Why OU has already peaked in CFP rankings no matter what happens championship weekend

The Oklahoma Sooners have been stuck in the same spot in the College Football Playoff Rankings, and that will probably never change, at least not this football season.

For the third week in a row, the Sooners came in at No. 8 in the penultimate CFP rankings on Tuesday evening, setting up a possible rematch with No. 9 Alabama, but this time at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in the first round of the playoff. The final set of rankings that will decide the actual 12-team playoff field and bracket will be unveiled on Sunday, but any movement by then will likely be above or below the Sooners.

Oklahoma Sooners stuck at No. 8 in College Football Playoff Rankings

Of the seven teams ranked ahead of the Sooners, the three directly ahead of them — Oregon, Ole Miss and Texas A&M — missed their conference championship game and will not play this weekend. That means none of them, including the Sooners, can damage or improve their footing by Sunday morning. The committee has already decided how those teams fare against each other.

Right below the Sooners, though, No. 9 Alabama will play No. 3 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday. Obviously an Alabama loss wouldn’t affect OU other than maybe matchup-wise, but if the Crimson Tide beat Georgia for a second time, they will likely jump OU even though the Sooners beat Bama this season in Tuscaloosa. Ultimately, an SEC title will trump that outcome.

That also means even if Georgia drops below OU, Bama would still just fill in that spot to leave the Sooners stagnant at No. 8. Worst-case scenario, both teams are ahead of the Sooners and there’s no home playoff game in Norman.

The only other conference championship game that could really affect OU is, just like old times, the Big 12 Championship Game between No. 4 Texas Tech and No. 11 BYU. Again, a one-loss BYU team with a conference title could catapult over OU. It also again wouldn’t matter how far Tech dropped in regard to the Sooners’ ranking. There’s again the fear that both would be higher than OU.

Even the chaos of both Bama and BYU pulling off the upsets would basically create the same scenario with everything just moving around Oklahoma. Any other madness that could happen during championship weekend has repercussions so low in the rankings it won’t really matter to the Sooners other than possible matchups.

However, that’s all speaking logically, and the committee rarely seems to put common sense at the forefront of decisions, so an unexpected knee-jerk reaction could also give the Sooners a surprise jolt. That's not something to plan for, though.

There’s really no cheering to win for Sooner Nation this weekend, though, just rooting not to lose so the Sooners don’t get a home playoff game taken away by slipping even one spot.