Oklahoma would have to face Big 12 rematch for another title
Either Oklahoma or Texas won the last seven Big 12 championship games.
When the conference title game resumes this season after a six-year hiatus, the Red River rivals could be facing each other for the second time that season. Or maybe it will be a rematch between the Sooners and Oklahoma State, though they wouldn’t play consecutive weeks since the regular Bedlam game is now set for the first Saturday of November and not at the end of the regular season.
The championship game is back in the Big 12, which was left out of the College Football Playoff in two of the first three years.
“We’ve been responsive to what we heard from the CFP,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, referring to that “13th data point” the title game creates for the league.
But the league didn’t return to divisions, which it had through 2010 when there were 12 teams. So the top two teams in the Big 12 standings will play again in the title game — a guaranteed rematch in the only Power Five league with a round-robin schedule. That could mean the first-ever December game between Oklahoma and Texas, both with new coaches and teams that haven’t faced each other twice in the same season since 1903.
Oklahoma, with Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Baker Mayfield back for his senior season, will be going for its third consecutive Big 12 title — and 11th overall.
“I’ve always envisioned it being more like this. Of course, you get the pressure with it,” said 33-yearold Lincoln Riley, a firsttime head coach after Bob Stoops’ surprising retirement
in June. “If you don’t enjoy that sense of pressure and those expectations, then it’s probably not the place for you.”
New Longhorns coach Tom Herman, a graduate assistant at Texas for Mack Brown in 1999 and 2000, was 22-4 the last two years as Houston’s coach after being offensive coordinator for Ohio State’s national championship team three seasons ago.
Herman takes over a Texas team coming off three consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the 1930s.
“What’s the past is in the past,” Herman said. “Our job is to make sure that whatever happened doesn’t happen again.” File, Sue Ogrocki / The Associated Press
Oklahoma, with Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Baker Mayfield back for his senior season, will be going for its third consecutive Big 12 title, and 11th overall.
Oklahoma State has never played in the Big 12 championship game, and won its only title in the league in 2011, the first year that championship game wasn’t played. The Cowboys go into coach Mike Gundy’s 13th season with quarterback Mason Rudolph (4,091 yards passing, 28 touchdowns, four interceptions), receiver James Washington (71 catches, 1,380 yards, 10 TDs) and running back Justice Hill (1,142 yards rushing).