Oklahoma football: There aren’t many teams OU has never beaten; BYU is one of them

The Oklahoma football history includes a losing record against very few teams.

Of those schools the Sooners have played at least 10 times, only two have winning records against Oklahoma: Texas (63-51-5) and Notre Dame (8-2). USC (5-2-1) is another blue-blood program against which the Sooners have a losing record.

Oklahoma owns the sixth most wins (642) in college football history and the fifth-best winning percentage (.726), but there are 13 teams the Sooners have played in their 129-year history that they have never beaten. One of those teams is there opponent this weekend, the Cougars of Brigham Young University.

OU and BYU have played twice before Saturday, and neither was in the state of Utah or Oklahoma.

The first game between the two schools was in 1994 in the Copper Bowl in Tucson, Oklahoma. Coached by former OU player Gary Gibbs, the Sooners capped off a 6-6 season, their worst since going 3-7 in 1965 with a 31-6 loss to BYU. OU started reserve QB Terrance Brown, who had thrown just three passes in the regular season, because starter Garrick McGee had contracted spinal meningitis. The Sooners recorded a very un-OU-like 235 yards of offense while giving up 556 to BYU.

The second meeting was in the opening game of the 2009 season played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. QB Sam Bradford was injured right before halftime with the Sooners holding on to a 10-7 advantage. Oklahoma increased its lead to 13-7 on a 22-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, but BYU scored marched 78 yards for a go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter, which proved to be just enough to edge the No. 3-ranked Sooners 14-13. Bradford would play just five more quarters before being ruled out for the rest of the season, one year after winning OU’s fifth Heisman Trophy.

The Sooners are hoping to scratch the Cougars from their winless list with a victory on Saturday.

BYU is the only team Oklahoma has played at least twice without a victory. Twelve others are one-game stands that go back as far as 1902. Here is the complete list:

Dallas Athletic Club: 0-1 (1902)

Pawhuska (Oklahoma) 0-0-1 (1906)

Illinois: 0-1 (1917)

Camp Doniphan (Oklahoma): 0-1 (1917)

Indiana: 0-1 (1928)

Honolulu: 0-1 (1931)

George Washington: 0-1-1 (1932 T,1934 L)

Navy: 0-1 (1965)

Arizona State: 0-1 (1982)

BYU: 0-2 (1994, 2009)

Ole Miss: 0-1 (1999)

Boise State: 0-1 (2006)

Georgia: 0-1 (2017)

In case you were wondering, Oklahoma has played in 19 of the 50 states, including the game in Utah on Saturday. These are the states the Sooners have yet to play in: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.

With OU joining the SEC next season, the Sooners will soon be able to cross Mississippi and South Carolina off the list.

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