How many teams could Trevor Lawrence lead to the College Football Playoff?
By John Buhler
Big 12 (2)
If the Big 12 has shown us anything in the College Football Playoff era, it is that one team makes it repeatedly and has yet to win a single national semifinal game. Of course, we’re talking about the Oklahoma Sooners. Along with the rival Texas Longhorns, they are the only two programs from this 10-team Power 5 conference that could reach the playoff with Lawrence.
Oklahoma Sooners
It has been established Oklahoma knows what it’s doing with college football quarterbacks. From Baker Mayfield to Kyler Murray to Jalen Hurts, Lincoln Riley can take any good college football quarterback and turn him into a Heisman Trophy finalist. Spencer Rattler may be his next big project but the Sooners would finally win a damn playoff game with Lawrence on the roster.
Oklahoma has two solid games in its non-conference slate vs. the Tennessee Volunteers and at the Army Black Knights. The neutral-site affair vs. Texas at the Cotton Bowl will be tricky. so could at Iowa State. Oklahoma will be favored in all its games next year, especially with Lawrence as its quarterback. The Sooners won’t win it all with him but they’ll finally win a playoff game for once.
Texas Longhorns
If you want Texas to finally be back for real this time, let’s upgrade at quarterback with a better version of Andrew Luck in Lawrence over just another Tim Tebow/Vince Young type of great college quarterback in Sam Ehlinger. Not only could Lawrence beat Oklahoma with his arms, but he can beat them with his legs, too. His dual-threat playmaking ability is the difference in Dallas.
Playing the defending national champion on the road in Death Valley would be a massive boost for Texas’ playoff credibility if they were to win it. If Texas beat LSU in Baton Rouge with Lawrence as its quarterback, the Longhorns would be a top-two seed in the playoff, assuming they get out of the Big 12 with only one loss. Once Texas wins the Big 12 and makes the playoff, then they’ll be back.
First team out: You could argue for Matt Campbell’s Iowa State Cyclones, but they have never proven to be championship-caliber at any point in their football history. The first team out here in the Big 12 has to be the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Pairing Lawrence with running back Chuba Hubbard would be terrifying, but the Pokes haven’t proven they can consistently beat rival teams.