ORANGE IS ALL CRIMSON
Decision-makers treat Oklahoma well
College football’s decision-makers sided with the Sooners on Sunday. In other news, the sun rose in the East and the ocean met the shore.
Oklahoma will play Alabama in an Orange Bowl semifinal on December 29; the Sooners edged Georgia and Ohio State for the right to meet Godzilla.
Oklahoma football being treated well by the sport’s peculiar postseason is a timehonored institution. AP poll voters, the BCS computer programmers, the 13-member College
Football Playoff committee. They all love the Sooners. Have for going on 70 years.
Postseason decisions have been very, very good for the Sooners, who to be fair have been very, very good to themselves. This year, for example, OU rallied after that Oct. 6 loss to Texas and put itself in position to be picked by the committee.
“Really, really proud of our guys for fighting through and being able to find a way to win the Big 12 and get back to the Orange Bowl,” Lincoln Riley said Sunday on an Orange Bowl teleconference.
Of course, it’s time the Sooners won one of these playoff games. They’ve lost five straight in either the two-team or four-team format. Last victory was 18 years ago, over Florida State in that 13-2 Orange Bowl that seems 118 years ago.
The committee’s crush on the Sooners can’t last forever. At some point, OU needs to justify its inclusion in the playoff, even if the double-overtime Rose Bowl last January went a long way to debunking the theory that the Sooners played inferior football.
You saw it this season with the committee. There was little bashing of the OU defense, without quickly lauding the Kyler Murray offense.
“Sure, that's part of the debate, is how do you evaluate a team that has a historic offense and maybe a defense that doesn't match that?” said the committee chairman, Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens. “And so there's a lot of different ways to win football games.”
The next time you hear someone complain about SEC hype or Big Ten influence, the next time you feel slighted out here on the college football prairie, remember this selection. Remember the staying power of Sooner favor over the years.
Since the 1949 AP poll awarded the national championship to 9-0 Notre Dame over the 10-0 Sooners, OU’s greatest team ever, hardly ever have the Sooners been slighted.
In 1950, the 9-0 Sooners won the national title over 8-0 Army, no small decision in the Red Blaik era. In 1955, the 10-0 Sooners were voted in over 10-0 Maryland. In 1956, it was the 10-0 Sooners over 10-0 Tennessee.
There were a couple of disappointments. In 1954, the 10-0 Sooners were ranked third behind 9-0 Ohio State and 9-0 UCLA. In 1978, the 11-1 Sooners were No. 3; 11-1 Alabama was the AP choice and 11-1 Southern Cal was the coaches choice.
Then came the BCS era, and blessings fell frequently on the Sooners. In 2003, OU was picked instead of Southern Cal for the title game. In 2004, OU made it instead of Auburn. In 2008, OU instead of Texas.
Anytime there’s been a debate, the Sooners usually have come out well, and always this century. Now it’s time for the Sooners to win more than just the debate.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel.