No title on line, but bowl implications left for Big 12

No. 4 Oklahoma, in the clubhouse at 11-1 with the outright Big 12 title secured thanks to a convincing win at Oklahoma State in the Bedlam showdown, appears to have its playoff position locked up as well.

No. 3 Oklahoma, by any reasonable assessment, should have clinched a berth in the College Football Playoff along with the Big 12 championship it earned with Saturday night’s 58-23 rout of No. 11 Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. “When we play to our best, we can go up with anybody in the country”. “No one knows they’re going to win it in January or at the start of September, but I knew we had a good football team – better than what we thought”. Since that increasingly head-scratching October 10 loss to Texas, the Sooners have beaten opponents by an average margin of 32.6 points.

Michigan State and Oklahoma were the only top six teams that pulled off impressive victories this past weekend.

Even Mayfield padded his Heisman stats with a couple of long runs including a 27-yard scamper, ending with a touchdown on over 70 yards as well – his third game in the past four with such a stat line. Stoops said the workout schedule would be light because the coaches are going to spend the next two weeks recruiting.

“But I had to grind it out for my team”, he said. “I’m never one to say any one guy is – there’s still some games to play here and all – but he has to be right up there to the top with everybody”.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech, who have all finished their regular seasons, are bowl bound.

Joe Mixon ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns, Samaje Perine had 131 yards and two scores, and Jordan Thomas intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown, for the Sooners. They big-played us, they broke tackles and they were able to rush the football and we weren’t.

It was just the third time the rivals have met when both ranked in the Top 10.

Oklahoma rolled to a 44-20 halftime lead.

As the clock ticked passed 11 p.m. Saturday, players admitted they need a break.

Credit is due for the defense that muffled both the unsafe QB duo of J.W. Walsh and Mason Rudolph, but the success of Lincoln Riley’s offense can not go unnoticed after coming full circle and then some in Stillwater.

Coach Mike Gundy said after the game that Rudolph had a foot injury, and he is questionable for the bowl game. The Sooners were just playing a different game in the first half.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for a modest 211 yards and ran for minus-five yards on 18 carries (including sacks). The Sooners rallied from a 17-3 fourth-quarter deficit to win 31-24 at Tennessee in overtime, and that was back when first-year offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley was still figuring things out.

“They pretty much outcoached us”, Cowboys defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah said. “They did a good job and they ran through us. I’m just humbled and speechless by what we’ve done, but we’re not done yet”.