Sooner or later, they're on top

After weekend of upsets, Oklahoma again is No. 1

Coach Bob Stoops and his No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners have a possible trap game this weekend. They play Baylor, an unranked team, on the road. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

They haven't been No. 1 in the rankings that count - the Bowl Championship Series standings - in five years. But that is not to say the Oklahoma Sooners don't know a thing or two about life at the top of the college football pecking order.

When the smoke cleared from last weekend's upsets, coach Bob Stoops's Sooners were sitting at No. 1 in all the polls that determine the BCS rankings. In the AP poll, Oklahoma was on top for a record 96th time.

For some perspective, Oklahoma has been No. 1 96 times in the 976 weekly AP polls since 1936. Notre Dame is second (95), followed by Ohio State (93), Southern Cal (90), and Nebraska (70) in a who's who of powers over the past 72 years.

This week, the Sooners have some familiar faces in their neighborhood. Missouri is fourth, Texas is fifth, and Texas Tech is seventh.

Even more startling is that all four teams are more inclined to pass than run, with quarterbacks who are or should be on most Heisman Trophy lists. Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Missouri's Chase Daniel, Texas's Colt McCoy, and Texas Tech's Graham Harrell all are putting up numbers rarely seen in the Big 12. McCoy, Bradford, and Daniel are listed Nos. 2, 3, and 4, respectively, among the country's leading passers, trailing only David Johnson of Tulsa.

"The best quarterbacks in the country as a league are in the Big 12 this year," Texas coach Mack Brown said this week in the Big 12 conference call.

Oklahoma is the big dog now because the Sooners can run and throw, not to mention play defense. Stoops's teams have done that on a consistent basis for 10 years, which is one of the reasons Oklahoma tops all schools in number of weeks (16) in the top spot in the BCS standings.

Oklahoma critics will quickly point out that is ancient history, dating to the 2003 season when the Sooners were No. 1 in the BCS rankings the entire season but trailed USC in the human polls. In one of the biggest travesties in the short history of the BCS, the Trojans didn't even make the title game as the BCS computers put Louisiana State into the No. 2 spot behind the Sooners.

Oklahoma lost the national championship game and its last two BCS bowl appearances, in the Fiesta Bowl (2007, 2008).

Thus the reason for skepticism. Yet Oklahoma is on another run this season and is setting itself up for what looks like a top-five challenge when it meets Texas in Dallas next week. If the Sooners can get past that obstacle, they could face Missouri in the Big 12 title game in December. And if they get past that . . .

In the wild and wacky world of college football rankings, it is too early to predict such occurrences, and Stoops, as much as anyone, knows what can happen each week. Stoops says his team knows it, as well.

"Our guys know who's lost and how they've lost," said Stoops, whose team must dodge Baylor tomorrow before it can focus on Texas. "So, in the end, we'll certainly discuss it to some degree, but they know. Everybody understands that if you're not at your best and you don't play at your best and play foolishly, you are going to lose."

Stoops says the Sooners are not shunning their new status. "I'm not going to sit here and act like it's horrible. But we're not jumping up and down."

Baylor is very much a trap game - on the road, against a team that is not ranked. But again, we're dealing with the passing efficiency of the Big 12. Baylor has freshman quarterback Robert Griffin, who is No. 10 in the country among passing leaders.

And after the Bears, the Longhorns await with McCoy, who has completed 80 of 100 passes this season. "It's hard to do that against air," joked Brown. "Of his 80 complete out of 100, there's been some dropped and he's thrown some away for protection that weren't open.

"I think this year we would be more like the [Southeastern Conference]," added Brown, when asked about comparisons. The SEC is the benchmark for conference excellence. "We're going to have some real battles within the league that will hurt national rankings, but at the same time show how good this league has become."

For now, the Big 12 is happy with life at the top, and Oklahoma is the happiest member of the group.

Oklahoma, where the wins used to come sweeping down the plains in the days of Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer, is once again piling up impressive victories. But the chant should now be "sweeping above the plains" as part of a Big 12 air show that is indeed spectacular.

Globe Top 10
1. Oklahoma
2. Louisiana State
3. Missouri
4. Alabama
5. Texas
6. Penn State
7. South Florida
8. Southern Cal
9. Georgia
10. Brigham Young