How Oklahoma Could Still Make the Big 12 Championship Game
Oklahoma played with fire in Provo, UT, on Saturday and found a way to squeak out a much needed conference win.
Against a BYU team that has struggled mightily adjusting to the Big 12 and closed as 24-point underdogs, it shouldn’t have been as close as it was. But the important thing stands: Oklahoma stayed alive.
With a win over BYU, the Sooners now sit at 9-2 overall with a chance to get to 10 wins in Norman this Friday. Dropping two games to Oklahoma State and Kansas was certainly disappointing, but a 10-win season would be an impressive turnaround after going 6-7 a season ago.
The not so good news for Sooner fans is the fact that they got no help whatsoever on Saturday.
Oklahoma State beat Houston on the road, Texas handled business in Ames against Iowa State and Kansas State knocked off the Jayhawks once again.
It looked like the Sooners had life on multiple occasions Saturday. Houston took a 23-9 lead on the Cowboys in the first half, and Texas was in a 6-3 battle with the Cyclones at halftime. Both teams prevailed however, lowering Oklahoma’s Big 12 title chances significantly.
The conference championship picture hasn’t changed much from Oklahoma’s perspective. The Sooners still need an Oklahoma State loss or a Texas loss. With the Longhorns knocking off Iowa State, it makes a Texas loss a bit more complicated though. Here’s how the Sooners could shake up to finish out the season:
FIRST with a win over TCU, Texas loss and Oklahoma State loss.
SECOND with a win over TCU, Texas win and Oklahoma State loss.
SECOND with a win over TCU, Texas loss, Oklahoma State win and Kansas State loss.
Oklahoma’s most likely path to the Big 12 Championship game is still reliant on Oklahoma State losing. The Cowboys play BYU in Stillwater on Saturday, and will likely be heavy favorites.
Oklahoma State can clinch a spot with a win over BYU plus a Texas win over Texas Tech. This scenario would end in a three-way tie for second with Oklahoma and Kansas State. With the league’s updated tiebreaker, Oklahoma State would advance to Arlington because the Cowboys beat both of those teams.
All Texas has to do is win on Saturday and they're in.
If Texas Tech somehow knocks off the Longhorns, it would be peak Big 12 chaos. There would be a four-way tie, and it would be matchup dependent on the other three teams in the tie to determine who advances to the championship game.
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