To no one’s surprise, Oklahoma football dropped down five spots, to No. 13, in the College Football Playoff Rankings following a 27-14 loss to Baylor. The Sooners free fall in the CFP rankings was in line with the hit they took in both the Associated Press and Coaches weekly polls. Oklahoma is 12th this week […]
The Crimson & Cream fell five spots after losing to Baylor over the weekend.
The Oklahoma Sooners (9-1, 6-1) are coming off of a loss for the first time in more than a calendar year, and going into Week 12, the College Football Playoff committee has dropped OU down to No. 13 in this week’s CFP rankings.
November 1️⃣6️⃣ #CFBPlayoff Selection Committee Rankings
Along with Oklahoma suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday, four other ranked teams (No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 16 NC State, No. 17 Auburn and No. 19 Purdue) also fell in defeat. If you’ve been keeping track, ranked teams have been losing at a near-record pace through 11 weeks, which means you can probably expect that theme to continue as the parity in college football looks to be at an all-time high.
OU’s path to the College Football Playoff took a major hit last weekend, but a top four spot isn’t totally unrealistic. First and foremost, the Sooners have to win out as 12-1 Big 12 champs, and style points certainly won’t hurt. Additionally, they’ll need quite a bit of help around the nation. Let the annual tradition of scoreboard watching begin.
Mike Gundy’s Cowboys are inside the CFP’s top 10 for the first time in the playoff era. If both Sooner State teams win this weekend, there’s a chance college football could potentially be treated to back-to-back top 12 Bedlam matchups for the conference crown.
The Houston Cougars are in the top 25 after winning nine straight games following a season-opening loss to Texas Tech. The future Big 12 program is quietly surging toward the postseason as one of the top Group of Five programs in the nation.
All season long, the dike holding back the watershed that threatened to destroy the Oklahoma football season has been getting weaker and less resistant to a full-scale flood. To use the analogy of the little Dutch boy who legend has it saved his country by putting his finger in a hole in the dike, the […]
Men’s Oklahoma basketball is off to a 2-0 start to the 2021-22 season, and a big reason for that is the play of Eastern Washington transfer Tanner Groves. Groves, who may be best remembered in this part of the country for the 35 points he scored against Kansas in last year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, has […]
The Baylor Bears handed the the Oklahoma football team its first and worst loss of the season — so far — on Saturday. Even in a loss, it may not have been the Sooners’ worst performance of 2021, but it clearly was the most revealing. The way Oklahoma looked on Saturday, and with two equally […]
It turns out a quarterback change didn’t solve all of OU’s problems.
When freshman phenom Caleb Williams led the Oklahoma Sooners to a thrilling comeback win over the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Rivalry, it appeared at first blush that OU had fixed the offensive issues that plagued the team in the first half of the year. The fans calling for quarterback Spencer Rattler’s benching were vindicated: OU head coach Lincoln Riley had been holding his team back by not making the change behind center sooner.
We learned in the Sooners’ 27-14 loss to Baylor over the weekend that Riley had the right idea about taking things slow with Williams. (Shocking that someone who actually saw all of OU’s practices might have a better idea of what was best for the team than fans and commentators.)
Baylor head coach Dave Aranda and defensive coordinator Ron Roberts crafted a defensive game plan that flustered Williams from the jump. The Bears made little secret of the fact that they wouldn’t let the freshman QB run wild, penning him inside the pocket on drop backs and disguising blitzes. In fact, the second play of the game – an apparent QB draw that Baylor blew up for a six-years loss – signaled Williams would be in for a rough day.
Meanwhile, Williams struggled to execute the intermediate passing game, missing badly on a handful of throws to open targets. He looked shaky when the Bears took him off his first read. And, of course, his two interceptions resulted from horrendous decisions, including a lackadaisical effort to throw the ball away.
None of this means Riley needs to go back to Rattler behind center. The coach didn’t make a mistake when he inserted Williams into the Texas game. However, the move did trade one set of risks and limitations for others. Williams fortifies the OU ground game and can use his mobility to make plays Rattler can’t. On the other hand, the Sooners have to live with some youthful mistakes and trim the playbook to accommodate Williams’ short tenure in Norman.
Williams remains a fantastic QB prospect who has saved the team multiple times this year, and having him in the lineup undoubtedly raises the team’s ceiling. He should have a decorated career as a Sooner. Against the Bears, he made a handful of rookie mistakes against a defense run by one of the best defensive strategists in college football. It simply serves as a reminder that Williams is learning on the job in a situation with no grace period to acclimate.
Other notes from the Baylor game:
*Offensive line play around college football seems to be going through a fallow period, so the Sooners aren’t alone in this boat. Still, this current unit isn’t living up to OU-level expectations.
*I’ve made my complaints known about Riley’s drive management in field-goal range. I think it caught up with the Sooners yesterday.
OU’s first attempt came in the first quarter. On third down with four yards to go from the Baylor 34 yard line, Riley could have treated the situation as four-down territory. That would probably entail running on third down in hopes of either making the first down or setting up an easier conversion on fourth down. Instead, Williams threw an incompletion on a 10-yard route to tight end Brayden Willis. Kicker Gabe Brkic missed the ensuing 51-yard field goal. Brkic later missed a 40-yard try in the second quarter after the Williams threw an incompletion to Drake Stoops on third-and-two from the Baylor 23.
Once again: Riley having a kicker he trusts is as much curse as blessing.
*Baylor bludgeoned the Sooners with field position all day. On average OU started its possessions at its own 23. Baylor started at its own 35 on average. Six of the Bears’ 11 possessions started at their own 35 or better, including two in OU territory. OU’s best starting field position was its own 33.
*One of Baylor’s favorable starts came after Brkic booted a kickoff out of bounds, giving the Bears the ball at their own 35. It was one of a number of egregious penalties OU picked up. Notably, a taunting penalty given to nose tackle Perrion Winfrey in the third quarter turned third-and-seven on the OU 34 into a Baylor first down that eventually ended in points for the Bears.
*The OU defense appeared to clean up a number of issues during the bye week. Notably, the Sooners piled up 11 tackles for loss on 68 total offensive plays for the Bears. The dam eventually burst because OU’s offense couldn’t stay on the field, but can’t complain about the overall effort.
