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Continuing on in our countdown, we are now only 37 days out until college football kicks off at Owen Field. Speaking of the number 37, the Oklahoma Sooners have finished a season with 10 or more wins 37 times, which is more than any FBS program. For comparison, the Alabama Crimson Tide are ranked just behind OU with 36 such seasons, and our burnt orange rivals south of the Red River have only 23 double-digit win seasons.
Oklahoma’s first 10-win season came way back in 1915 under legendary coach Bennie Owen. In fact, OU went undefeated during that season, going 10-0 and winning the Southwest Conference in its first season as a conference member.
What is remarkable (yet not surprising) about this feat is that OU has never won 10+ games more than five seasons in a row. Why this is not surprising is because it speaks to the level of consistency the Sooners program has exhibited over the decades, both by having many stellar seasons and also by not having many lackluster seasons. Bud Wilkinson won 10+ from 1954-58, and Bob Stoops matched that streak from 2000-04. The most Barry Switzer’s teams ever strung together was four, from 1977-80, albeit both he and Wilkinson typically had fewer games to play than Stoops. Time will tell if Lincoln Riley is able to both replicate and sustain a similar level of success.
Currently, Oklahoma has recorded two double-digit win seasons in a row, winning 11 games in each of the past two seasons, and is poised to make it three in a row by the end of the 2017 campaign.