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Oklahoma football: Where do Sooners rank among 2023 unbeaten teams?

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 3: Oklahoma Sooners fans pack the stands for a game against the UTEP Miners at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 3, 2022 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma won 45-13. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 3: Oklahoma Sooners fans pack the stands for a game against the UTEP Miners at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 3, 2022 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma won 45-13. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Going unbeaten and untied through the first four games of the season is not new territory for Oklahoma football. The Sooners have done it 36 times since Bud Wilkinson’s first season in 1947 and 16 times since 2000.

The Sooners are off to another 4-0 start this season and are one of 27 unbeaten teams still remaining in college football entering Week 5.

ESPN has taken on the weekly task of ranking the unbeaten teams. This week, the 27 unbeatens include two other Big 12 teams in addition to Oklahoma. In an ESPN+ article by staff writer Bill Connelly, the Sooners are ranked No. 7 this week right behind No. 6 Texas. That’s up one spot for OU from last week and appears to be a table-setter for the upcoming Week 6 Red River showdown between the Sooners and Longhorns.

Texas faces another unbeaten Big 12 team in Kansas this weekend in Austin. If the Longhorns take care of business against Kansas (Texas is a 17-point favorite), and the Sooners do the same against Iowa State (OU is a 19.5-point favorite), it will set up a battle of unbeatens in the 119th Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Oct. 7. The last time OU and Texas both came into their annual rivalry game unbeaten was in 2011.

Kansas is ranked 20th among the teams with unblemished records, based on this week’s ESPN rankings.

The top-10 teams among the remaining unbeatens are, in order: Washington, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, Florida State and USC, all with 4-0 records.

This is what Connelly wrote about Oklahoma through Week 4:

"“Dillon Gabriel and the OU offense have made a habit of destroying bad defenses (69.5 points a game against Arkansas State and Tulsa) while struggling against decent ones (24.0 points against SMU and Cincinnati)…“OU will play against the Big 12’s two best defenses over the next two weeks (Iowa State and Texas), but if the Sooners make it to 6-0, they could make it to 12-0.”"

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