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Oklahoma football’s 4 underwhelming Playoff appearances ranked accordingly by ESPN

By Chip Rouse

Dec 28, 2019; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) is tackled by LSU Tigers defensive end Glen Logan (97) and nose tackle Tyler Shelvin (72) and linebacker Patrick Queen (8) during the third quarter of the 2019 Peach Bowl college football playoff semifinal game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 28, 2019; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) is tackled by LSU Tigers defensive end Glen Logan (97) and nose tackle Tyler Shelvin (72) and linebacker Patrick Queen (8) during the third quarter of the 2019 Peach Bowl college football playoff semifinal game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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Up until this season, the Oklahoma football Sooners had been the only Big 12 team to make it into college football’s version of the Final Four: the College Football Playoff.

TCU is the first Big 12 school other than the Sooners, and the 14th different team overall, to crash the Playoff party, doing so this season. As the No. 3 seed, the 12-1 Horned Frogs are matched up against No. 2 and undefeated Michigan.

Oklahoma has appeared four times in the nine-year existence of the College Football Playoff (2014-present). Only three other schools — Alabama (7), Clemson (6) and Ohio State (5) have advanced to the playoff more times than the Sooners. What noticeably separates OU from those three teams, however, is the Sooners’ failure to make it past the national semifinal or opening round of the playoff.

In the media buildup to this year’s CFP, ESPN has published a ranking, 1 through 36, of all the games that have been played to date in the CFP era. This is the third year ESPN has ranked all 36 (32 and 28 previously) and published the results on its ESPN+ platform.

ESPN staff writer Bill Connelly compiled the 2022 ranking, combining several statistical factors along with his personal opinions.

It probably should not come as a big surprise that none of the Sooners’ four playoff appearances appear higher than the 20s in Connelly’s 1-through-36 ranking. The highest ranked Oklahoma playoff game — again, not surprisingly — was the 2017 national semifinal game with Georgia, ranked 21st out of the 36 games played to date.

Oklahoma’s 45-34 loss to Alabama in 2018 is No. 26, the 37-17 loss to Clemson in 2015 is No. 29 and the 63-28 blowout loss to eventual national champion LSU in 2019 comes in at No. 34 in Connelly’s ranking.

The two games ranked worse than the OU-LSU playoff game were Notre Dame’s 30-3 loss to Clemson in 2018 (No. 35) and the 38-0 Alabama win over Michigan State in 2015 (No. 36).

The top five games in this year’s ranking are:

  1. 2020 Alabama, which defeated Notre Dame 31-14 and Ohio State 52-24
  2. 2019 LSU, which defeated Oklahoma 63-28 and Clemson 42-25
  3. 2018 Clemson, which defeated Notre Dame 30-3 and Alabama 44-16
  4. 2022 Georgia — This is the matchup this year between No. 1 Georgia and No. 4 Ohio State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Dec. 31.
  5. 2021 Georgia, which defeated Michigan 34-11 and Alabama 33-18
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