The success of an Oklahoma football coach is not just measured in terms of overall wins and losses or all-time winning percentage, it also matters a ton on how the team performs against the Sooners' big rivals.
Every college football coach will tell you that the most important game on the schedule is the next game. At Oklahoma, however, that statement may only be partially true because all opponents are not considered equal. Wins are always going to be important, but they are valued even more at Oklahoma when they come against Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma State.
Seventeen of the 23 head coaches in Sooner football history had winning records at Oklahoma, but only eight of the 23 produced a winning record against OU's three chief rivals.
Lincoln Riley was 9-2 against Texas, Oklahoma State and Nebraska in five seasons as head coach, but he only faced those three rivals a total of 11 games. The four members of the Oklahoma Century Club (Sooners coaches with 100 or more wins) all coached over 40 games against the Sooners' three big rivals, and Bud Wilkinson's 41-10 record and .804 winning percentage was the best of the group.
Barry Switzer had the second-best record against OU's three big rivals (36-10-2, .771), followed by Bob Stoops (31-13, .705) and Bennie Owen (26-14-3, .651).
Wilkinson was a perfect 17-0 against Oklahoma State and 14-3 against Nebraska, but just 10-7 in games with Texas. Switzer was equally dominant against OSU, going 15-1, and 12-4 against Nebraska, but just 9-5-2 versus Texas. Collectively, Wilkinson, Switzer and Stoops were 30-19-2 against Texas, 32-9 against Nebraska and a whopping 46-5 in the Bedlam series with Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma has a winning record in the all-time series against two of its three big rivals, but Texas is the only one the Sooners still play on a regular annual basis. OU is 47-38-3 against its longtime conference rival out of Nebraska, but that continuous rivalry series effectively ended after the 2010 season when the Cornhuskers moved to the Big Ten.
Similarly, the annual Bedlam series with Oklahoma State, which the Sooners have dominated with an overall record of 91-20-7, ended after the 2023 season with Oklahoma joining the SEC.
The Red River Rivalry series between Oklahoma and Texas will naturally continue with both teams now members of the SEC. The game this season will be the 121st in the series, which commenced in 1900. The Longhorns lead the all-time series 64-51-5. Since 1947, however, when Wilkinson became the Sooners' head coach, the series has been virtually even, but with Oklahoma holding a one-game advantage, 36-35-3. Since 2000, the Sooners are 17-9 against their Red River Rivals
Of Oklahoma's four legendary head coaches, Bob Stoops has the most wins with 190 (190-48,.798), Barry Switzer the best winning percentage (157-29-4, .837), and Bennie Owen is the longest tenured with 22 seasons.
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