Oklahoma football: November has been nirvana for Sooners
By Chip Rouse
There’s nothing like November when you’re talking about Oklahoma football.
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November, the third month of every college football season, is often referred to a championship month. That’s when the best teams frequently play their toughest opponents and make their final move toward securing a spot in their conference championship game and a chance to claim a coveted league championship trophy.
The Sooners have won 31 consecutive games in the month of November. The last time OU lost a November game was in 2014, a 48-14 shellacking at home to Baylor. Those 31 consecutive November wins are a big reason Oklahoma has won five straight Big 12 championships.
Oklahoma has never lost a game in November in the five seasons Lincoln Riley has been on the Sooner coaching staff. OU is a perfect 19-0 overall in Riley’s five seasons in Norman and 12-0 in the three seasons he has been head coach.
OU’s success in November isn’t just a recent phenomenon, either. In the Sooners’ 125-year football history. they are 328-115-24 in November, a .728 winning percentage. In the past two decades, or since 2000, Bob Stoops’ and Riley’s Sooner teams have compiled a record of 66-12 (.846) during the month of November.
As impressive as the current 31-game November win streak is, it hasn’t always been easy.
The Sooners came dangerously close last fall to ending their November dominance. A pass breakup in the end zone by OU’s Parnell Motley on a two-point conversion attempt by Iowa State with under 30 seconds remaining in the game preserved a breathtaking 42-41 OU home victory.
And who will forget what happened the following weekend, when the Sooners remarkably overcame a 25-point deficit at No. 12 Baylor to pull out a miracle 34-31 victory.
Of the legendary Oklahoma coaches of what is widely considered the modern era of college football (1946 to present), Bud Wilkinson had the best overall record in November, winning 64 of 70 games in the month for a .914 winning percentage. Barry Switzer was next with an .867 win percentage in November. Stoops’ record in November was 57-12 (.826).
The 2020 November schedule opens with the Sooners putting their 31-game November win streak on the line at West Virginia on Nov. 7. They return home for games the next two weekends against Kansas State and Kansas, and close out the regular season on the road at Texas Tech on Nov. 28.