Is Oklahoma a College Football Playoff contender after knocking off Texas

2023-10-08 05:46

With the Red River win over Texas, many people are calling Oklahoma a College Football Playoff contender going forward. How legit is the Sooners' case now?

Oklahoma faced its first real test in Dallas on Saturday in the Red River Showdown against rival Texas. They passed with flying colors.

The Sooners were able to secure a 34-30 win at the Texas State Fair. Now sitting at 6-0, fans in Norman and around the country will surely make the case that Oklahoma is now in the College Football Playoff picture.

OU still has Kansas and a better-than-expected West Virginia team on the regular season schedule. On the whole, though, the path is there to run the table. But the bigger question for the College Football Playoff hopes will be a likely Big 12 Championship rematch against the Longhorns.

What is Oklahoma's path to the College Football Playoff after beating Texas?

If the Longhorns end up winning out the rest of the way -- which ultimately seems likely -- a meeting at AT&T Stadium for the Big 12 Championship could also be for a spot in the Playoff.

There is a chance that game could be a meeting between 12-0 Oklahoma and 11-1 Texas, with the latter also having a win over Alabama to its credit. Because of that, there is a chance that a loss for the Sooners in the Big 12 title game to Texas might not end their CFP hopes. However, it's unclear if that would push them out of the field of four.

A big factor in that is what's happening in the rest of college football. With the SEC looking weak by its high standards this season, that conference might only get one team into the College Football Playoff. Then you have the Big Ten and Pac-12.

There are a host of contenders that appear to be real threats in the Big Ten as Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State could all make a run for a CFP spot. Moreover, there's a chance, as we saw last season, that the conference could get two teams into the playoff depending on how their head-to-head matchups transpire.

As for the Pac-12, they have three teams currently ranked inside the Top 10 with Oregon, Washington and USC. In recent years, however, we have seen the conference cannibalize itself and really only give themselves a chance to get one team into the field of four, if that.

For now, the best thing the Sooners can do for their College Football Playoff hopes is to take care of business for the remainder of the regular season. Do that, and they are playing for the Big 12 Championship which, if that ends up as a rematch with Texas, puts them in a great spot to make it into the final Top 4 at the end of the year.