Man, it's hard to look back over 28 years of Oklahoma football and pick out the top 10. Honestly, I'm such a college football nerd that I could pick out their top 10 kickoff returns over the past 28 years. It makes it even harder to pick out 10 moments when there were so many huge moments in the program's past—epic battles, legendary plays, and jaw-dropping highlights.
The Sooners joined the Big 12 conference at its birth in 1996. The old-school Big 12 was the best. 6 teams in the old Big 12 North and 6 in the South. 3 North teams would rotate a home and away with the Southern teams and vice versa. Then Texas ruined it by getting its own network (which nobody watched), and the fallout created the exodus of Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M, and Missouri. All of them have seen little to no success in their new homes (Colorado is back, by the way).
There used to be this crazy concept in college football: Conferences were geographically organized! What?! Yeah, Southeastern Conference teams were located in the Southeast, and Pac-12 teams were located along the Pacific coastline. "Hold on... you mean to tell me Southern Methodist, the University of California, and Stanford haven't always been in the Atlantic Coast Conference?" Yep, but they are now.
Oklahoma regents saw the writing on the wall and knew the most significant dollars were in the SEC. So, they packed up the Sooners and made the commitment to move to the SEC just before Lincoln Riley said, "Nope... I want no part of that." Now, the Sooners and Longhorns will join the premier conference in college athletics, and the Big 12 will lose a massive amount of clout.
Sooner Nation, we can't wait to celebrate with you on July 1‼️#OUxSEC
— Oklahoma Sooners (@OU_Athletics) June 28, 2024
The Oklahoma football program had a combined Big 12 record of 176-60 over 26 seasons. They won 14- Big 12 titles and represented the conference in the national championship, or the college football playoff, eight times. A Sooner player won the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Year award eight times and the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award seven times. Finally, between Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley, a Sooner head coach won the conference's Coach of the Year award seven times.
With all this being said, what are the programs' top 10 moments? Not necessarily just their biggest wins but their most memorable or impactful moments. Let's start with number 10.