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Hmmm, I wonder what is so special about the number 47 for the Sooners. Oh, that's right, it our annual reminder that the Sooners kicked the crap out of college football to the tune of 47 consecutive victories. The streak spanned 5 seasons from 1953-1957. The Sooners were led by legendary head coach Bud Wilkinson, and completely ran roughshod over the entire college football landscape.
The streak began with a victory against Texas in the Cotton Bowl 19-14 on October 10th, 1953 and concluded with a 39-14 victory over Missouri on November 16th, 1957.
To put in perspective how big of a deal 47 straight wins really is, the next closest winning streak was posted by Washington at 40 but that was before the modern era. The closest Big 12 team is Texas with 30.
Basically from a historical and tradition standpoint, OU has been playing chess, while the rest of the Big 12 has been playing checkers (except for Kansas, they don't play anything at all).