Oklahoma fans were big fans of Ohio State in their rivalry game against Michigan.
Michigan’s loss is Oklahoma’s gain.
There was a large contingent of new Ohio State fans on Saturday afternoon as Oklahoma fans were rooting for the Buckeyes to beat rival Michigan. Oklahoma is ranked No. 6 and needed the Buckeyes to beat the Wolverines to improve their odds of making the College Football Playoff.
If Michigan beat Ohio State, the odds of the Sooners making the four-team playoff were practically zero. With every Dwayne Haskins touchdown pass and every big stop by the Ohio State defense and special teams, the cheers grew louder from Sooner Nation.
Oklahoma has to take care of their business first before they can celebrate Michigan’s loss too much. After beating West Virginia on Friday night, the Sooners clinched a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game where they’ll have a rematch with rival Texas.
The Longhorns edged the Sooners on a field goal at the whistle to win the Red River Rivalry earlier this year, but if Kyler Murray, Kennedy Brooks and the Sooners can avenge that loss, they should be in the College Football Playoff.
No. 10 Ohio State just has too many rungs to climb up the ladder. They’ll pass LSU, Washington State and UCF with the win over Michigan and sit one spot behind Oklahoma. Ohio State’s Big Ten Championship Game foe, Northwestern, won’t provide the same strength of win that a win over a top-15 Texas team would for Oklahoma.
The one wrinkle that could ruin Oklahoma’s playoff pursuit, besides losing to Texas, of course, would be if No. 5 Georgia upsets No. 1 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. It would be a big upset, as the Crimson Tide project to be a double-digit favorite. Oklahoma fans will have to root for Tua Tagovailoa in that game, which would then set up a College Football Playoff semifinal pitting Alabama against Oklahoma in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.
How fun would that game be?
It would be an epic showdown with Murray and Tagovailoa, the top two Heisman candidates, and give fans a chance to see how the Alabama defense would fare against the Sooners high-octane offense.
After rooting for Ohio State, now they just need to root for Alabama and take care of Texas and they’ll be in the College Football Playoff.