Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Sooners’ elite-brand status well supported

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 07: A general view of the stadium during the Iowa State game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Iowa State defeated Oklahoma 38-31. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 07: A general view of the stadium during the Iowa State game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Iowa State defeated Oklahoma 38-31. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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There is little question that the Oklahoma football brand is among the most respected and revered in what is considered the modern era of college football.

The history of Oklahoma football goes back 126 years, but it wasn’t until the end of World War II, or roughly the 1950s forward, that Oklahoma first established itself as a legitimate college powerhouse on a national scale.

Legendary head coach Bud Wilkinson is generally credited with putting Oklahoma football on the national map, and rightfully so. His Sooner teams got the ball rolling on OU’s national reputation with three national championships in a seven-year span, 13 conference championships, an NCAA-record 47-game winning streak and the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner (Billy Vessels in 1952).

In 17 seasons as Oklahoma head coach, Wilkinson’s teams won 83 percent of its games with an overall record of 145-29-4. Like Wilkinson’s teams owned the Big Six and Big Seven conferences, Barry Switzer’s Sooner teams followed suit, winning three more national titles (1974, 1975 and 1985) and dominated the Big Eight Conference. in the 1970s and ’80s. Arguably OU’s greatest player of all-time, Billy Sims, won the Heisman Trophy in 1978.

Ditto for Bob Stoops, who won a national championship for Oklahoma (in 2000) in his second season at OU, won 10 Big 12 championships (three more than the next best team) and produced two Heisman Trophy winners (Jason White in 2003 and Sam Bradford in 2008).

That by itself is enough to establish Oklahoma’s credentials as one of the blue blood programs in college football. Here are a few more compelling achievements that you may or may not be aware of — and should be —  that add to the Sooners’ impressive national resume:

  • Oklahoma’s 672 wins since 1946, or the end of World War II, is the most of any NCAA Division 1 program.
  • Oklahoma’s 13 conference championships since 2000 are the most of any other Power Five conference team. Ohio State is the closest with 10. Alabama is second with 632 wins
  • The Sooners lead college football with 40 seasons of 10 or more wins. That is one more all-time than Alabama and two more than Michigan.
  • OU has finished in the top five of final Associated Press Top 25 rankings 18 times since 2000. That is one more than both LSU and Ohio State.
  • Entering the 2020 season, Oklahoma had scored 430 touchdowns in the last five years. That was one fewer than Clemson and 13 more than Alabama.
  • The Sooners have had 10 Heisman finalists, including four Heisman winners, since the 2000 season. Alabama is the next closest with six finalists, including two winners.
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