As far as college football expectations go, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have both failed to live up to them. The Sooners and Cowboys head into their respective weekend matchups with an unexpected blemish on their record, yet both still very much control their own destiny.
Sitting atop the Big 12 standings are TCU and Baylor at 2-0 in conference play. At the bottom are Baylor and Kansas, at 0-2, and in the middle are six teams deadlocked at 1-1. Among those six are OU and OSU, both of which were expected to face-off on December 2, in Arlington, to decide a conference champion. While they both have the opportunity to still make the early December appearance at Jerry World, the odds are long that they’ll both make it at the same time.
While each school holds their fate in their own hands, it won’t be possible for both of them to finish the regular season with just one loss. That pretty much mean Bedlam will be an elimination game more than anything else. So, the question is, how did they both arrive at this point less than halfway through the season?
Both lost at home. Both shot themselves in the foot. Both played an opponent that had a superior game plan. For the Pokes it was a four-turnover performance against at TCU team that brought a two-headed monster for an offensive attack. The Frogs posted 466 yards of offense for the day with 228 coming through the air and 238 on the ground.
Oklahoma historic upset loss was aided by an offense that stalled in the third quarter, due to a fumble and a missed field goal, and an Iowa State offensive attack that further exploited defensive weaknesses exposed in OU’s near miss at Baylor.
Two teams, two heavy favorites, two unexpected losses. The Sooners and Cowboys are vastly different in so many different categories, yet in 2017 they discovered a similar path to early disappointment.
Which one will rise from the ashes? That becomes the storyline and Bedlam may be the deciding factor. It’s going to be a long month.