.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Twelve Reasons Sooner Football Can - and Will - Win the Big 12
Every Oklahoma Sooner football team begins every season with the two, etched-in-time standing goals.
Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) scrambles in the pocket against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the fourth quarter at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The big, hairy, audacious of the two is to win the national championship, which of course nowadays requires you to be one of the four teams to reach the College Football Playoff.
Job 1, however, is to win the conference championship, which the Sooners have achieved 44 times in their 121 seasons of varsity football and nine times as a member of the 20-year-old Big 12 Conference.
Oklahoma has done exceptionally well scaling the national championship mountain, as well. The Sooners own seven national championship trophies, third most in college football since 1936, the first year the Associated Press began its Top 25 college football rankings. Only Alabama (11) and Notre Dame (8) have more national titles in football.
The Sooners already have two losses to begin the 2016 season, but on Saturday the slate is wiped clean as they begin Big 12 action at TCU in quest of a 10th Big 12 crown.
“It’s something that when you come to Oklahoma, the Big 12 is a very important thing,” sophomore tight end Mark Andrews told reporters, including Brooke Pryor of the Oklahoma City Oklahoman as part of the Sooners’ weekly press conference on Monday.
“It’s kind of your first goal. I don’t think it’s hard coming off not being in the talk for the national title in order to be excited for the Big 12.
Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Mark Andrews (81) catches a touchdown pass in front of Ohio State Buckeyes safety Malik Hooker (24) during the game at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
“Being counted out is something that we kind of thrive on,” Andrews said, “being counted out and having all these people say that you can’t do this and do that.”
The national championship is all but out of the picture for 2016, but if anything that will give this Oklahoma team extra motivation to go out and get the job done in the Big 12.
“We can finish the season 10-2,” Andrews said. “Those two losses at the beginning of the season, yeah, they hurt. But 10-2 and undefeated in the Big 12, that’s still a Big 12 championship, and that’s our goal right now.”
It all starts with No. 21-ranked TCU this weekend on the road in Ft. Worth.
Here are a dozen reasons why the Sooners can – and will – win their second consecutive Big 12 title, and 10th overall, in 2016:
More from Stormin in Norman
This article originally appeared on 
