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Oklahoma football: Sooners tied for 3rd all-time for wins over AP No. 1s

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 18: The Oklahoma Sooners run onto the field for a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 18, 2021 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma won 23-16. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 18: The Oklahoma Sooners run onto the field for a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 18, 2021 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma won 23-16. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Former Oklahoma football head coach Bob Stoops always said his Sooner teams were willing to take on any opponent anywhere any time. To be the best, you have to play the best, he professed.

Stoops is not alone among the legendary head coaches who have graced the Sooner sidelines. Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer, even Lincoln Riley, all not only sincerely believed it and said it, but put those words into action.

With the most college football wins of any NCAA Division I team since the end of World War II (1946 to present), Oklahoma has played and won numerous games against teams ranked in the top five and top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25.

Oklahoma has played 25 games in the AP Top 25 era against teams ranked No. 1 in the country and won seven of them. This may surprise some people, but those seven wins are tied for third for the most all-time against a No. 1-ranked team, according to a analysis done by 247Sports. The Sooners are tied with Purdue and USC, all with seven wins over top-ranked teams.

Notre Dame is second with eight all-time wins over No. 1-ranked teams and Miam (Florida) and Alabama are tied for the most with nine each.

In the 86 years since the first Associated Press college poll was issued, Oklahoma has played 25 games against teams ranked No. 1. The Sooners have an overall record of 7-16-2 in those games.

OU has played Nebraska the most when the Cornhuskers were the No. 1 team in the country, according to the AP Top-25 poll. The Sooners and Nebraska have met eight times under those circumstances. Oklahoma is 3-5 in those games, including a 35-31 loss in the “Game of the Century” in 1971 when the Huskers were ranked No. 1 and Oklahoma No. 2.

The Sooners are 0-3-1 when Texas was the No. 1-ranked team and 1-2-1 against USC with the Trojans holding down the top spot in the nation.

Barry Switzer owns the most wins over No. 1-ranked teams with three. Bud Wilkinson and Bob Stoops had two each.

Oklahoma has been much more dominant in games when the Sooners were ranked No. 1. The Sooners are 68-6 in such games, a .919 winning percentage.

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