Greastest Big XII College Football Teams
1995 Nebraska, 12-0: Following a semi-controversial national championship season the year before, the 1995 Huskers dominated like few other college football teams ever had. Nebraska was never in a close game with its biggest scare coming in a 35-21 win over Washington State, but it was only that close after the Huskers took their foot off the gas up 28-7 after three quarters. The signature performance was a 62-24 destruction of unbeaten Florida in the Fiesta Bowl.
1971 Nebraska, 13-0: The Huskers had one test all season in the 35-31 classic win over Oklahoma. Oklahoma State scored 13 points in a 41-13 loss. Kansas State scored 17 in a 44-17 defeat. No one else was able to score more than a touchdown.
1971 Oklahoma, 11-1: OU's only loss was to the juggernaut Husker team in the Game of the Century. USC gave this Sooner team a game in a 33-20 loss and the Sooners didn't blow out Missouri beating the Tigers 20-3, but that was about it. Greg Pruitt and Jack Mildren led a devastating Sooner attack.
1983 Nebraska, 12-1: If Turner Gill had been able to complete the two point conversion to beat Miami in the Orange Bowl, this Husker team might be number one on the list. The 1983 Huskers averaged 52 points per game and were loaded with a who's who of college football stars. However, this team struggled against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The 1995 and 1971 Huskers didn't have and problems.
2000 Oklahoma, 13-0: The offense got all the headlines over the first nine games of the season, but it was the defense that made this one of the great teams of all-time. On the year, the Sooners only gave up 194 points while only allowing two points, taking a late safety, against a high-octane Florida State in the national title game.
1939 Texas A&M, 11-0: Head coach H.H. Norton had achieved some mild success in his first five years after taking over for Dana X. Bible, but he'd never had a team like he had in 1939. His Aggie went 11-0 allowing a mere 31 points on the season with thirteen of those coming against Tulane in the Sugar Bowl. A&M shut out six teams and only allowed one team, Tulane, to score more than seven points. A&M must have had an easy schedule, right? Nope. A&M played seven teams that finished with winning records.
1969 Texas, 11-0: The 1969 Texas team had little trouble through the first three games of the season, and then had a bit of a battle against eighth-ranked Oklahoma. The Longhorns came away with a 27-17 win. After that scare, Texas won its following five games by scores of 31-0, 45-14, 56-14, 69-7 and 49-12, but looming on the horizon was an Arkansas team having an equally strong season. In one of the great games of all-time, the Longhorns beat the Hogs 15-14 to be names national champions by President Richard Nixon. Texas finished the job by beating Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.
1949 Oklahoma, 11-0: The Sooners rolled through the 1949 season without so much as a scratch. The great season culminated with 35-0 blowout of LSU in the Sugar Bowl as head coach Bud Wilkinson wanted to rub it his opponent's face after LSU was caught spying earlier in the week. Only Texas and Santa Clara were able to give OU a game.
1994 Nebraska, 12-0: The Huskers had to fight a good Miami team for a 24-17 Orange Bowl win, but handled everyone else with ease. Coming off a loss to Florida State in the previous year's Orange Bowl, Nebraska was focused and able to deal with the loss of quarterback Tommie Frazier for half of the season to go on to give Tom Osbourne his first national title.
1982 Nebraska, 12-1: The 1983 Huskers received more accolades, but the same players formed a team that was just as strong, just a year younger. The only blemish came to the eventual national champion Penn State Nittany Lions losing on a last second play. The Huskers had trouble with LSU in the Orange Bowl and was pushed by Oklahoma, but handled everyone else.
1956 Oklahoma, 10-0: Coming off a national title winning season and on a twenty game winning streak, the 1956 Sooners destroyed everyone in their past. A 27-19 road win at Colorado was the only time anyone came close. OU pitched six shut outs and scored forty or more points seven times. The only knock on this team was the competition it played only beating one team that ended up with a winning record.
1974 Oklahoma, 11-0: Head coach Barry Switzer's team was on a nine game winning streak going into the 1974 season. The Sooners had to face several nasty tests, but came through with flying colors outscoring teams 473-92.
1919 Texas A&M, 10-0: Dana X. Bible's greatest team outscored opponents by a score of 275-0 two years after outscoring teams 270-0 in the 1917 season. There were some blowout over some questionable teams like a 77-0 win over Sam Houston, but there wasn't a win like the 98-0 shellacking over Dallas University in 1917.
1973 Oklahoma, 10-0-1: It was Barry Switzer's first year at the helm and he had a killer of a team. The Sooners tied USC 7-7 in the season game of the season, and then blew away almost everyone else with only a 24-20 win over Miami providing a scare. The 1973 Sooners beat eight teams that ended up with winning records.
1997 Nebraska, 13-0: Tom Osborne's final Nebraska team won a share of the national title, but there was some dispute from the controversy of an overtime win over Missouri. It took a little while for Scott Frost and the offense to get rolling. Once it did, few could slow it down scoring 77 on Iowa State, 69 on Oklahoma, 54 against Texas A&M in the Big XII title game and 42 against a Tennessee team that went on to win the 1998 national title. The 1997 Huskers outscored teams by a total of 607 to 214.
1986 Oklahoma, 11-1: The 1985 Sooners won the national title and probably deserves to be ranked among the top twenty teams, but the 1986 team was better. OU lost 28-16 to Miami in a classic game, allowed 17 points to Nebraska, and destroyed everyone else. Take away those two games and the Sooners allowed a mere 36 points to its other ten opponents with five shutouts and a 42-8 destruction of Arkansas in the Orange Bowl.
1977 Texas, 11-1: Fred Akers had a monster team in his first season as the Texas head coach, and it came out roaring beating Boston College and Virginia by a combined score of 112-0. The Longhorns followed that up with a 72-15 win over Rice before beating second-ranked Oklahoma 13-6 and number eight Arkansas 13-9. Behind the running of Earl Campbell, the Longhorns took over the number one ranking finishing the regular season with a 57-28 win over No. 12 Texas A&M. Unfortunately, they were blown away 38-10 by Joe Montana and Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.
1947 Texas, 10-1: Blair Cherry had the unenviable task of taking over the Texas program from Dana X. Bible, but he did a great job in his first season leading the Longhorns to a 10-1 record finishing with a 27-7 win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The only blip on the season was a 14-13 loss to No. 8 SMU.
1963 Texas, 11-0: As pointed out, national championships have to count for something. This 1963 Darrell Royal led team ended up winning the national title, but it struggled a bit too much with some lousy teams to be up any higher. The Horns beat a 2-7-1 Texas A&M team by two and a 5-5 finishing Arkansas team by five. With that said though, Texas got up for the big games beating Oklahoma and Navy without much of a problem.
1994 Colorado, 11-1: Several Colorado teams have been great over the last several years, including a national champion, but the 1994 team was the most talented and strongest only losing to eventual national champion Nebraska. The 1990 team deserves to be among the top twenty teams as well. The talent? Kordell Stewart, Rashaan Salaam, Michael Westbrook, Chris Naeole, Rae Carruth and Christian Fauria. The Buffs beat six teams that ended up with winning records and beat five ranked teams including Michigan on a classic Hail Mary.
1998 Kansas State, 11-2: As good as this team was, Wildcat fans can only think about what might have been. Kansas State blew through everyone in its path on the way to an 11-0 record including wins over Nebraska, Colorado and Missouri. The team should've been playing for the national title, but it blew a second half lead to Texas A&M in the Big XII title game. The Wildcats also couldn't hang on to a lead against Purdue in the Alamo Bowl. While KSU outscored teams 610 to 197, it only beat four teams on the season that ended up with a winning record. The Wildcats were 3-1 against the four ranked teams they faced beating Colorado 16-9, Nebraska 40-30 and Missouri 31-25. Other than Purdue, none of the other unranked teams they faced scored more than seven points.