Oklahoma football: How OU can be a winner on its bye weekend

Probably the last thing the Oklahoma football team wanted after losing at Kansas State last weekend was having to wait an additional week before getting back after it to undo the hurt and humbling from the week before.

You could also make the case, however, that the extra week will give them addition time to get healthy and more time to work on the things that went dreadfully wrong against K-State before they head into the critical final month of the regular season.

Like it or not, the Sooners are off this weekend, as are three other Big 12 teams. OU is back in action next weekend at home against Iowa State. The Cyclones (5-3, 3-2) are also off this weekend.

As the season gets ready to swing into what amounts to the fourth quarter, Baylor (8-0, 5-0) sits in the driver’s seat in the Big 12 standings, with games still to play against TCU, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. OU currently holds down outright possession of second place, a game back, with a road showdown at Baylor on Nov. 9.

Although they can’t lose this weekend, the 10th-ranked Sooners can still come out a winner, depending on the outcome of several big games involving teams ranked ahead of them. With the first College Football Playoff rankings coming out on Tuesday, a little chaos definitely could help the Oklahoma cause.

A week ago, the Sooners, as one of 10 undefeated ranked team, had control of their own destiny and a fairly clear path to the College Football Playoff as long as they kept winning. The ESPN Allstate Playoff Predictor listed Oklahoma’s Playoff chances at 43 percent before the loss to K-State. As a one-loss team, and one largely perceived as having a soft 2019 schedule, that probability has tumbled to 10 percent.

The bottom line is that the Sooners can go undefeated from here, and that probably still won’t be enough unless they get some help from others. That help could start to come as early as this weekend, while the Sooners are home watching.

Perhaps the biggest game Sooner fans should be following on Saturday is the annual rivalry game between No. 8 Georgia and sixth-ranked Florida in Jacksonville. Both teams already have a loss, so it stands to reason Oklahoma would jump over the loser in the rankings.

Another game that could have a positive impact on the Sooners will take place in the Pac 12, where No. 7 Oregon is on the road at USC, where the Trojans are 24-8-1 all-time against Oregon and 4-0 in the Coliseum this season. Oregon’s only 2019 loss was in its opening-game of the season against Auburn.

Oklahoma could also benefit from some chaos next weekend, when a couple of huge games involving top-10 teams headline the schedule. Undefeated and fifth-ranked Penn State will be at undefeated and 13th-ranked Minnesota. That is the same day as the much anticipated matchup between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Depending on what happens in the Penn State-Minnesota game on Nov. 9, the Nittany Lions must go back on the road to play at Ohio State on Nov. 23 in another game that could potentially impact Oklahoma’s Playoff chances.

There is still a lot of football to be played before Selection Sunday on Dec. 8, but the good news for Sooner fans is that there are a handful of table-setters that, if the ball were to bounce OU’s way, could make for a very interesting race to the finish line.

Win out, and the worst Oklahoma can do is an invite to the Sugar Bowl and a prime-time game with one of the top three teams in the SEC (LSU, Alabama or Georgia), which in the big scheme of things isn’t that bad of a consolation prize.