Endorsement huge for Sooners
Oklahoma and Ohio State staged a memorable home-and-home series the previous two seasons that effectively put the winner in the College Football Playoff and kept the loser out.
The crimson/scarlet crusade continues in 2018, only not on the gridiron, but in a meeting room of the Gaylord Texan Hotel in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine. And the Sooners are winning.
The playoff committee endorsed OU over the Buckeyes on Tuesday, ranking the Sooners No. 5 and Ohio State No. 6 going into the conference championship games. That’s no small advantage since OU plays a tougher opponent (14th-ranked Texas) Saturday in the Big 12 title game than do the Buckeyes (21st-ranked Northwestern) in the Big Ten title game.
Barring an upset by fourth-ranked Georgia over No .1 Alabama on Saturday, the Sooner sort he Buck eyes could keep the other out of the playoff, without ever sharing afield.
The seasons-long narrative of OU’s fabulous offenses being pulled down by atrocious Sooner defenses is not costing the Sooners so far, perhaps in part because Ohio State
has the same kind of disparity, albeit not as gaping.
Ohio State’s 62-39 upset of Michigan last Saturday was not enough to lift the Buckeyes past the Sooners.
“Their most complete game of the year,” said committee chairman Rob Mullens, the Oregon athletic director. “An impressive win. The committee certainly took note of that. We look at the full body of work. The defense played better against Michigan, but that still is probably the shortcoming, and their offense has been able to carry them.”
But Mullens remained accurate and flattering in his talk about the Sooners. He was asked straight up why OU is ahead of Ohio State.
“Oklahoma’s only loss is to a ranked Texas team on a neutral field,” Mullens said. “Impressive wins against a ranked West Virginia, a ranked Iowa State. Historic offense, and we understand the defensive struggles. Ohio State, impressive win over Michigan ... quality road win over Penn State, lost to Purdue, somewhat inconsistent in the second half of the year.”
This committee seems to be changing with the times. The criticism from the committee chairmen of the past concerning OU’s defense has lessened, even though the Sooners’ defense is much worse. And Lincoln Riley, appearing on ESPN’s rankings show, was asked if the standards are changing.
“I think that’s fair to say,” Riley said. “I think we see that at all levels. High school, college and pro. The amount of offensive outputs ... is just simply different than what it’s been before. But I still think when you look at a whole team ... the end result is you either win or you don’t. Certainly every team out there is trying to be great on offense and be great on defense and special teams. We all know how hard that is to do. Ultimately, you’ve gotta be able to find ways to win games, and that’s what our guys have been able to do here.”
Of course, the Sooners must keep winning. And there’s always the chance of a committee twist, like what occurred in 2014, when Ohio State beat Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten title game and jumped TCU for the final playoff berth.
But that was a different committee. This committee rewards offense as much as defense, and the Sooners have the lead on the Buckeyes in the final lap.