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Oklahoma football: Sooners power Big 12 teams to record bowl season

By Chip Rouse

Dec 30, 2020; Arlington, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners running back Rhamondre Stevenson (29) reacts after receiving the offensive MVP awards after the game against the Florida Gators at ATT Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 30, 2020; Arlington, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners running back Rhamondre Stevenson (29) reacts after receiving the offensive MVP awards after the game against the Florida Gators at ATT Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Oklahoma football win over Florida in the Cotton Bowl powered the Big 12 to its best bowl season in league history.

The Big 12 finished the 2020 bowl season with a perfect 5-0 record, the first time in the 25-year history of the conference.

Six Big 12 teams accepted postseason bowl bids. TCU and Arkansas were schedule to play in the Texas Bowl in San Diego, but that game was cancelled because of COVID issues within the TCU program. TCU was favored by 4.5 points over Arkansas, according to the Las Vegas oddsmakers. So, who knows, the Big 12 might have been 6-0, and that would have included victories over at least one team from three of the four other major conferences.

As it was, Oklahoma’s win was over seventh-ranked and SEC runner-up Florida. Iowa State and Texas posted convincing wins over teams (Oregon and Colorado, respectively) from the Pac-12, and Oklahoma State defeated 18th-ranked Miami out of the ACC.

With one game still to be played in the 2020 college football bowl season — the national championship game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Ohio State on Jan. 11 — the SEC and Big Ten are tied with a .750 bowl winning percentage this season, although the SEC (6-2) had twice as many teams participating as the Big Ten (3-1).

The winner of the CFP national championship game will determine which conference finishes with the best win percentage behind the Big 12.

The 2020 season marks the first time the Big 12 has finished with a perfect bowl record. The best previous bowl record by Big 12 teams was 6-2 in 2011. Oklahoma, which hasn’t had the best bowl record in the Big 12 era and was 10-3 that season, won its bowl game that year, defeating Iowa 31-14 in the Insight Bowl.

The Big 12 worst bowl record was recorded last season, when six Big 12 teams went 1-5. Oklahoma (to LSU in the College Football Playoff), Baylor (to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl), Iowa State (to Notre Dame in the Camping World Bowl), Oklahoma State (to Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl) and Kansas State (to Navy in the Liberty Bowl) all lost. Texas claimed the only Big 12 bowl victory a year ago, defeating Utah in the Alamo Bowl.

Big 12 teams have won as many as five bowl games three different times in the Big 12 era. All three times that happened (2017, 2007 and 2002), the conferenced placed eight teams in postseason bowls.

The best bowl representation by Big 12 schools was nine in 2012. Kansas was the only team that was not bowl eligible that season.

Oklahoma’s win over Florida improved the Sooners’ bowl record to 10-12 as a member of the Big 12. One of those bowl wins, in the 2000 season, produced OU’s seventh national championship. The Sooners appearance in the 2020 Cotton Bowl Classic was their 22nd consecutive bowl appearance. Only Georgia (23) has a longer active streak.

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