Oklahoma Football: Winning Big 12 Is Bigger Deal Than Some Are Making It
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football may not be relevant any longer in conversations about the top teams in 2016 college football and, in particular, the College Football Playoff, but don’t let anyone fool you, there is still plenty at stake for the winner of the Big 12.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Sooners sit atop the Big 12 standings with a perfect 4-0 record entering Week 9 of the 2016 college football season.
With five games remaining in the regular season, Oklahoma has three home dates left (with Kansas this weekend, followed by Baylor on Nov. 12 and Bedlam with Oklahoma State on Nov. 25) and two on the road (at Iowa State in a rare Thursday night game on Nov. 3 and at West Virginia on Nov. 17).
Baylor and West Virginia also are undefeated in Big 12 play (both at 3-0, a half-game back of the Sooners) and stand perfect through six overall games in 2016.
The Sooners face both the Bears and the Mountaineers in coming weeks, and Baylor and West Virginia will square off for what could be the Big 12 championship on Dec. 3, the final weekend of the regular season. Not if Oklahoma has anything to say about it, however, and the Sooners will clearly have the opportunity to express their thoughts and talents on the matter.
After the Sooners’ lost to then No. 15 Houston to open the season, and even more so after they were manhandled by No. 3 Ohio State a couple of weeks later, college football experts quickly wrote off Oklahoma as a contender for the College Football Playoff. That may indeed be the case, but getting to and winning the national championship game is not the only goal the Sooners had this season.
Winning a national championship is the goal of Oklahoma football every season, and the Sooners have seven of them to show for it. It may be the No. 1 goal every season, but you can’t get there if you don’t also capture the Big 12 championship.
And the Sooners are still very much in the running for the Big 12 crown this season.
As things stand today, the winner of the Big 12 probably is not going to make it into the college football final four. West Virginia probably has the best chance of any Big 12 team of making the College Football Playoff, but realistically the odds are low.
That would mean that the Big 12 champion would represent the conference in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3, one of the New Year’s Six bowls that are included in the rotation for the national semifinals and the CFP championship final.
I think everyone would agree that is a pretty nice consolation prize if you aren’t one of the fortunate four that make it into the Playoff.
That’s exactly what the Sooners have in their crosshairs as they look ahead to the remaining five games on the 2016 regular-season schedule.
The way the pecking order works for the Big 12 teams that are postseason eligible is: The conference champion will go to the Sugar Bowl if it is not selected for the College Football Playoff. If the No. 1 team in the conference is in the Playoff, the Big 12 No. 2 team would receive the Sugar Bowl bid, the No. 3 team earns a spot in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio and the fourth-best team in the conference would go to the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando.
If the Big 12 is left out of the College Football Playoff, the postseason selection process for Big 12 teams would begin with the league’s top team going to the Sugar Bowl, where the opponent would be the first or second team in the SEC. The last time I checked, there were some very good teams at the top of the SEC standings.
For the record, Oklahoma is 5-2 all-time in postseason games played in the Sugar Bowl. The Sooners are 1-1 in Sugar Bowl appearances under Bob Stoops.
This is precisely why winning the Big 12 this season, or any season, is a big deal for Oklahoma and every other Big 12 team.