I get it, I really do. You don’t have to agree with the logic in order to understand it. That’s where I am. I don’t agree with Oklahoma being ranked #8 in the College Football Playoff Rankings but I understand why they are. I can explain why five one-loss teams are ranked ahead of the 9-0 Sooners. You’re not going to like my answer but I can explain it nonetheless. Right now, with this committee, it’s more about who you’ve beaten than who you lost to. Oklahoma is still looking for a quality win on the season while Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State all have one or more. That could all change for OU over the next four weeks though.
Instead of saying, “I don’t know if an undefeated Oklahoma team can make it to the Top 4”, Sooner fans need to be saying, “There’s no way an undefeated Oklahoma team can be left out”. The committee just barely punished Baylor for losing to TCU last Saturday. The Sooners will travel to Waco to play the #13 team in the College Football Playoff Top 25 on Saturday as opposed to #18 in the AP and Coaches polls. Iowa State is lurking and a win at Texas Tech could easily plant the Cyclones in next week’s rankings. Even if they aren’t ranked, a win over ISU in two weeks would be one of the more impressive wins that OU has as of right now.
Then there’s Bedlam. Oklahoma State checks in at #10 this week and has TCU and Texas Tech on the schedule as its next two opponents. That means the likelihood of a Top 10 matchup in Stillwater on November 27th is pretty high. Should Oklahoma run that three game slate unscathed then odds are high that there will be a Bedlam rematch in Arlington for the Big 12 championship.
A quality win is the one thing that’s holding the Sooners back right now. Right in front of them is the opportunity to drastically change that. OU closes out the season with four-consecutive quality opponents. Only Ohio State can say the same thing.
If you look at it, they are 9-0 and that’s why they’re ranked eighth in the country and not somewhere else. But they don’t have any signature wins. –
Playoff Committee Chair Gary Barta on Oklahoma
“But there just hasn’t been a signature win yet,” playoff committee chair Gary Barta said about the Sooners on Tuesday night. “If you compare them to Michigan State, for example, Michigan State beat Michigan. If you look at Notre Dame, they’ve beaten Wisconsin, they’ve beaten Purdue, so they’re sandwiched in between there. But there’s a lot of football to be played. Oklahoma is 9-0, and we’ll see starting this weekend.”
Here’s the key for Oklahoma moving forward – win. Nothing has changed for the Sooners, despite being ranked #8 in back-to-back weeks. Everything is still on the table as long as they win. No undefeated Power Five team has ever been left out of the College Football Playoff and Oklahoma absolutely won’t be the first should they be standing at 13-0 on December 4th. Win and you’re in!
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