Riley: Wait until after the season for CFP rankings
Oklahoma plays at Baylor on Saturday night in the game that has the week's most impact on the College Football Playoff. The Sooners are 8-1, the Bears are 9-0. But while OU is ranked 10th, Baylor is ranked just 13th and even fell a spot in the playoff committee's rankings this week.
Baylor's dubious schedule is the culprit, along with the Bears' penchant for winning close games over inferior foes. Baylor needed double overtime to beat Texas Tech, triple overtime to survive TCU and a 17-14 final to beat West Virginia. The Big 12 has five top-25 teams. Texas Tech, TCU and West Virginia are not in that group.
All of which puts OU in a dubious situation Saturday night. The Sooners, crazy as it seems, probably would increase their stock more in the committee's eyes if it beats Baylor in a close game rather than in a blowout.
If the Sooners win 31- 24, the committee's mindset could be, hey, Baylor's pretty good. Better than we thought. Nice win for Oklahoma.
But if the Sooners win 52-24, the committee's mindset apparently
will be, yeah, just as we thought. Baylor's not that good.
It's crazy. Don't you think it's crazy, Lincoln Riley?
“Maybe, maybe not,” Riley said, not really buying the theory. “I still think the playoff deal is new enough that I don't know that we know yet.”
Riley's solution? Stop doing weekly rankings. Just go like the basketball committee used to do it. Meet at the end and vote.
Extra points
• Marvin Mims Jr., a threestar wide receiver from Frisco (Texas) Lone Star announced his commitment to the Sooners. Mims is the 18th commitment
of the 2020 class for OU and the second receiver, joining Trevon West, who is also from the Dallas area. • Caleb Kelly, who has made 37 career starts at linebacker for OU, has been cleared for a couple weeks and could be with the team this weekend at Baylor, Riley said.
• Alex Grinch is one of three Big 12 football coordinators to be nominated for the 2019 Broyles Award, which honors college football's top assistant coach. The first-year OU assistant joins Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Snow and Iowa State offensive coordinator Tom Manning as nominees.