Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: What are the 10 ‘most intimidating’ college football stadiums?

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 23: Oklahoma Sooners fans pull out their phone flashlights during a timeout against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 23, 2019 at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. OU held on to win 28-24. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 23: Oklahoma Sooners fans pull out their phone flashlights during a timeout against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 23, 2019 at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. OU held on to win 28-24. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Winning at home is a must for championship-level college football teams, but winning on the road is how championship are really won. Historically, the Oklahoma football home record is one of the best in college football, making Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium one of the most difficult road venues in the college game.

Bob Stoops’ Oklahoma teams (1999-2016) lost just 11 times in 18 seasons. Bud Wilkinson lost just nine games in 17 seasons at what was then Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Barry Switzer lost just six home games in 17 seasons as the Sooners’ head coach.

Since the 2000 season, OU’s home record has been a remarkable 178-13, a winning percentage of .932, underscoring how difficult it is for road teams to come away with a win. Every home game since the start of the 1999 season (146 of them) has been sold out (83,000-plus). The Sooners have also done well away from home in true road games (those not contested on a neutral field).

The Sooners have won 75 percent of their true road games since 2000 with a road record of 102-35. That’s a big reason why OU has won a national championship, played in three other national championship games and won 14 Big 12 championships over that span.

A couple of years ago FanSided ranked Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium one of the top 20 best college stadiums to watch a football game, and last year and again this year the website Roadtocfb.com ranked OU as the fifth best college stadium. Both of these sites base their rankings on criteria such as location, amenities, architecture, uniqueness and overall experience, not so much on the home team’s success playing at home.

The sports websites The Spun and 247Sports have both posted articles in the past year ranking what they call the “most intimidating” college football stadiums. The ranking by 247Sports, issued in July 2022, ranked nine college venues considered the most intimidating. The Spun ranking is more recent and ranks the top-10 college stadiums based on the intimidation factor.

You can check out the results yourself, but if you are thinking Oklahoma is one of the stadiums featured, I’ll save you the step. It isn’t. But perhaps if should be. By the way, Texas’ Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium doesn’t make the cut either.

It’s interesting to note, however, that five of the college stadiums listed in both rankings are in the SEC, where the Sooners are headed after this coming season. Perhaps the “Palace on the Prairie” will be considered a more intimidating place to play once OU becomes part of the “big boys” league.

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