OU No. 1 (all-time)
Who is No. 1 for the ages?
Well, according to ESPN.com’s prestige rankings, Oklahoma is.
ESPN’s prestige rankings are a numerical method of ranking the best FBS college football programs since the 1936 season. Point values were assigned for certain successes (win a national title, earn 25 points) and failures (get your program banned from the postseason, lose two points). The research department ran all the numbers through the computer to come up with the No. 1 program (and Nos. 2 to 119) of the past 73 seasons.
Here’s what ESPN said about OU:
1. Oklahoma Sooners
Total points: 1,968
Positives: When you look at the big picture of college football since 1936, no program has achieved greatness as consistently as Oklahoma. We didn’t even count the fact that Oklahoma owns the longest win streak in FBS history (47) or leads the nation with a .765 winning percentage since World War II. The 1956 Oklahoma team catapulted the Sooners past Notre Dame to the top of the Prestige Rankings, and it’s been in the top spot ever since. OU’s seven national titles have spanned four decades. The Sooners have finished in the final poll’s top 5 an astounding 29 times. But the real fuel for OU’s rise to the top of our rankings has been its conference dominance. The Sooners finished the regular season with at least a share of their conference’s best record a stunning 39 times, seven more than any other program in the country.
Negatives: Oklahoma was downright mediocre in the ’90s. The Sooners ranked 51st in that decade’s rankings, directly behind Hawaii. OU also didn’t have a single major bowl win and suffered through three losing seasons. The Oklahoma program also has been punished by the NCAA to varying degrees six separate times in its history.
Through the decades: Through 1958: 1st | 1968: 1st | 1978: 1st | 1988: 1st | 1998: 1st
Did you know? Oklahoma has been voted the No. 1 team in the country by the AP a record 97 times, including twice this past season to break a tie with Notre Dame.
By Jake Trotter
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Comments
ESPN’s talking heads still have an anti-OU agenda. This ranking resulted from point system that was put in place and applied to every team, with opinions and biases taken out of the equation. It doesn’t mean Kirk Herbstreit will behave any differently on the air next season.
And that is without the 47 game win streak put in! Why would they leave that out? That did happen before 1936! BOOMER SOONER!!!!
So much “Sooner Envy”. I love it when you guys say nasty things about the Sooners. You are getting greener as the years go by.
Hopefully this will quiet those who think ESPN has an anti-OU agenda.