A Look at Oklahoma's SEC Tournament Scenarios Heading Into Final Weekend of Regular Season

NORMAN — Heading into the final weekend of the conference race, Oklahoma controls its own destiny in the Southeastern Conference.

Tennessee gave the Sooners even more wiggle room by beating Alabama on Sunday and Monday to take the series and put the Crimson Tide two games behind Oklahoma in the SEC standings.

The Sooners (46-6, 18-3 SEC) can take the top seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Lexington, Ky., by winning at least one game of their three-game series at Texas A&M, which opens on Thursday in College Station, Texas.

Tiebreakers among the teams most likely to end up tied with the Sooners — Alabama and Florida — are favorable for OU.

Oklahoma would win a head-to-head tiebreaker with Alabama.

The two teams didn’t play this season and their play vs. common opponents is wrapped up and ended in identical records against each opponent.

The Sooners and Alabama swept Ole Miss, Auburn and Kentucky and took two of three from Arkansas and Texas.

So a two-team tiebreaker between the two would come down to runs allowed vs. those common opponents.

The Crimson Tide allowed 44 runs in those games, while Oklahoma allowed 43.

The Sooners would also win a three-way tiebreaker with Alabama and Florida, as the Gators dropped their series against Arkansas while the Crimson Tide and Oklahoma won two out of three vs. the Razorbacks.

That would leave the Sooners and Alabama in a two-way tiebreaker, once again giving the Sooners the edge.

That series against Arkansas is also what gives the Sooners the head-to-head tiebreaker with Florida as the highest-seeded common opponent between the two.

The only scenario where the tiebreakers get messy for Oklahoma is if Texas A&M sweeps the Sooners.

That would leave OU in a tie with Texas A&M, and could drop them behind Alabama and Florida and bring Texas into the mix as well.

There are several tiebreaking scenarios should that happen.

Alabama finishes the regular season at home against South Carolina, Florida plays at Georgia, and Texas hosts Arkansas.

Those include a five-way tie between the Sooners, Aggies, Gators, Crimson Tide and Longhorns; four-way ties involving OU, Texas A&M, and two of Alabama, Florida, and Texas; and three-way ties involving the Sooners and Aggies plus either Florida or Alabama.

The SEC tiebreakers for three or more teams start with winning percentage against the other tied teams, then move to win-loss percentage against the highest-seeded common opponent before moving to fewest runs allowed against common opponents (unless all teams played, which wouldn’t be the case here), and finally fewest runs allowed vs. all opponents.

As tiebreakers eliminate teams, the procedure begins again until the tie is reduced to two.

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Remaining SEC Schedule

All series run Thursday-Saturday
Arkansas at Texas
Auburn at LSU
Florida at Georgia
Mississippi State at Ole Miss
Oklahoma at Texas A&M
South Carolina at Alabama
Tennessee at Missouri

SEC Tournament Schedule

All times Central
At Lexington, Ky.
May 6
Game 1: No. 11 vs. No. 14, Noon (SEC Network)
Game 2: No 10 vs. No. 15 Kentucky, 3 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 3: No. 12 vs. No. 13, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)
May 7
Game 4: No. 6 vs. Game 1 winner, 10 a.m. (SEC Network)
Game 5: No. 7 vs. Game 2 winner, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 6: No. 5 vs. Game 3 winner 4 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 7: No. 8 vs. No. 9, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
May 8
Game 8: No. 3 vs. Game 4 winner, 10 a.m. (SEC Network)
Game 9: No. 2 vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 10: No. 4 vs. Game 6 winner, 4 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 11: No. 1 vs. Game 7 winner, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
May 9
Game 12: Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 13: Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
May 10
Game 14: Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner, 4 p.m. (ESPN)

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