A win on Saturday will give Bob Stoops 145 victories as the coach of the Sooners.
He will tie legendary coach Bud Wilkinson with a win.
Ironically, if the Sooners come out victorious, it will come against the football program that left the mark on the most significant period of Oklahoma football — the Wilkinson-coached 47 game win streak that ended with a 7-0 lost to Notre Dame and became the NCAA record that has withstood two lifetimes.
In one sense this game between No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 7 Oklahoma stands for more than an early playoff game between contenders hoping to propel themselves into a national championship race in 2012.
It stands for a closure of sorts for three generations of Sooner fans who have sought revenge against the Irish for bringing down the Camelot of college football history and for marking the beginning of the end for Coach Wilkinson, one of the most beloved of all Oklahoma coaches — one of the three whose statues look upon Memorial Stadium and Owen Field where that storied event occurred on November 16, 1957.
This week there is a feeling in Norman that something big is about to happen.
Interestingly, there have been plenty other big games between even higher ranked teams coming to battle in Norman during the past 55 years. Nebraska, Colorado, USC, Miami and others come to mind.
But this game is different. It is a special game. It is a game between two of the winningest college football programs in American history.
This game is to settle a score. And, to settle a debate. Just who is supreme? Not necessarily the best team on any field this year, but rather which has the best program on the field year after year for the last millenium, and the next?
The 1971 Oklahoma-Nebraska game was the Game of the Century.
The 2012 Oklahoma-Notre Dame game is the Game of our History.
Oklahoma vs. Notre Dame Facts:
Oklahoma (101) and Notre Dame (95) rank first and second all-time in NCAA FBS history in No. 1 rankings.
This year’s contest marks the fifth in the all-time series when both Notre Dame and Oklahoma enter the game among the top 10.
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I twitter Dean Blevins and ask why no one was talking about if OU win saturday Bob would tie Bud record. He reply I was wrong on Bob wins.It at 143.I count myself and it at 144 as of today