Oklahoma wasn't the consensus No. 1 heading into 2011, but a lot of people had high hopes for the Sooners, who were returning quarterback Landry Jones, a Heisman candidate, receiver Ryan Broyles and top linebacker Travis Lewis. The Sooners were coming off a 12-2 season and were facing a schedule that despite games at Florida State and Oklahoma State, appeared to be a fairly easy road to the national championship. That's why they opened the season No. 1 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls.

Oklahoma would lose to Baylor and the season finale to Oklahoma State. The Sooners did beat Iowa in the Insight Bowl, but it was a weak consolation prize for a team that started the season with so much promise.

And then the wheels slowly started to come off. Lewis blasted some of his teammates in the media for not playing through injuries, which created a bit of a rift in the locker room. Two games later — after Oklahoma had seemingly righted the ship — Broyles tore his ACL and was done for the year. Running back Dominique Whaley also was lost for the season with injury.

But on Oct. 22, the dream season came to an abrupt end. Texas Tech strolled into Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and handed the Sooners their first home loss in 39 games. The Red Raiders, who were a four-touchdown underdog, came into the game having suffered back-to-back double-digit losses to ranked opponents.

Oklahoma started the season looking like a team that could win a national title. It traveled to Doak Campbell Stadium and beat Florida State then demolished No. 11 Texas a few weeks later. The Sooners won their first six games by an average of 29.5 points per game and allowed no more than 28 points in any game during that span.