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Oklahoma football: ESPN, USA Today bowl projections after Week 3

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables runs onto the field before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the UTEP Miners at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022. Oklahoma won 45-13.
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables runs onto the field before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the UTEP Miners at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022. Oklahoma won 45-13. /
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With three wins in the books, it’s a pretty safe bet that the Oklahoma football team will be making its 25 consecutive bowl appearance this season. But where might that be?

Trophies are not handed out, nor are postseason bowl invites sent out after just three games, but it’s never too early it seems to start talking about it. Several national outlets have already begun to paint that picture, which they will continue to do as the season progresses.

Like the painting process itself, the closer it gets to the final image, the clearer the picture becomes. With just a quarter of the painting completed, however, several so-called college football experts are placing early bets on where the Sooners and other top college teams could be headed come December and even early January.

ESPN staff writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach provide weekly updates projecting the bowl matchups for all 43 scheduled bowl games. After Week 3, both ESPN staffers project Oklahoma to go to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, one of four bowl games to be played on Dec. 28. They differ, however, on whom the Sooners’ opponent could be. Bonagura projects Oklahoma vs. Oregon State. Schlabach projects Oregon as the Sooners’ opponent.

The Alamo Bowl is second in the Big 12 pecking order if a Big 12 school does not play in the College Football Playoff. At this point in the season, ESPN projects Texas as the Big 12 champion, and both Bonagura and Schlabach have the Longhorns going to the Cotton Bowl, one of the New Year’s Six bowl venues, on Dec. 29.

USA Today also is projecting the Alamo Bowl as the postseason destination for the Sooners, with Oregon as the opponent. USA Today has OU as No. 3 in the Big 12 this season, with Texas winning the Big 12 title and going to the College Football Playoff against Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and Big 12 runner-up Kansas State headed to the Cotton Bowl to face off against Notre Dame.

And then there is College Football News, which has a prediction that might be worth framing if you’re a Sooner fan. The staff at CFN projects the Sooners to play Texas for the Big 12 Championship and several weeks thereafter head to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia, on Dec. 30 to play LSU in a rematch of their 2019 Peach Bowl matchup as part of the College Football Playoff that season. Texas would also draw a New Year’s Six bowl assignment, according to CFN, which has the Longhorns taking on Oregon in the Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 29.

All of this could turn on any given weekend, of course, but it doesn’t hurt to dream a little early.

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