Much has been written about the championship mentality and historical record of success of Oklahoma football in the month of November, and with good reason.
The Sooners have won 23 consecutive games in November, dating back to the 2014 season. Ironically, the last team to beat Oklahoma in November was the Baylor Bears. Baylor delivered a knockout blow that OU fans will not soon forget, pounding the Sooners 48-14 in Norman.
Since then, Oklahoma has beaten Baylor in six straight times, including four consecutive wins at Baylor.
O.K., so the Sooners are at their best when they need to be, during the time of the season known as Championship November.
But how good has Oklahoma been when it is coming off of a bye week and has extra time to prepare for the next opponent. That is the situation this week as the Sooners prepare to face 18th-ranked Baylor (CFP rankings) on Saturday on the Bears’ home field in Waco.
The game Saturday is also an 11 o’clock kickoff, the fifth time this season Oklahoma has drawn the rooster-call TV time slot, and you can thank the Big 12’s media agreement with FOX for that. FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff” is the network’s prime time slot for its featured college football game of the day. Former Sooner head coach Bob Stoops is part of “Big Noon” studio pregame show, so he’ll be on site and able to see his son, Drake, play for Oklahoma.
Since the 2000 season. Oklahoma has played 33 games after a bye week. The Sooners have prevailed in 24 of those 32 games following a bye. OU was 21-6 coming off of a bye under Stoops and is 4-2 under those same circumstances since Lincoln Riley took over the coaching reins at OU.
Oklahoma is 17-4 in home games following a bye week since the 2000 season and 7-4 away from home after a bye during that same time frame. One of those seven losses away from home was at Baylor (45-38) in 2011.
Following a bye week, the Sooners have averaged 39.5 points a game and a winning margin of 12.9 points.
The past is not necessarily a predictor of the future, but it does tell us that you can expect Oklahoma to be fresh and ready to go come game time Saturday at Baylor.
One thing Oklahoma fans hope the Sooners have learned from the past so they are not doomed to repeat it against Baylor is not getting off to a slow start. In OU’s four previous 11 a.m. games this season the Sooners have been outscored 52-28 in the opening quarter.