The Sooners are no strangers, however, to the top spot in the national rankings, both at the beginning and the end of the season. Oklahoma has begun the season as the top-ranked team in the prseason Associated Press Top 25 10 times since the preseason version of the college football poll was introduced in 1950. Oklahoma has finished the season as the country's top-ranked team seven times, and four of those times the Sooners were also the preseason No. 1 team.
OU has been ranked No. 1 a total of 101 times in the weekly AP poll, third-most of any team in college football, and up until several years ago, led all of college football in this category.