Regardless matter the strategy, OU has been a consistent national title contender. Since the 1998 football season, the BCS system has been in existence. The Bowl Championship Series was replaced with a four-team playoff beginning with the 2014-15 season on June 26, 2012. Prior to this change, Oklahoma had not missed the playoffs since 1994 when it went 9-3. Including the current streak, Oklahoma has made the postseason nine out of the last ten years. In that time, it has never finished lower than second place in its division.
In addition to its success in the Bowl Division, Oklahoma has also been very successful in the regular season. The Oklahoma Sooners are 93-19-4 all time and have won at least 10 games for 76 consecutive seasons. They are the only college team to ever accomplish this feat. The last school to beat OU twice during the same season was Iowa in 2011.
The most recent championship came in 2018 when freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts led the team to a 42-20 win over Alabama in Arlington, Texas, for its first title in 52 years. The victory also ended Alabama's string of six straight championships.
Before that, the last Oklahoma National Championship was in 1950 when they defeated California 14-0 in Chicago. Cal's Pete Pihos had given Oklahoma its only loss of the season earlier in the year by defeating them 34-14 at home.
Oklahoma's most recent national title, earned in the 2000 season, was won under the BCS structure. Prior to the inception of the BCS, polls were utilized to determine the top college football team.
With 12 national titles, men's gymnastics leads all OU teams, followed by football (7), wrestling (7), softball (4), women's gymnastics (4), baseball (2), and men's golf (2). (2). Click on the links below to learn more about each of OU's 38 national titles.
The BCS National Championship Game, sometimes known as the BCS National Championship, is a postseason college football bowl game held to decide the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision national champion (FBS). It was initially played as one of four designated bowl games during the 1998 college football season, and since the 2006 collegiate football season as an...
The BCS National Championship Game is played every year after Thanksgiving. The game starts at approximately 5:30 PM EST and lasts about 3 hours.
It is sponsored by the Bowl Coalition, which includes the six largest FBS conferences (Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, Southeastern Conference), along with independent Notre Dame University. The game is broadcast live on television by CBS or NBC (depending on the network that is broadcasting the NFL playoff game the same day) and streamed online by CBS Sports Network.
The BCS was established in 1998 by the Florida Governor Bob Riley to replace the old major system that had existed for many years before that. Before the creation of the BCS, most national championships were determined by who won the College Football Playoff. The first BCS National Championship was awarded in January 1999 to Nebraska because they were ranked higher according to the rules then-used by the BCS. Since its establishment, the BCS has been criticized for its perceived anti-competitive practices, including what some have called "its two big conferences against one small conference" rule when selecting a national champion.
The Sooners have won the AP national championship seven times and six times in the coaches' poll. Oklahoma's most recent national title, earned in the 2000 season, was won under the BCS structure. Prior to the inception of the BCS, polls were utilized to determine the top college football team. If no champion was named by the end of the year, then a playoff system would be used to decide it.
The earliest date that we know that Oklahoma has been awarded a national championship is January 1, 2001. That year's squad finished the season with a 10-1 record and was ranked No. 1 in the final BCS standings. They defeated Virginia Tech in the Fiesta Bowl for their first title since 1999. The Sooners lost that game 21-14.
In 2004, OU again finished the season ranked No. 1 and claimed its sixth AP title. That year's team went 12-0 and was undefeated when it played Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The Fighting Irish beat the Sooners 34-27 to take the national championship.
In 2005, Oklahoma was voted No. 1 by both the AP and Coaches' polls. However, they were upset by Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship Game. As a result, they did not receive a spot in any other major tournament championship game.
Since the 2000 national championship season, the Sooners have had four BCS national championship trips and four College Football Playoff chances to claim that elusive eighth national title, but have come up short (to put it gently). They will be making their fifth trip to the playoffs in six years when they face off against Alabama in New Orleans on January 13th at 8:15 p.m. CT on ESPN.
That's a whole lot of playoff talk for one team! But if you're a fan of Oklahoma, you've probably already heard too much about this year's playoff. The Sooners are ranked No. 2 in both polls and have been since before the season started. Their playoff prospects are also very much alive with two games left to play before the college football postseason field is set.
So why all the attention on Oklahoma? Because we know how good they are. Under head coach Bob Stoops, the Sooners are 93-19 in eight seasons including a national title game appearance last year. Hailing from Norman, Oklahoma, Stoops leads an experienced roster full of future first-round picks and Heisman Trophy candidates.
OU plays in the powerful Big 12 conference, which has been sending more and more teams to the playoffs every year. Last year was the first time since 2012 that a non-Power 5 conference team made the playoffs.
While I feel there are eight national championship seasons that the Sooners should have, there is also one title that OU believes they should not have. In total, OU should win 14 national championships, and we'll go through which ones and why. Oklahoma now holds seven championships: 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, and 2000.
Since 1970, Nebraska has won more games than any other team in the country and has won five national championships. On four prior occasions, the Huskers have competed in a national title bowl game.
Nebraska volleyball won their sixth national championship with a 3-1 victory against the No. 2 seed Florida Gators in front of an NCAA-record 18,516 spectators at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. The Huskers won their fifth national championship and second in three years, becoming only the third team in NCAA history to do so.
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