Oklahoma football: Championship flags fly forever

Oklahoma football has won seven national championships, but it has been almost 21 years since it won its last one.

That is the longest time between national titles since the Sooners captured their very first national title in 1950, in Bud Wilkinson’s fourth season as head coach. The current OU national championship draught  exceeds the previous longest (1956 to 1974) by three years.

Listen to ourselves. We’re lamenting the fact that Oklahoma hasn’t won more national championships and that it’s been too long since the last one when there are close to 100 teams at the Football Bowl Subdivision level that would give almost anything to have  just one (claimed or unclaimed).

The Sooners have had multiple opportunities (four BCS national championship appearances and four College Football Playoff appearances) since the 2000 national championship season to capture that elusive eighth national crown, but have come up short (that’s actually putting it mildly) every time.

Only two other schools have more football national championships than Oklahoma in the poll era of college football. Since 1936, national championships recognized by the Associated Press or the Coaches Poll have been the only sanctioned, or claimed, national champions.

With its relatively recent run six national championships in the past 12 seasons, Alabama has opened up a sizeable advantage over the next closest team.

The Crimson Tide has celebrated six national championships since Oklahoma played in its last national championship game, in 2008, and has 13 in all. Notre Dame is next with eight, then comes the Sooners and USC with seven.

A number of college football experts have predicted that, this being potentially the best team, and certainly the most complete team, that Lincoln Riley has had in his four seasons since taking over for Bob Stoops as head coach, that this could finally be the year that Oklahoma breaks its College Football Playoff win drought and captures that elusive eighth national championship.

Championship flags aren’t the only symbol of grand success the Sooners have to boast about. With four Heisman Trophy winners in the past 18 years, Oklahoma has as many Heisman winners in its history as it has football national championships. And quarterback Spencer Rattler is a lead candidate this season to add another bronze statue to OU’s hallowed Heisman Park.

And let’s not overlook the 50 conference championships Oklahoma has won in football, including 14 in the 25-year-old Big 12. That’s more than any other school in college football (and, by the way, 18 more than Alabama).

All of this to say, there are a lot of highly visible championship reminders around Owen Field and the Barry Switzer Center of Oklahoma’s extraordinary success in college football.

You can never have too many championship flags or hardware — or even memories of same, for that matter –there’s always room for more. And they will eventually come.

In between time, it’s important to keep things in perspective. The championships you have won will never go away or be taken from you. Championship flags — as well as the pride and phenomenal performances associated with them — fly forever.