Other than for historical significance, Oklahoma's first football season as a member of the SEC was hardly memorable. As disappointing as the Sooners' inaugural season in the SEC was, though, historically they remain one of the top three greatest programs of all-time.
Every year for the past few years, the crew at College Football News has performed a recalculation to determine the top 25 programs in the Associated Press Poll era, which looks back 89 years to the first AP Top 25 Poll in 1936.
Oklahoma actually held the No. 1 all-time ranking just three few years back in 2022, but has since settled into the No. 3 spot all-time, based on the newest CFN formula.
Alabama held the top spot in CFN's all-time rankings for a couple of years, but this year, Ohio State, the reigning national champion, jumped ahead of the Crimson Tide with the Sooners trailing both of those teams.
Sooners in top 3 of College Football News' greatest programs of all-time
College Football News uses a simple point system to rank the top 25 teams of all-time. Twenty-five points are awarded for each AP national championship, 24 points for the No. 2 team each season, 23 for the No. 3 team and so forth. Given that formula, Ohio State has amassed 1,182 points, Alabama 1,180, Oklahoma 1,147, Notre Dame 1,072 and Michigan was at No. 5 with 1,064 points.
The scoring apparently was so close for Nos. 1 and 2 that Alabama would have retained the top spot had it won its 2024 bowl game, which was a 19-13 loss to Michigan. The 24-3 pummeling by Oklahoma probably didn't help the Crimson Tide's cause either.
It wasn't like the Sooners were utterly disgraced in the 2024 season. They did manage to win six out of 13 games, which was enough to earn them eligibility to compete in a bowl, but you have to consider the bigger picture and understand that half a dozen wins in a season in which you play twice that many games is far below Oklahoma football standards.
In 130 seasons of varsity college football, Oklahoma has experienced just 14 losing seasons, eight of those since the introduction of the AP poll in 1936. The Sooners have won 950 games all-time, sixth most of any team with a winning percentage of .723. Only Alabama with 974 total wins and archrival Texas with 961 have won more games among SEC heavyweights.
Oklahoma has as difficult a schedule if not more so than the one the Sooners struggled navigating through last season. By all accounts, however, the team has improved in a number of areas through offseason moves, so we should see a more competitive team in the 2025 season, especially offensively.
Seven SEC teams finished in the final AP Top 25 poll for 2024, and six of the seven are on the Oklahoma schedule for 2025, along with an early season matchup against Michigan. As most every college coach in the country will tell you, if you want to be the best, you have to play (and beat) the best.
No question the Sooners will have that opportunity in spades in the coming season.
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