College Football Playoff: How a 16-team bracket would play out

4. Oklahoma Sooners vs. 13. Washington State Cougars

After they handled business in the Big 12 Championship Game against the rival Texas Longhorns, the Oklahoma Sooners were the team that the committee deemed most worthy of getting the fourth and final spot in the actual College Football Playoff. Led by Heisman Trophy candidate and Oakland A’s prospect Kyler Murray, Lincoln Riley’s team is again an offensive juggernaut.

In this 16-team bracket, however, they get matched up with another highly potent offense, that of the Washington State Cougars. Yes, the last time we saw Wazzu, they were shut down in the snow by the rival Washington Huskies in a game that cost them a shot at winning the Pac-12. Having said that, what we saw in that game was not the norm for Mike Leach’s team. Led by Gardner Minshew, the Cougars have one of the best offenses in the country.

That poses an issues for the Sooners in this game. As good as Murray and the Oklahoma offense are under Riley, their defense has been quite abysmal at times this season, even against offenses that are far worse than what Washington State can throw at them. Thus, I think this game would devolve (or evolve) into a shootout.

Though we’ve seen Murray come up with heroics in tight games where it comes down to who scores last, my belief in Leach’s gutsiness in those moments takes precedent. I think it comes down to a final possession and, with the game on the line, the Cougars pull off the first upset of Round 1 in this 16-team bracket.

Prediction: Oklahoma 49, Washington State 55