The 2016 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the 122nd season of Sooner football. The team was led by head coach Bob Stoops, offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, and defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, as well as such players as Mark Andrews, Orlando Brown, Jordan Evans, Baker Mayfield, Joe Mixon, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Samaje Perine, and Dede Westbrook.

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 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 against the Auburn Tigers, 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.

Personnel

Coaching staff + Bob Stoops Head coach Iowa (1983) 1999 Mike Stoops Defensive Coordinator / Outside Linebackers / Associate head coach Iowa (1986) 1999/2012 Cale Gundy Inside Wide Receivers Coach / assistant head coach / Director of Recruiting Oklahoma (1994) 1999 Jay Boulware Special Team Coordinator / running backs coach / fullbacks coach Texas (1996) 2013 Lincoln Riley Offensive Coordinator / quarterbacks coach Texas Tech (2006) 2015 Tim Kish Inside Linebackers Coach Otterbein (1976) 2012 Bill Bedenbaugh Assistant offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Iowa Wesleyan (1995) 2013 Kerry Cooks Assistant defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Iowa (1993) 2015 Dennis Simmons Outside Wide Receivers Coach BYU (1997) 2015 Calvin Thibodeaux Defensive line coach Oklahoma (2006) 2016 Merv Johnson Director of Operations Missouri (1953) 1979 Jerry Schmidt Director of Sports Enhancement Nebraska (1986) 1999 Matt McMillen Assistant A.D. Football Operations Kansas State (1985) 1999 Jamarkus McFarland Graduate assistant Oklahoma (2013) 2016

Roster 2016 Oklahoma Sooners FootballQuarterback  1 Kyler Murray – sophomore (5'10, 195)  3 Connor McGinnis – freshman (6'4, 202)  6 Baker Mayfield – junior (6'1, 212)  9 Tanner Schafer – freshman (6'3, 200) 10 Austin Kendall – freshman (6'1, 210) 14 Reece Clark – freshman (6'4, 199)

Tailback 20 Najee Bissoon – junior (5'5, 158) 23 Abdul Adams – freshman (5'10, 208) 24 Rodney Anderson – freshman (6'0, 211) 25 Joe Mixon – sophomore (6'1, 226) 27 Alex Montgomery – freshman (5'9, 213) 32 Samaje Perine – junior (5'10, 234) 33 Anthony Sheppard – sophomore (5'11, 211) 34 Daniel Brooks – senior (5'8, 184)

Wide receiver  1 Jarvis Baxter – senior (5'11, 165)  5 Geno Lewis – senior (6'1, 201)  8 Mykel Jones – freshman (5'11, 188) 11 Dede Westbrook – senior (6'0, 170) 12 Zach Farrar – freshman (6'3, 204) 13 A.D. Miller – sophomore (6'3, 189) 15 Jeffery Mead – junior (6'5, 187) 16 Michiah Quick – junior (5'11, 183) 17 Jordan Smallwood – junior (6'2, 217) 18 Dahu Green – sophomore (6'4, 201) 80 Sam Iheke – freshman (6'4, 201) 81 Mark Andrews – sophomore (6'5, 244) 82 Ezel McIntee – sophomore (5'10, 203) 83 Nick Basquine – sophomore (5'11, 192) 84 Grant Bothun – senior (5'11, 193) 86 Lee Morris – freshman (6'2, 207) 87 Parker Fentriss – freshman (6'2, 196) 88 Eric DeLay – senior (6'2, 209) 89 Connor Knight – senior (6'4, 248) Adrian Hardy – freshman

Long snappers 42 Wesley Horky – junior (6'1, 217) 49 Matthew Leckrone – freshman (6'4, 222) Fullback 36 Dimitri Flowers – junior (6'2, 239) 44 Jaxon Uhles – junior (5'11, 246) 45 Carson Meier – sophomore (6'5, 245)

Offensive lineman 52 Jamal Danley – OL – senior (6'3, 323) 55 Logan Roberson – OL – freshman (6'3, 341) 58 Erick Wren – OL – senior (6'2, 317) 63 Alex Dalton – C – sophomore (6'3, 290) 64 Dylan Hartsook – OG – senior (6'6, 330) 66 Riley Nolan – OG – senior (6'0, 289) 67 Ashton Julious – OL – junior (6'5, 354) 68 Jonathan Alvarez – OG – junior (6'3, 315) 70 Christian Daimler – OT – junior (6'7, 311) 71 Bobby Evans – OL – freshman (6'4, 299) 72 Ben Powers – OL – sophomore (6'4, 320) 73 Quinn Mittermeier – OL – sophomore (6'5, 265) 74 Cody Ford – OL – freshman (6'3, 317) 75 Dru Samia – OT – sophomore (6'4, 274) 76 Sam Grant – OT – senior (6'6, 275) 77 Erik Swenson – OT – freshman (6'5, 311) 78 Orlando Brown Jr. – OT – junior (6'8, 357) 79 Dwayne Orso-Bacchus – OL – sophomore (6'5, 301) Johncarlo Valentin – OG – freshman

Defensive line 23 Mark Jackson Jr. – DE – freshman (6'2, 234) 46 Gabriel Campbell – DE – freshman (6'6, 257) 50 Courtney Garnett – DT – sophomore (6'1, 283) 55 Kenneth Mann – DE – freshman (6'3, 255) 57 Du'Vonta Lampkin – DT – freshman (6'4, 332) 59 Kane Snowden – DT – junior (5'11, 240) 72 Amani Bledsoe – DE – freshman (6'5, 270) 87 D.J. Ward – DE – junior (6'2, 250) 90 Neville Gallimore – DT – freshman (6'3, 320) 92 Matthew Romar – DT – junior (6'0, 298) 93 Jordan Wade – DT – senior (6'3, 311) 94 Matt Dimon – DE – senior (6'2, 265) 95 Austin Roberts – DL – senior (6'6, 279) 97 Charles Walker – DL – junior (6'2, 299) 98 Marquise Overton – DT – sophomore (6'1, 292) Linebacker  1 Kapri Doucet – junior (6'2, 225)  9 Tay Evans – sophomore (6'2, 239) 14 Emmanuel Beal – junior (6'0, 211) 18 Curtis Bolton – sophomore (6'0, 232) 19 Caleb Kelly – freshman (6'3, 221) 22 Ricky DeBerry – freshman (6'2, 250) 26 Jordan Evans – senior (6'2, 233) 31 Ogbonnia Okoronkwo – junior (6'2, 238) 38 Bryan Mead – freshman (6'2, 223) 40 Jon-Michael Terry – freshman (6'3, 241) 42 Ruben Hunter – junior (6'2, 222) 50 Arthur McGinnis – freshman (6'1, 248) 51 Cade Newhouse-Parker – sophomore (6'0, 223) 96 Dalton Rodriguez – junior (6'6, 232)

Defensive backs  2 P. J. Mbanasor – CB – sophomore (6'1, 190)  3 Jordan Parker – CB – freshman (6'1, 190)  4 Parrish Cobb – CB – freshman (5'11, 170)  5 Antoine Stephens – CB – freshman (6'1, 185)  6 Stanvon Taylor – CB – senior (5'11, 175)  7 Jordan Thomas – CB – junior (6'0, 190)  8 Kahlil Haughton – S – sophomore (6'1, 204) 10 Steven Parker – S – junior (6'1, 205) 12 William Johnson – DB – junior (6'0, 195) 13 Ahmad Thomas – S – senior (6'0, 217) 15 Parnell Motley – CB – freshman (6'0, 172) 21 Will Sunderland – S – sophomore (6'2, 201) 27 Dakota Austin – CB – senior (5'10, 163) 28 Chanse Sylvie – S – freshman (5'11, 187) 29 Prentice McKinney – S – sophomore (6'1, 187) 30 Ernest Gardner – DB – junior (6'0, 178) 35 Ronnie LaRue – DB – sophomore (5'11, 195) 39 Tylon Lynch – DB – junior (6'0, 190) 41 Jesse Walker – S – junior (6'0, 203) 85 Malik Bradshaw – DB – freshman (6'0, 170)

Placekicker 31 Braxton Pickard – freshman (5'9, 215) (+P) 36 Kyle Pfau – sophomore (5'10, 189) 43 Austin Seibert – sophomore (5'10, 214) (+P) 47 Reece Morrison – freshman (6'0, 183)

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, 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 on October 8 for the Red River Showdown, 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 was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia on April 27–29, 2017. The following Oklahoma players were either selected or signed as free agents following the draft.

Player Position Round Overall pick NFL teamJoe MixonRB2nd48Cincinnati BengalsDede WestbrookWR4th110Jacksonville JaguarsSamaje PerineRB4th114Washington RedskinsJordan EvansLB6th193Cincinnati BengalsAhmad ThomasSUndraftedOakland RaidersJordan WadeDTUndraftedOakland RaidersCharles WalkerDTUndraftedNew Orleans SaintsGeno LewisWRUndraftedCincinnati Bengals

References