Road as sweet as home for Sooners
NORMAN — Though the streak is diminished by postseason and neutral site losses, the note remains intact: Oklahoma hasn’t lost a true road game since Oct. 4, 2014.
TCU beat OU 37-33 that day in Fort Worth. Since then the Sooners have rattled off 16 straight road wins.
The most questionable contest that would count against the streak is Oklahoma's 2016 “neutral” site loss to Houston. The game was played at NRG Stadium, less than six miles from Houston's campus. A victory in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday against the Cyclones would be true-road win No. 17 in a row.
“We’ve loved playing on the road here for the last few years,” coach Lincoln Riley said.
Riley, who was hired as offensive coordinator in January 2015, has yet to lose at an opponent’s venue since he joined the staff.
“It's awesome playing here and having 89,000 people cheer you on," guard Ben Powers said, "but it's a different feeling when you're on the road and everyone’s booing you."
The Sooners have seemed to embrace that different feeling. Oklahoma will play its first road game of the season as Iowa State hosts its first home game. The Cyclones’ season opener against South Dakota State was canceled after a 2 ½-hour lightning delay.
OU is 74-6-2 all-time against Iowa State. It’s the highest winning percentage (91.5 percent) of one FBS program over another that have played a minimum of 50 games against each other.
Gumbs goes west
Former Oklahoma outside linebacker Addison Gumbs has landed at Oregon State, according to multiple reports.
It was announced last Wednesday that Gumbs would transfer from Oklahoma for personal reasons. Gumbs sustained a season-ending knee injury in practice the day before OU's season opener. Gumbs was a consensus four-star prospect coming out of high school in Hayward, California. He tallied eight tackles in four games played last season for the Sooners.
For what it's worth
Oklahoma is the sixth-most valuable program in college football, according to financial data Forbes compiled from 2014-16. OU football averaged $118 million in revenue annually over that three-year period.
Forbes released the list Monday morning. Texas A&M checked in at the top with $148 million in average annual revenue followed by Texas, Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State.
Only one other Big 12 team besides Oklahoma and Texas ranked among the top 25, and it's a bit of a surprise. Texas Tech was the 25th-most valuable program, averaging $60 million in annual revenue from 2014-16.
Ten of the SEC's 14 programs ranked among the top 25.