Reign of Dominance: Oklahoma Softball
How a softball dynasty compares to some of the NCAA's most dominant programs
Last night, the NCAA saw one of its most dominant dynasties continue their reign, as the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Florida State Seminoles 3-1 to claim their third straight Women’s College World Series title. The Sooners are indisputably the nation’s best team, but what makes them so good that a self-proclaimed “college football newsletter” has to cover them?
Maybe its the astounding 61-1 season record, including postseason? Is it the 53-game win streak the Sooners took through Omaha? Or is it that we are witnessing one of the highest, most prolonged dynasties in the history of college sports? Let’s go with all three.
Today, let’s take a departure from football offseason talk and take stock of how special this Sooner run truly is across NCAA team sports.
Anatomy of a Dynasty
So, what makes a “dynasty?” Dynasties are when a core of a team continually puts themselves at the top of their sport. Often, that’s measured by national championships. While it’s possible for a team to technically be a dynasty without winning a title, that’s just against the spirit of the game, right?
For our purposes, let’s call a dynasty when a team wins three consecutive national championships. Seem like a big ask? You’d be surprised.
Let’s turn our attention now to Oklahoma. What have they done? Are they deserving of a dynasty? As we’ve already discussed, the Sooners claimed their third straight national championship last night. That makes them eligible for our discussion and a dynasty.
There are other peripherals to consider, such as the staying power of their dynasty. What’s that? The Sooners have won six of the last 10 national titles? I’d call that staying power.
Okay, what about height of the dynasty? What did they do to separate themselves from the pack? How does a 61-1 season, with a Division I record .984 winning percentage sound? Oh, let’s toss in 109 days between that one loss and their national championship. For those counting at home, that’s 53 consecutive wins, including sweeping the entire postseason. That’s right, the Sooners went the distance against the nation’s best opponents, and never lost. And, for fun, let’s not forget to mention that during that 53-game winning streak, the Sooners beat 23 ranked opponents and posted an overall +371(!) run differential.
Yeah, I’d say Sooner Softball is a massive dynasty. But how do they compare to some other major dynasties across NCAA team sports?
Football
Saban-Era Alabama
For those following this newsletter, the school most synonymous with winning is Nick Saban’s Alabama. In Saban’s 16 years at the helm of the Crimson Tide, he’s brought a whopping six national titles, but never a three-peat. Even if we compare the national titles to Oklahoma’s, the Sooners’ six-in-10 is objectively more impressive than Alabama’s six-in-16. Next!
2004-2006 USC
Okay, so we’re going for short dynasties to compete with Oklahoma’s three-peat, right? Wrong. Thank Vince Young, since he ended the Trojans’ hopes of a three-peat in the iconic 2006 Rose Bowl.
But, what about the win streak? Sure, by sheer numbers, USC’s 34-games doesn’t compare to what Oklahoma just did. But, let’s put that in the context of seasons. USC’s win streak encompasses three seasons, with two national titles in the middle of it. Oklahoma’s doesn’t even cover one full season. I don’t know about you, but 34-straight in a sport with 13-game seasons, including the postseason, is more impressive than a single-season.
But, thanks to pesky Vince Young, the Trojans don’t apply.
FBS?
Can anyone from the FBS compete? No, not really. Major college football has seen only one three-peat - Minnesota from 1934-37. With college sports vastly different nowadays, the Gophers can’t truly apply to this conversation. But, we can toss honorable mentions to the 90s Nebraska, 00s Miami, and current Georgia if we want.
Interestingly enough, if we leave football, we can find some of the biggest and best dynasties in the history of sports. Granted, most come from deep in the past, but we’ll highlight those before moving to the greatest modern dynasty.
Arkansas Men’s Track (1984-2000)
When you think of college sports’ popularity, track seems like it would be pretty far down the list. But, I’m here to tell you that’s wrong. As a former Track and Field SID, track has a very strong following, and those track fans would be livid if I didn’t mention Arkansas’s reign over the sport from 1984-2000. While track doesn’t have the wins and losses that we see across other sports, 16-of-17 Indoor National Championships and 12 consecutive speak for themselves. Oh, let’s throw in eight consecutive Outdoor National Championships from 1992-1999 for good measure.
Iowa Wrestling (1975-2000)
Wrestling is another of those “not really a team sport, but still compete as a team” sports that aren’t as popular as, say, football or basketball. The Hawkeyes were the class of the nation for a quarter of a decade, though. Over those 26 seasons, Iowa captured 20 national titles, including nine consecutive from 1978-86. They also went undefeated in nine of those 26 seasons. Very impressive.
USC Baseball (1958-79)
And here we land at softball’s sister (brother?) sport’s best dynasty: USC. Yes, the Trojans have two teams up for consideration here. Pretty good, right? Either way, over those two decades, coach Rod Dedaux’s squad won 10 College World Series, including five straight from 1970-74. That’s right, for 20 years, USC won half of the baseball national championships.
UCLA Men’s Basketball (1964-75)
Oh, you wanted a more “popular” sport? How’s men’s basketball sound? Under Hall of Fame Head Coach John Wooden, the Bruins won 10 national championships in 12 seasons. Sure, they had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton for most of those, but still. And, if we’re comparing win streaks, the Wooden-era Bruins rattled off a men’s record 88-straight wins.
I promised I’d save the best dynasty for last, and here it is.
UCONN Women’s Basketball (2013-21)
Yes, we’re back in the modern time. And UCONN fans might be wondering why I’ve shortened their run compared to these other all-time greats. That’s because these seasons have everything we need to crown the Huskies as the top dynasty of all time.
From 2013 to 2021, UCONN didn’t lose. At all. Well, at least not at all in the regular season. The Huskies posted an NCAA record 111 consecutive wins in the regular season, including three national championships, four more Final Four bids, and a season cut short by COVID. That’s right, the Huskies made at least the Final Four and didn’t lose a regular season game for eight seasons. That’s unheard of.
And, while we’re on the topic of UCONN women’s basketball, if we add in everything dating back to the turn of the century, we get five more national titles and four more Final Four appearances.
Nothing can touch UCONN, and that’s okay. But, I hope this exercise puts into perspective how special this Oklahoma softball run truly is. A three-peat is very rare. In fact, this is the second three-peat in the history of Division I softball, joining the 1987-90 UCLA teams that catapulted the sport to popularity.
Let’s not get confused here, though. Oklahoma has a long way to go before they join this list as one of the top dynasties in college sports. But they’re certainly on the way. Six-of-10 national titles is similar to some of the winning streaks we’ve seen from other teams, and the 53-game winning streak is intact heading into next season.
This is huge for the University of Oklahoma and college softball as a whole. While everyone loves an underdog story, these massive dynasties also bring a lot of eyeballs to the sport. And Oklahoma is showing no signs of slowing down. Is this the catalyst for softball to become a popular college sport? It certainly helps. There will be more interest heading into next season, and I know I’ll be following the Sooners and their quest for four straight.