Oklahoma football: Is Big 12 championship enough to make College Football Playoff?

The Oklahoma Sooners can be the first two-loss team to make the College Football Playoff.

Despite having two losses on their resume, Lincoln Riley’s Oklahoma football team did just enough to win the Big 12 Championship for the sixth year in a row.

The No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners held on to beat the No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones 27-21 in the Big 12 title bout. Oklahoma was able to avenge one of its two conference losses on the year, as they fell to the Cyclones up in Ames earlier in the fall. While a Power 5 championship guarantees the Sooners a New Year’s Six bowl, did they do enough to make the College Football Playoff field?

Two losses and a lack of style points undoubtedly keep Oklahoma out

Entering play on Saturday, we knew two teams have unofficially clinched College Football Playoff berths: The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. With them being undefeated heading into the SEC and ACC Championship games respectively, nothing short of a 50-0 blowout in either title bout keeps the Tide or the Golden Domers out. Nothing else matters.

Though Oklahoma has a Power 5 championship to celebrate, the Sooners are not going to surpass the two other ranked teams that won on Saturday in the early-afternoon window. While it was not pretty, the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes outlasted the No. 14 Northwestern Wildcats to win the Big Ten Championship game, 22-10. Even at 6-0, the Buckeyes are almost certainly getting in.

So only one spot remains at this juncture. Will it go to the No. 3 Clemson Tigers, the No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies, the No. 7 Florida Gators or the No. 10 Sooners? If Clemson beats Notre Dame in the ACC Championship Game, the Tigers are getting in. If they do not, they are eliminated from the conversation as a two-loss, non-champion. Then it comes down to the other three contenders.

Florida has to beat No. 1 Alabama badly in the SEC Championship to get in. Even if the Gators just barely win, it will be the most impressive win of the season, knocking the Sooners out of the equation entirely. As for Texas A&M, the Aggies throttled the hapless Tennessee Volunteers, 34-13. If Clemson loses, Jimbo Fisher and his team will have reason to celebrate, as they will be in.

Simply put, two losses on the year and a blatant lack of style points over a three-loss Iowa State team will not be enough to entice the Selection Committee to get the Sooners in. Not only that, but we have seen Oklahoma in the playoff four times to date and the Sooners have yet to win a national semifinal game. They have no benefit of the doubt here, so the Cotton Bowl Classic it is.

Oklahoma may be New Year’s Six bound, but the Sooners will not be going to the playoff this year.

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