Why Sooners were picked by committee
GRAPEVINE, TEXAS — The genesis of Oklahoma’s 2018 College Football Playoff berth came in 2016.
More than two years ago, consultants charged with advising the Big 12 on — among other things — a championship game, told Big 12 officials that the addition of a title game would increase the league’s chances of a playoff berth by 14 percent.
The Sooners fell inside that margin this year, edging out Georgia and Ohio State for the No. 4 spot after a “contentious” debate that went
deep into that night Saturday and stretched into Sunday morning.
No. 4-ranked Oklahoma will face No. 1 Alabama in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29 (7 p.m., ESPN). Clemson and Notre Dame will meet in the other semifinal.
It was the “13th data point” of the Sooners’ 39-27 win over Texas on Saturday night that tipped the scales.
“Getting the extra game against a quality opponent helps,” College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock said, also pointing out the risk that comes with playing such games. “It’s interesting that most of the time, the reward has happened and the risk has not in conference championship games since we’ve had CFP ... It helped the Big 12 this time.”
Hancock and committee chairman Rob Mullens said the debate was tight between the three teams in the mix for the final playoff berth.
Mullens said the committee had to “go to the protocol” to determine the razor-thin differences between the Sooners, Bulldogs and Buckeyes.
Georgia had the strength of schedule, having played an SEC slate that featured wins over No. 10 Florida, No. 14 Kentucky and No. 23 Missouri. But the Bulldogs were beaten badly by LSU, 36-16, and fell to Alabama in the SEC title game Saturday, 35-28.
Ohio State had the marquee win of the three, blowing the doors off No. 7 Michigan 62-39. The Buckeyes, though, were blown out 49-20 by Purdue, and their inconsistent play in other games hurt them in the eyes of the committee.
Oklahoma’s lone loss coming in close fashion, 48-45, to Texas on Oct. 6 and the Sooners making up that defeat with Saturday’s win over the Longhorns for the title put OU over the top.
Mullens said the meetings were as contentious as he’s seen during his time on the committee, though Hancock also noted that it remained professional even when there were disagreements — and there were plenty of those.
Their discussions went on until around 1:30 Sunday morning and after a short break of less than six hours for sleep, the committee hashed things out until only about 30 minutes before the start of the announcement show at 11 a.m. Sunday.
“That’s the beauty of this setup, right? You have 13 diverse backgrounds with a different set of experiences and a different set of opinions,” Mullens said. “And when you can get those 13 passionate experts in a room with a system that supports rigorous, candid debate, you get the best results.”
Sunday, that meant Oklahoma in the playoffs while Georgia and Ohio State are left on the outside.