Oklahoma wins Big 12 but do they deserve to be in College Football Playoff?

The Oklahoma Sooners hang on to win the Big 12 Championship, but do they look like a playoff team?

Oklahoma will be in the College Football Playoff if Georgia loses the SEC Championship, but they didn’t resemble a playoff team in their overtime win vs. Baylor.

It was a back and forth battle from the start, but the Oklahoma Sooners came away with a 30-23 overtime win vs. the Bears who rallied after falling down 10-0 in the first quarter. It wasn’t the best game of the year for the Oklahoma offense, but the return of CeeDee Lamb was huge, as he caught eight passes for 173 yards. His explosive gains helped the offense keep drives alive when the running game didn’t find much room (49 total carries, 147 yards) and Jalen Hurts committed two costly turnovers.

The defense played very well for the Sooners after what was an up and down regular season. They stymied the Baylor running game and linebacker Kenneth Murray was making plays all over the field. Outside of a pair of splash plays by Baylor, the Sooners defense dominated. But the thing is, Oklahoma can’t give up splash plays to third-string quarterback, Jacob Zeno, who almost became an instant legend before the comeback efforts fell just short in overtime. What’s going to happen when they see Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields? It’s going to be a massacre.

Oklahoma turned it up when the season was on the line but for too long, Oklahoma did not resemble one of the four best teams in the nation with how they played vs. Baylor.

Whether they are deserving or looked like one really is inconsequential as long as LSU beats Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. Oklahoma may not pass the eye test, but as a one-loss conference champion, they’ll be in over a two-loss non-conference champion.

Despite Hurts having a Heisman-caliber season, the offense hasn’t been as explosive as it was the last two years under Kyler Murray or Baker Mayfield. The defense is much better than the non-existent unit they put out on the field last year, but you can make an argument there are four or five SEC teams better than Oklahoma.

The committee has said the College Football Playoff is about getting the best four teams in. Now, if that’s really true, the Sooners will be in if Georgia loses, but this team doesn’t look as good as Georgia and doesn’t look like a top-four team in the country.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.