Cincinnati comes to Owen Field at 2:30 p.m. today and by just about any account will be the best team the Sooners face before the Big 12 schedule begins in October.

Over Bob Stoops’ previous nine seasons as Sooner coach most seasons have included at least one marquee game in the national perspective. Here’s a look at the best of the best.

1. Notre Dame, 1999

It was the first time the Sooners the took national stage under Stoops. Some point to a victory over Louisville earlier in the season as the curtain opener of OU’s new coach, but this was a meeting between two of the best “brands” in college football before a national television audience on NBC. It also showed the country OU’s days of mediocrity were numbered. Only a late comeback prevented the Sooners from getting a victory in South Bend. But the 34-30 OU loss was the most significant because of where it took place and how many people saw it.

2. Alabama, 2002

Part one of two-game series between a couple of college football’s most historic powers. This was also the best non-conference game at Owen Field during the Stoops era. Not only did OU have to come from behind after leading by 20 points, it had to do it after the second of Jason White’s season-ending knee injuries (Nate Hybl played from the first quarter on), and it had to turn to Renaldo Works, who turned two shovel passes into 62 yards in the fourth quarter as OU rallied down the stretch to a 37-27 victory. It was Works who set up an 8-yard touchdown run from Kejuan Jones with 2:11 remaining and the game wasn’t secure until Eric Bassey brought back a 45-yard fumble return with 11 seconds remaining. The only downer was the Crimson Tide entered unranked. That wasn’t the plan when the game was scheduled and showed OU was willing to play anybody in a home-and-home series.

3. Alabama, 2003

Arguably the toughest non-conference environment the Sooners have played in during the Stoops era. The Tide was down in the first season of Mike Shula’s lackluster reign, but still managed to give the Sooners their only real scare of the regular season. Punter Blake Ferguson hit Michael Thompson for 22 yards on a fake-punt pass to set up the game-winning touchdown late in the third quarter of a 20-13 Sooner victory.

4. Oregon, 2006

The controversy is what Sooner and college football fans remember most of all. But this is one comes in No. 4 because it was the only time in the last 10 years the Sooners, when ranked, played a ranked team. Lost in the officiating errors in the final minutes was the great game. The 18th-ranked Ducks needed two touchdowns in the final 2 minutes to get the victory, but it still came down to a Garrett Hartley kick on the final play that Oregon blocked to win 34-33. It was the wildest game OU has been a part of over the last decade. The Sooners must not have taken it too bad. A DVD of the game is on sale on the school’s Web site.

5. Miami, 2007

Sooner fans circled this game on the calendar when it was scheduled a few years earlier. They were still smarting from three losses the Hurricanes put on OU in 1985, ’86, ’87. None of the hostilities toward the “U” had ceased in the generation that had passed. It should have been the biggest game in college football that day, but Miami didn’t live up to its end of the bargain. Going through a rebuilding season, the Hurricanes were pummeled early and often and the Sooners cruised to a 51-13 victory. It’s almost a guarantee this list will change when the second round of the series takes place next season at Dolphin Stadium in Miami.

Best of the rest

There’s been several other games that come to mind, but couldn’t crack the top 5. Louisville in 1999 was a big win, because it showed the Sooners could win on the road. Fresno State’s and UCLA’s visits to Owen Field in 2003 helped OU reach the national championship game on strength of schedule. TCU’s victory over OU in 2005 in Stoops’ only non-conference loss at Owen Field is significant if only for that fact.

John Shinn

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jshinn@normantranscript.com