Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Projecting OU’s performance over the final five games

By Chip Rouse

Oct 11, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners mascot Boomer performs prior to the game against the Texas Longhorns during the Red River showdown at the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma beat Texas 31-26. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners mascot Boomer performs prior to the game against the Texas Longhorns during the Red River showdown at the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma beat Texas 31-26. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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Projected to finish second in the Big 12 this season and play for the conference championship, the Brent Venables era of Oklahoma football has begun with a 4-3 overall record and alone in ninth place in the league standings with half the season now in the books.

The Sooners are a disappointing 1-3 in Big 12 play, and it doesn’t get any easier looking over the final five games of the regular season.

Oklahoma has a bye this week before getting back into action against last-place Iowa State a week from Saturday. Don’t let that fool you, however. The Cyclones are winless in four games against conference opponents, but all four losses have come by a combined 14 points, including a three-point loss last weekend at Texas. I probably don’t need to remind you that the Longhorns throttled the Sooners by a count of 49-0.

This could be a very interesting final five games for Oklahoma. Three of the games are on the road, with two — Baylor and Bedlam rival Oklahoma State — at home in Norman.

Unlike most every season since 2000, the Sooners are not playing for championships of any kind. Something that is about as rare this time of the season as snow. The Sooners have won 14 Big 12 championships in the 27 years the conference has been in existence. No other team has won more than three.

What Oklahoma is playing for from now to the end of the season is respectability and the opportunity to play in the postseason for the 24th consecutive year. And the way things have gone so far for the Sooners this season, the latter is far from a guarantee. They need to win at least two of the final five games just to become bowl eligible.

Because the Sooners are off this weekend, it seems like an appropriate opportunity to take a breath and glance ahead at the remaining games on the OU schedule. We offer a brief preview of the remaining schedule along with a prediction of what we might expect.

As a point of interest, the ESPN matchup predictor also took a run at Oklahoma’s remaining games after the Sooners’ shocking 49-0 blowout at the hands and feet of Texas. ESPN had OU beating Kansas and halting its three-game losing streak, but according to the ESPN analytics, that will be the last game Oklahoma wins this season. If that prediction were to come true, the Sooners would finish with a 4-8 record (just 1-8 in the Big 12), their worst overall since 1997.

Here is how we see the next five games:

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