Dean's List: 10-2 Record Admirable For Sooners In Year 2 Under Venables

For the record, Oklahoma posted a 69-spot Sooners in Friday’s win over TCU.

The Numbers:

It’s the Oklahoma program’s nation-leading 700th victory in college football’s modern era, marked by the end of World War II. Alabama is right behind with 667 wins. 

Since the Big 12 was formed in 1996, OU has been a league-best 176-60 for a 75 percent win clip in league play, three wins in every four league games. The Longhorns are next in winning two of three Big 12 games, a distant second with a Big 12 win percentage of 67 percent.

The number that jumps off the page is OU’s fourteen Big 12 titles, 11 more than any other program; the University of Texas has won three. 

Equally staggering is the sustained greatness over a wider period of time. Oklahoma’s nation’s best fifty total conference titles are hard to fathom. Look it up. Some really good programs trail the Sooners by 40 to 45 league titles. That’s around one-tenth of Big Red’s conference crowns. And it’s not as if Oklahoma won those 50 in the Ivy League.

What Lies Ahead For The Sooners?

2024 begins a new era as winning an SEC title with its elite play and increased number of conference teams will become a new challenge.

I don’t expect it, but it would be fitting for OU and Texas to depart the league in next week’s final Big 12 and league title game. The outspoken commissioner would need to call in sick.

Nonetheless, and despite the fact the Sooners had no business losing at Kansas and Oklahoma State, their 10-2 bounce-back regular season is admirable in Year 2 of the new regime under Brent Venables.