As the saying goes, records are made to be broken, but one that actually may never be eclipsed is Oklahoma's historic 47-game winning streak in football.
After opening the 1953 season with a 28-21 home loss to the No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and following that by battling to a 7-7 tie against an unranked Pittsburgh team, the Sooners did not lose or tie a game again for nearly five seasons.
Most everyone who follows college football is aware of this remarkable achievement, which covered a period of time from Oct. 10, 1953, to Nov. 16, 1957, when that same team from South Bend, Indiana -- only this edition of the Fighting Irish was not nationally ranked -- rolled into Norman for the first time since the 1953 game and left with a 7-0 upset of No. 2 Oklahoma. During the unprecedented 47-game streak, the Sooners won two national championships (1955 and '56), going a perfect 21-0 in the process.
OU's record win streak well-documented, but what is the Sooners' longest losing streak?
Those were great Oklahoma teams. Historically, Oklahoma has won over 72% of its games (950 in 130 seasons), the sixth-most all-time. But the Sooners have also lost 28% of their games. Fortunately, not many for extended periods of time.
Twice in Oklahoma football history, the Sooners have lost as many as five games in a row. Ironically, that happened with Wilkinson's 1961 OU team, which lost five straight games to start the season. It also happened under head coach John Blake in 1998, when Oklahoma suffered five consecutive losses in the middle of the season after opening the season with two straight wins.
Sooner teams also lost as many as four in a row in three other seasons earlier in the team's history (1916, 1924 and 1931). Those five different seasons mark the longest losing streaks in program history, which in itself is quite an achievement for a team that has been playing football for well over a century.
The Sooners also own a 31-game winning streak, which also came under Bud Wilkinson and preceded the 47-game streak. Barry Switzer's Sooner teams won 28 consecutive games between 1973 and 1975. All three Oklahoma win streaks rank in the top 10 in NCAA college football history. The Sooners won five of their seven national titles during the 47- and 28-game win streaks.
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