Did Oklahoma just create a second monster?
No. 15 Houston offered the first shakeup for the College Football Playoff picture with a 33-23 victory against the No. 3 Sooners at NRG Stadium, a game that sends intertwined shockwaves through the Big 12, Group of 5 and College Football Playoff race that should continue into November.
Houston made the most of those well-deserved taglines. Big 12 contestant, Group of 5 sleeper, College Football Playoff contender. That’s what Tom Herman has created in a little more than 18 months.
BOX SCORE: Houston 33, Oklahoma 23 | PHOTOS: From Week 1
You can’t say it was a fluke. You can’t say Houston isn’t for real.
You can listen to the roar at NRG Stadium. You can say the Cougars will be one of the most-watched teams by the Power 5 conferences for the rest of the year. They won’t be out of the way until they lose.
You can say Houston is a legitimate College Football Playoff team if they take care of business the rest of the way.
They might thank this win against Oklahoma for a lot more . This victory — even more than the Chick-fil-A Bowl victory against Florida State — legitimizes that win-'em-all-or-nothing candidacy that a Group of 5 school has to make in the College Football Playoff age.
TCU beat No. 7 Oklahoma in the season opener in 2005, a win that marked the first real eye-opener under Gary Patterson and helped elevate the program. The Horned Frogs used to that rise from BCS buster in the Mountain West to ascend to the Big 12. TCU is a legitimate playoff contender on a yearly basis now.
Houston gets that opportunity now, regardless of whether the Big 12 actually lets them in. They are in that Boise State class now, a team that pulled off a huge season-opening win.
The Broncos could never quite capitalize on those chances in 2010 and 2011. But that was in the two-team BCS era.
The Cougars just created the conversation that those Power 5 conferences don’t want to hear. If they go undefeated, then would the Power 5 be forced to give the Group of 5 one of those four chairs. What if Notre Dame goes undefeated? That’s the kind of chaos “upsets” like this create, and that’s a question Houston can answer on the field with its play.
MORE: Five things we learned from Houston's upset
The other question will be answered by the Big 12 soon enough. Houston made the best possible statement to join that conference. They just handled one of the two flagship programs in a high-stakes game. The Big 12 gave TCU that opportunity eight seasons after they upset the Sooners, and it’s made the conference stronger. Would Houston do the same on an accelerated timetable?
That’s the impact of Saturday’s upset. The Group of 5 can claim Houston, but can they keep them? The Power 5 can root against Houston, but do they want them? If the Cougars keep this going, the College Football Playoff might go a long way in making the decision for both.
Maybe Oklahoma didn’t create this monster. Herman will tell you otherwise. Houston created this monster, and they’re hungry.
"We've created a monster and you have to feed the monster,” Herman said on the American Athletic Conference teleconference earlier this week.
The scary part?
Think about how big it could be in another 18 months.
