Oklahoma football: ESPN has OU right behind Texas in Big 12 bowl pecking order
By Chip Rouse
Had Oklahoma football Team 129 not beaten itself in back-to-back road losses at Kansas and Oklahoma State, the Sooners could have been 8-0 in the Big 12 right now and assured of the No. 1 seed in the conference championship game.
Instead, the Sooners are 6-2 in the conference standings and most likely will miss out on playing for a final Big 12 championship. Assuming, however, Oklahoma is able to take care of business in its 2023 home finale on Friday against TCU, the Sooners will finish the regular season with no worse than the second-best overall record in the conference at 10-2.
And if Texas were to lose in its regular-season finale against Texas Tech, the Sooners and Longhorns would be tied for the overall best record in the final season for both teams as members of the Big 12.
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, Oklahoma is tied for second place in the conference standings with Oklahoma State and Kansas State, all with 6-2 records, and OSU and K-State own tiebreaker advantages over the Sooners depending on the outcome of games on this final week of the 2023 regular season.
Despite its two conference losses (by a combined eight points), the Oklahoma win over Texas is a big reason the Sooners are ranked higher than both Oklahoma State and Kansas State in all three of the weekly national rankings (College Football Playoff, Associated Press and Coaches Poll).
In its latest projections for the 2023 bowl season, ESPN has Oklahoma receiving the Big 12’s second-best postseason bowl assignment. ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach project Texas (with a win in the Big 12 Championship) to either earn a spot in the College Football Playoff or in the New Year’s Six Cotton Bowl Classic.
Both Bonagura and Schlabach have Oklahoma as the next team selected as part of the Big 12 selection process, going to the Valero Alamo Bowl to face Arizona, the No. 3 team in the Pac-12 behind Washington and Oregon.
As for Oklahoma State and Kansas State, the ESPN staff has the Cowboys drawing the third-best Big 12 bowl assignment, the Pop Tarts Bowl in Orlando, Florida, and Kansas State going to the TaxAct Bowl in Houston, with Texas A&M as a probable opponent.