In almost predictable fashion, No. 9 Oklahoma claimed another Big 12 championship with a 38-20 victory against No. 10 Oklahoma State.
The Sooners are king of the Big 12 again, and that’s good for the 10th conference championship under Bob Stoops. Oklahoma is 17-1 in conference play the last two seasons and capped off another 10-win season; Stoops’ 14th season with 10 or more wins in 18 tries.
There’s more. Oklahoma is now 121-29 under Stoops in Big 12 play, the best in-conference record among Power 5 schools since 1999. Ohio State is second at 116-29. Stoops now has more Big 12 titles than home losses at nine, as ESPN Stats and Info noted. It’s endless.
You can see where this is going. Oklahoma’s in-conference success is incredible. It’s an amazing testament of stability under Stoops, and to do that over almost 20 seasons is remarkable. It’s simply not enough to cash in for a College Football Playoff berth. As a result, this season likely will add to a national championship drought dating back to the 2000 season.
The Sooners’ certainly have all those playoff attributes under second-year offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. Baker Mayfield, who passed for 13 of 19 for 288 yards and three TDs, didn’t even need much from Dede Westbrook, who left after a vicious hit. Mayfield might be a Heisman finalist. Westbrook should win the Biletnikoff Award. The tag-team of Samaje Perine (37 carries, 239 yards, TD) and Joe Mixon (11 carries, 99 yards, TD) might have done some damage in the playoff.
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They certainly would be looked at as the de facto “dangerous team” — perhaps more than the Big Ten champion.
Unless Clemson loses to Virginia Tech in the ACC championship and the committee gets real creative with its Big Ten theories, Oklahoma won’t get that chance. They’ll have to settle for a Sugar Bowl bid against a three- or four-loss SEC team instead.
The Big Ten champion would likely get in over Oklahoma. Michigan would probably get in over the Sooners because they played Ohio State much tougher on the road and lost two games by four points.
We’re back to the Buckeyes. They are virtually in with the help of that non-conference win. Ohio State didn’t even to win their conference or their division.
On the flip side, Oklahoma’s 45-24 loss to the Buckeyes on Sept. 17 in Norman coupled with the season-opening loss in the Texas Kickoff to Houston is what will keep the Sooners out of the playoff.
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Imagine if Oklahoma only lost to one of those teams — or only scheduled one of those teams. They probably would be in the playoff. In some ways, the Sooners got penalized at least a little bit for scheduling up.
Winning the Big 12 and beating Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale was enough last year. Oklahoma overcame that one loss to Texas before being overmatched 37-17 by Clemson in the Orange Bowl in 2015.
That’s the lens we’re looking through now. The Big 12 success is assumed to the point where it’s not enough simply for the Sooners to dominate the Big 12. We assumed they would run the November gauntlet last year against No. 4 Baylor, No. 11 TCU and No. 9 Oklahoma State, and they did. We assumed they do that against No. 25 Baylor, No. 10 West Virginia and No. 11 Oklahoma State this year, and they did that again. A championship game at this point would have been a rematch against the Cowboys.
That wouldn’t have changed the perception at all. We know the Sooners run the Big 12.
What could amp that up? Tom Herman getting Texas up-and-running real quick. When that’s a top-10 or top-five game, perceptions change. They’ve had four top-five showdowns since 1999, but the last one was in 2008. The Longhorns haven’t been ranked for the Red River Showdown since 2012. Ohio State has Michigan again. Oklahoma needs Texas.
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That would strengthen the Sooners’ case in the future. They’ll continue to schedule up in the meantime. The nonconference win at Tennessee in 2015 helped. The losses to Houston and Ohio State hurt this year. The Sooners’ travel to Columbus in 2017 on Sept. 9 in a rematch of that home-and-home, one that will set the tone for the rest of the season.
That might be the key to their playoff hopes. Beat OSU in September and beat OSU in November. The first one might be more important now.
We already have a good idea of what they’ll do in Big 12 play by now, with or without a championship game.
This year proved those games in September might be the difference for the Sooners until somebody else steps up in the Big 12.
