Oklahoma football takes big tumble in AP, Coaches poll after loss to Baylor
By Chip Rouse
As expected, the Oklahoma football loss to Baylor on Saturday resulted in a serious free fall in the Sooners national ranking.
The Sooners (9-1, 6-1) dropped from the No. 4 spot last week in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls to No. 12 and No. 11, respectively.
It will be interesting to see how the College Football Playoff selection committee, which hadn’t been impressed with Oklahoma’s performance prior to the loss at Baylor, views the Sooners when Week 3 of the CFP rankings are released on Tuesday. It is probably reasonable to assume OU will fall back into the 10 to 15 range in the CFP rankings and possibly further.
For those Sooner fans who are more glass-half-full types, Oklahoma remained in the top-five in the ESPN Power Football Index, which is more a measure of a team’s performance going forward and not retrospectively. The Sooners are ranked No. 5 in the FPI, with a 43.8 percent chance of winning the Big 12.
Oklahoma State, which OU faces in the regular-season finale, moved ahead of the Sooners in both the AP and Coaches polls. The Cowboys are ranked ninth this week in both polls. The AP voters ranked Baylor ahead of Oklahoma, at No. 11, but the Bears remained behind the Sooners, according to the coaches, at No. 13, but up five spots from a week ago.
Ole Miss, a two-loss team (8-2), is ranked ahead of Oklahoma in both polls.
Georgia, Alabama and Cincinnati are the top three in both polls this week. Oregon and Ohio State moved up to No. 4 and 5 in the AP poll and reversed that order in the Coaches Poll.