Who and what Oklahoma Sooners fans need to be rooting for during the bye week for their chances at the College Football Playoffs
The Oklahoma Sooners are on a bye week right now. However, that doesn’t mean the fan base can’t still watch football and root for a few different teams and scenarios. The Sooners are currently ranked 12th, which means they would likely be one of the first two teams out in the College Football Playoffs. This […]
The Oklahoma Sooners are on a bye week right now. However, that doesn’t mean the fan base can’t still watch football and root for a few different teams and scenarios. The Sooners are currently ranked 12th, which means they would likely be one of the first two teams out in the College Football Playoffs. This is because a Group of Five team and the ACC Champion, both ranked behind OU, would also be eligible for the tournament.
There is some work to be done for the Sooners. However, they have plenty of time. If they win the games on their schedule, they’ll have a shot at getting in. If they lose one more game, it will be hard to make a case for a three-loss team to be in the playoffs.
So, who do Sooners fans root for and what games do they watch this week?
College Football Playoff Rankings
- No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes
- No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers
- No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies
- No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide
- No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs
- No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels
- No. 7 BYU Cougars
- No. 8 Texas Tech Red Raiders
- No. 9 Oregon Ducks
- No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- No. 11 Texas Longhorns
- No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners
Rooting guide for Sooners fans on their bye week
This weekend, the Sooners will be putting in work on the practice field and also watching a ton of football to see what happens while they’re off. They will be watching for any SEC teams ahead of them in the standings — Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, Ole Miss Rebels, Texas A&M Aggies, and the Texas Longhorns — to lose. Texas is also on a bye week, so that one is out of the equation. The Aggies will likely need two losses to drop below Oklahoma, but that is doable.
However, Georgia plays a scrappy Mississippi State team that should have beaten Texas, and Georgia seems to be in a close battle every single week. That game could see the Bulldogs lose, well, obviously, as both teams are the Bulldogs. But, you know what I mean. Ole Miss plays The Citadel, and while Ole Miss played some of their weaker opponents close this season, I just cannot see them losing to a school as small as The Citadel.
Alabama is set to play the LSU Tigers, a team with an interim head coach. That game between those two can always go either way. The Sooners will be rooting for the Tigers in that one, a week before they play Alabama. A&M plays the Missouri Tigers, a team the Sooners still have on their schedule, which is a game that could see Missouri win, but without their starting quarterback, it will be tough.
Those are all of the SEC games that Sooners fans need to be paying attention to, but there is much more for them to be watching than the SEC. This week, they are bound to move up a spot or two, as Texas Tech and BYU, two Big 12 teams, are above OU. They play one another, so someone has to drop — be watching that game, and hope it’s undefeated BYU who comes out on top, so a two-loss Tech team drops below OU.
Notre Dame, which shouldn’t be above OU, plays a 7-1 Navy team in a night game. That game could be interesting, and OU needs Navy, the team that beat them in the Armed Forces Bowl last season, to beat ND. No. 9 Oregon plays Iowa, which is No. 20 in the country. Oregon losing there would definitely put Oklahoma up into the playoff bracket.
There is so much going on this weekend despite the Sooners not playing.
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