The SEC is even getting the best of Oklahoma’s most dominant sport

The SEC just means more, but it hasn't meant more wins for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Every sport in OU's athletic department has taken its lumps from the SEC in the last year, but it was assumed one sport would be invulnerable to the strength of its new conference. Yet, the OU softball team has dropped its last two SEC series.

Sooners drop back-to-back SEC softball series

The Sooners joined the SEC last summer with the expectations that their football program would join a royal rumble. Brent Venables' team went 2-6 in SEC play this past season with those expected struggles.

Then, Porter Moser's men's basketball program left the daunting Big 12 only to join what was the best basketball conference in decades and endured two losing streaks of at least four games.

The spring brought a traditional challenge from the SEC on the baseball diamond, and although it was expected the SEC would be more challenging on the softball field, Sooner Nation still anticipated Patty Gasso's program to continue to dominate as defending four-time national champions.

OU softball started the season 28-0 while getting through its nonconference schedule unscathed. The Sooners' 31-game winning streak was then snapped with a loss to Missouri, the only unranked SEC team OU will play this season.

The Sooners ultimately won that series against Missouri, and the two before that against South Carolina and Arkansas, sweeping both.

Then, two weeks ago, Tennessee went into Love's Field and took two of three from the Sooners. OU recovered with four straight nonconference wins while getting a week off from SEC play.

After that week-long break, OU traveled to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama. The Sooners continued their winning streak to five games before the Crimson Tide ended it on Sunday, forcing a rubber game on Monday. In that rubber game, Alabama edged out the Sooners 2-1 in eight innings.

It's the second time OU has ever lost two three-game conference series in the same season, and the first time back-to-back. If the Sooners drop another, then it'll be the most conference series they've ever lost in a season.

At 10-5 in SEC play, this is already the number of conference losses the Sooners had last season. The last time before that was when OU went 16-5 in Big 12 play in 2012. In 2011, OU lost eight Big 12 games.

These struggles don't mean the Sooners are tanking and falling from grace as national contenders, though. Gasso's program, finally, is being challenged. Before last season, OU had went seven straight seasons without suffering more than one loss in Big 12 play.

And these challenges will keep coming for OU. The latest ESPN.com / USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll included 12 SEC teams, so nearly half of the rankings came from the same conference. That also includes four of the top 5 -- No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Oklahoma.

With three conference series left, OU won't play another SEC opponent during the regular season that's currently outside of the top 15.

It's hard to imagine the four-time defending national champions could be even more prepared for the Women's College World Series, but that's exactly what the SEC is doing for OU.