Stormin in Norman
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Baker Mayfield leads two underdog teams in OU 2000s Playoff semifinals

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 23: Safety Pat Fields #10, and offensive lineman Marcus Alexander #74 of the Oklahoma Sooners run onto the field for a game against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 23, 2019 at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. OU held on to win 28-24. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 23: Safety Pat Fields #10, and offensive lineman Marcus Alexander #74 of the Oklahoma Sooners run onto the field for a game against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 23, 2019 at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. OU held on to win 28-24. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Baker Mayfield 2017 versus Sam Bradford 2008. Baker Mayfield 2015 versus Jason White 2004. Who would you go with in those fantasy matchups?

light. Related Story. Which OU team is best of the rest in 21st century?

We’ve taken the guesswork out of it for you in a simulation featuring these four Big 12 championship Oklahoma football teams in Part II, or the semifinal round, of the ‘how we’re filling our shelter-in-place time without sports” series we’re calling the “Sooner Football 2000s Playoff.”

Some background might be in order here. Eight Oklahoma teams made the BCS championship game or the College Football Playoff in the first two decades of the new century. All eight of those teams were quarterbacked by Heisman Trophy winners or runners-up and all but one were Big 12 champions.

Eight times in the 13 decades since 1890 that the University of Oklahoma has been engaged in collegiate football, Sooner teams have won better than 70 percent of their games. Only once during that time, however, has OU’s football winning percentage exceeded 80 percent over two consecutive decades, making the last two decades arguably the greatest era in the esteemed history of one of college football’s premier brands.

That’s why would thought it would be fun to create a fictional playoff with the eight best Oklahoma teams of the last 20 years.

Four teams remain after the opening round. Mayfield and the 2015 team pulled off the biggest and only upset of the quarterfinal round, defeating the top-seeded 2000 team by double digits, 38-24. The other quarterfinal winners were:

  • The 2008 team over Jalen Hurts and the 2019 team, 41-30.
  •  Baker Mayfield’s 2017 team over Kyler Murray and the 2018 team, 60-46,
  • Jason White 2004 defeated Jason White 2004, 38-19.

That leaves these semifinal pairings:

  • No. 4 2015 (J. White) versus No. 8 2015 (B. Mayfield), and
  • No. 2 2008 (S. Bradford) versus 2017 (B. Mayfield).

Sit back and enjoy the WhatIfSports.com simulation of the semifinals of the Sooner Football 2000s Playoff.

The coin flip and opening kick in game one are next…

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