To no one’s surprise, Oklahoma football dropped down five spots, to No. 13, in the College Football Playoff Rankings following a 27-14 loss to Baylor.
The Sooners free fall in the CFP rankings was in line with the hit they took in both the Associated Press and Coaches weekly polls. Oklahoma is 12th this week in the AP poll and sits at No. 11 in the Coaches Poll.
Baylor was the second-ranked opponent the Sooners have faced all season, and they came out flat in a loss that saw an unusually sluggish — or as Lincoln Riley described it, “stale” — offense.
After taking down Oklahoma, Baylor only moved up a couple of spots to No. 11, primarily because the Bears have two losses, but despite that they remain just outside the top ten.
There are now only three undefeated teams left among FBS-level teams following Oklahoma’s loss, with Cincinnati, Georgia, and UTSA holding on to a clean record.
Now that the Sooners have sustained their first loss of the season, the problem for the CFP committee is where to put among a ton of other one-loss squads.
Oklahoma is currently the lowest-ranked one-loss Power 5 team, and even two-loss Ole Miss is ranked ahead of the Sooners, at No. 12. The Sooners have their work cut out for them in the final two games of the season, with 6-4 Iowa State coming up next on the schedule on Saturday
After that home matchup, OU travels to Stillwater to take on No. 9 Oklahoma State, in a Bedlam rivalry battle. A win over OSU could set up a rematch a week later for the Big 12 chanpionship.
The Sooners can still mathematically make it into the playoff but they will need a lot of help to get there. A seventh consecutive Big 12 title is still very much in play, though, as is a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl.
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