Oklahoma’s goal is clear: Don’t get blown out by LSU in the College Football Playoff
The Oklahoma Sooners have a major timing issue, as once again they are good enough to win the Big 12 and reach the college football playoff but will lose their next game anyways.
When they had the quarterback(s), they didn’t have the defense. Now that they have a better defense, they don’t have the quarterback.
On Sunday morning, the College Football Playoff committee announced its BcS Plus 2 playoff teams, and the Oklahoma Sooners are deservedly the fourth seed.
No. 1 LSU (13-0) will play No. 4 Oklahoma (12-1) in the Peach Bowl at 3 p.m. on Dec. 28 in Atlanta.
No. 2 Ohio State (13-0) will play No. 3 Clemson (13-0) in the Fiesta Bowl at 7 p.m. on Dec. 28 in Glendale, Arizona.
Ohio State dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 after LSU crushed No. 4 Georgia in the SEC title game.
No. 5 Utah’s loss to Oregon in the Pac 12 title game on Friday night created a spot, which OU grabbed by defeating Baylor in overtime in the Big 12 title game.
Oklahoma earned this playoff spot. The goal now for the Sooners is to prove they can play with LSU.
I wrote back on Oct. 10, “We are in Year 6 of the playoff era, and one of the residual effects of the crooks who control college football’s monopoly is that their little postseason bracket created a divide within the structure of the Power 5.”
The 2019 season played out that way.
The Big 12 will have a playoff team for the fourth time in six seasons, and the league won’t have a playoff win since the format was adopted.
Oklahoma will be playing what is essentially a home game for LSU in Atlanta.
It didn’t matter what team the Sooners drew in the national semifinal game. As good as the Sooners are in 2019, and as much as their defense improved, the gap this season between the top three and the rest is too great.
LSU has scored at least 30 points in every game but one, a 23-20 win over Auburn.
As I predicted back before the season began, Oklahoma’s problem this season was the quarterback. Theirs is good. The top three quarterbacks are better.
Jalen Hurts did what he was supposed to do at Oklahoma when he transferred from Alabama.
He 70% of his passes with 32 touchdowns, ran for 18 touchdowns, and rushed for more than 1,000 yards. The man is in the playoff for the fourth straight year.
And he’s not as good as the other guys.
Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence has not lost a college start, is projected as a top NFL draft pick, and he’s not having the best season of the four quarterbacks who are in the playoffs. He threw for 3,172 yards with 34 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Ohio State’s Justin Fields, who began his career at Georgia, threw for 40 touchdowns, ran for 10 mores, and has thrown one interception this season.
LSU’s Joe Burrow, who began his career at Ohio State, is going to win the Heisman Trophy, and is the one man in the state of Louisiana who can defeat Donald J. Trump in an election.
LSU is not perfect, and it has a defense that will give up points.
Texas scored 38 on LSU in Week 2. LSU gave up 38 to a bad Vanderbilt team, and 37 to Ole Miss.
Oklahoma can score, and it will have to at least hit 40 to stay in a game with LSU.
Nothing about this matchup should appeal to Oklahoma other than the fact it made the playoffs again.
The best news here for Oklahoma and the Big 12 is that they are not the Pac 12. Or the vast majority of the ACC.
Both Oklahoma and the Big 12 should celebrate the Sooners are in again.
Maybe, if everything goes right, the Sooners will keep it close.
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 11:50 AM.
