The 2016 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

in the

2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 26, 2016 and ended on D ...

, the 122nd season of Sooner football. The team was led by head coach Bob Stoops, offensive coordinator

Lincoln Riley Lincoln Michael Riley (born September 5, 1983) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of the USC Trojans football program at the University of Southern California. He previously served as the head coach ...

, and defensive coordinator

Mike Stoops Michael Joseph Stoops (born December 13, 1961) is an American football coach and former player, who is the inside linebackers coach at the University of Kentucky. Stoops also served as the head football coach at the University of Arizona from 20 ...

, as well as such players as Mark Andrews, Orlando Brown, Jordan Evans, Baker Mayfield, Joe Mixon,

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo Ogbonnia "Ogbo" Okoronkwo (born April 24, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oklahoma. Early years Ogbonnia was born in Gainesville, Flori ...

Samaje Perine Samaje Perine ( ; born September 16, 1995) is an American football running back for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oklahoma, and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth ro ...

, and

Dede Westbrook Decrick De'Shawn "Dede" Westbrook (; born November 21, 1993) is an American football wide receiver and return specialist who is a free agent. He played college football at Oklahoma. He was drafted 110th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Jacks ...

. OU was ranked third in the 2016 preseason AP and Coaches’ polls. The Sooners lost two of its first three games to non-conference foes (#15 Houston and #3 Ohio State), and neither game was especially close. By the end of September, OU had dropped completely out of the top 25 of both polls. At that time in late September, four of its Big 12 rivals were ranked above them. Conference play began on October 1 with a 52–46 win at AP #21 TCU and ended with a 38–20 home win against #11

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. Oklahoma finished conference play with a 9–0 record, winning their eleventh Big 12 Championship and second consecutive championship in a row. The conference championship was Stoops’ 10th championship in his 18 years as OU head coach. Despite the 9 consecutive wins and the conference championship, OU missed out on a return to the 4-team national championship playoff. Oklahoma did play in the

2017 Sugar Bowl The 2017 Sugar Bowl is a bowl game that was played on January 2, 2017 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This 83rd Sugar Bowl was played between a team from the Big 12 Conference and the Southeastern Conference. It is one o ...

against the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

, winning handily, 35–19. Oklahoma finished the season ranked 5th in the AP poll and 3rd in the Coaches poll, with an 11–2 record. On June 7, 2017, Stoops announced his retirement after 18 seasons as head coach. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley was promoted to head coach.

Previous season and offseason

The 2015 Oklahoma Sooners football team finished the regular season with an 11–1 record winning their ninth Big 12 Championship. Their only regular-season loss was against

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in the

Red River Showdown The Oklahoma–Texas football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between border rivals Oklahoma and Texas. The two teams first played each other in 1900, and the rivalry has been renewed annually and uninterrupted since 1929 for a to ...

. Oklahoma became bowl eligible after defeating Texas Tech on October 24, 2015. Oklahoma was selected as the fourth seed to play in the 2015 College Football playoff against first seed Clemson in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

, which ended up being a 37-17 loss. Oklahoma finished the season 11–2.

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Schedule

Oklahoma announced their 2016 football schedule on November 24, 2015. The 2016 schedule consists of 6 home games, 4 away games and 2 neutral-site games in the regular season. The Sooners will host two non-conference games against Louisiana–Monroe and Ohio State and travel to Houston, Texas to play Houston in

NRG Stadium NRG Stadium, formerly Reliant Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to have a retrac ...

, a non-conference game at a neutral site. Oklahoma will host Kansas State, Kansas, Baylor and Oklahoma State, and travel to TCU, Texas Tech, Iowa State and West Virginia in regular conference play. Oklahoma will play the Texas Longhorns in Dallas, Texas at the

Cotton Bowl stadium The Cotton Bowl is an outdoor stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States. Opened in 1930 as Fair Park Stadium, it is on the site of the State Fair of Texas, known as Fair Park. The Cotton Bowl was the longtime home of the annual college football p ...

on October 8 for the

, the 111th game played of the series.

Game summaries

at No. 15 Houston

vs Louisiana–Monroe

vs No. 3 Ohio State

Kickoff was delayed from the original start time of 6:30 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. due to lightning and thunderstorms in the vicinity of the University of Oklahoma.

at No. 21 TCU

vs Texas

vs Kansas State

at Texas Tech

Kansas

Iowa State

Baylor

West Virginia

Oklahoma State

Auburn (Sugar Bowl)

Rankings

2017 NFL Draft

The

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

on April 27–29, 2017. The following Oklahoma players were either selected or signed as free agents following the draft.

References

Oklahoma Oklahoma Sooners football seasons Big 12 Conference football champion seasons Sugar Bowl champion seasons Oklahoma Sooners football {{Oklahoma-sport-stub