Oklahoma football bowl history: Every bowl game the Sooners have played in

Jan 2, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops smiles as his defense hold the Alabama Crimson Tide near the end of the Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Oklahoma won, 45-31. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops smiles as his defense hold the Alabama Crimson Tide near the end of the Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Oklahoma won, 45-31. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Oklahoma Sooners under Bob Stoops and then Lincoln Riley made the College Football Playoff almost as much as any team, with four appearances. Neither coach could break through to win the national championship. Oklahoma has seven national titles but hasn’t won it in the CFP era.

Now, two years into Brent Venables’ tenure, it’s been four years since the Sooners finished in the top four, and they’re heading to the SEC in 2024. Oklahoma should be a big beneficiary of the expanded 12-team playoff, but getting in has never been the issue.

In the 115 seasons of the Oklahoma football program, the Sooners have played in 56 bowl games with another on the way in either December of 2023 or January of 2024. Oklahoma has gone 31-24-1 in those bowl games and hasn’t missed a bowl game since 1998. That’s a streak of 24 years, that is about to be 25-straight.

The program lost its first bowl game appearance, all the way back in 1938, but proceeded to win six of the next seven spanning from 1946-58 which included three national titles under Bud Wilkinson.

Just making a bowl game isn’t good enough for Brent Venables, he needs to take Oklahoma back to the national championship. The Sooners have played plenty of bowl games, so let’s go through the history of them, starting with the BCS Championship.

Oklahoma bowl game history

Jan 8, 2008; Miami, FL, USA; Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow (15) tries to avoid Oklahoma Sooners defensive end Adrian Taylor (86) during the second quarter of the 2009 BCS Championship Game at Dolphin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 8, 2008; Miami, FL, USA; Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow (15) tries to avoid Oklahoma Sooners defensive end Adrian Taylor (86) during the second quarter of the 2009 BCS Championship Game at Dolphin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports /

BCS National Championship (0-1)

2009: Florida 24 Oklahoma 14

Sam Bradford won the 2008 Heisman trophy but lost the national championship game to the 2007 Heisman winner, Tim Tebow.