five of the losses were from 2010 and earlier. The last five times OU won the conference title (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2012), they were undefeated in the month of November (19-0).

The Sooners have four regular-season games remaining on the 2019 schedule — two at home and two on the road — all in November. The two home games are this weekend against Iowa State and Nov. 23 against TCU. The two road contests are at undefeated and Big 12-leading Baylor on Nov. 16 and at Oklahoma State on Nov. 30.

Those four teams are all currently .500 or better this season and have a combined record of 23-10. Oklahoma has been dominant against all four teams, however, with a combined record of 202-32-9 all-time.

The Sooners will need another clean sweep in November this season if they want to assure themselves a spot in the conference championship game and keep their slim hopes alive for a third consecutive appearance in the College Football Playoff.

That journey begins at home on Saturday with Oklahoma facing Iowa State, the last Big 12 team to beat Oklahoma at home. The Cyclones registered a surprising 38-31 victory in 2017 on their last visit to Norman, only the sixth time in 83 games with the Sooners that Iowa State has been on the winning end of the score.

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