There seems to be little doubt that our local OU and OSU teams will end up in the Sugar and Alamo Bowls respectively and the likely opponents are Auburn and Colorado. Anything can happen, but those teams aren't as daunting as some they have faced recently.

Penn State certainly gave the playoff committee something to think about before making their final decision. Should they put in Ohio State over a team that they lost to and who also won their conference championship? Alabama, Clemson, and Washington seem to be safely in.

agreed... if there is any question, it's penn state or ohio state. if i had to bet, i'd think that ohio state gets the nod with their one loss and larger fan base.

agreed... if there is any question, it's penn state or ohio state. if i had to bet, i'd think that ohio state gets the nod with their one loss and larger fan base.

I have little doubt it will be Ohio State over Penn State but it calls into question what criteria they are using to make their decisions. I think things like this are what will hasten an eventual 8 team playoff. With that they can virtually guarantee that the champion of all 5 major conferences will be in along with the best of the rest.

So three seasons of the playoff and one nod for the Big 12. ACC has been in every year. It seems that the SEC and Big 10 will likely be a lock every year no matter what. Can only imagine the crying if one of those two were left out. It appears that the final spot each year is going to come down to whomever had a better champ between the Pac 12 and Big 12. Pretty sad.

OU would have been the Big 12 team to be in the playoffs. The 4 teams that are there deserve it more than we do. And I don't like saying that. They all have better records. Alabama is, well, Alabama. Ohio State beat us. Washington had a great season ending with looking very good against Colorado. Clemson was 2 points from being unbeaten. Which of these four should be out to make a place for OU?

Baylor got the Big 12 off to an unexpected good start tonight with a dominating win over a Boise State team that was a touchdown favorite. Especially unexpected was holding Boise to one touchdown and 12 points after giving up a ton of points in the Big 12.

It's a mixed bag for the Big 12 today as West Virginia laid an absolute egg on both offense and defense in loosing to Miami. And K State made the Big 12 undefeated so far in the bowls against the SEC in their win over the Aggies.

KSU looked pretty solid. I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Snyder rides off into the sunset on that high note.

That was a very impressive performance tonight by OSU, especially on defense. How is that possible since all the national media assure us that the Big 12 can't play defense.
:wink:
It should put OSU in the Top 10 in final polls. A lot can still happen, but the vaunted SEC is now 1 and 4 in bowls and the Big12 is 3 and 1. All of the Big 12 winners were underdogs.

The only surprise in the playoff is the ease with which Clemson dispatched Ohio State. I think the two best teams will be there. Loses by Michigan and Ohio State to Florida State and Clemson are now pointing towards the ACC being the best conference this year. The SEC is still up there but overall they aren't the best.

Ummm......

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/12/31/14137312/clemson-ohio-state-grab-christian-wilkins-fiesta-bowl-2016

Another great Sugar Bowl win for OU over the SEC. So much for the SEC being more physical (at least as far as OU is concerned). Also the Rose Bowl was one for the ages. It was at least the best since Texas beat USC for the national title. Maybe the 52 to 49 score will have the national media concerned about the Pac !2 and Big 10 not playing any defense, instead of the Big 12.

Bruce Feldman tweeted the points allowed per game for bowls for the Power Five:

Big12: 21.5
ACC: 22.3
SEC: 25.4
Pac12: 29.2
B1G: 29.8

Link to original tweet: https://twitter.com/BruceFeldmanCFB/status/816299461215256576

Funny how the Big XII defenses looked much better when they weren't playing high-powered offenses from their own conference.

Samaje Perine announces he's entering NFL draft

Link (https://twitter.com/search?q=samaje+perine+nfl&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ese arch)

Although the Big12 numbers look good for the bowls remember that the big12 is playing down 1 slot per team. What I mean is that OU the #1 team in the big12 faced #2 SEC team. OSU #2 in big12 faced PAC12's #3 team.
Had OU faced Bama, and OSU faced USC, I think both outcomes would have been much different

Although the Big12 numbers look good for the bowls remember that the big12 is playing down 1 slot per team. What I mean is that OU the #1 team in the big12 faced #2 SEC team. OSU #2 in big12 faced PAC12's #3 team.
Had OU faced Bama, and OSU faced USC, I think both outcomes would have been much different

No.

Colorado #2 in Pac 12. Played in Conference Championship (it could be argued that USC was better, but Colorado won more conference games so...)
I thought most of the other teams were pretty evenly matched. The other conferences are much larger, so 3rd in ours is like 5th and 6th in some others.

Only OU "played down" by not getting a conference champ opponent.

No.

Colorado #2 in Pac 12. Played in Conference Championship (it could be argued that USC was better, but Colorado won more conference games so...)
I thought most of the other teams were pretty evenly matched. The other conferences are much larger, so 3rd in ours is like 5th and 6th in some others.

Only OU "played down" by not getting a conference champ opponent.

COL was the #3 school in the PAC 12 period. Playing in the conference championship game doesn't make you automatically #2.

Washington finished first in the North Division at 8-1. But they made the Championship series.

Colorado finished first in the South Division at 8-1.

USC finished second in the South Division at 7-2.

Not sure, but the polls had USC at 9 and Colorado at 10, probably due to the conference championship loss to Washington ? This may have been what determined which bowl they played in.

Washington finished first in the North Division at 8-1. But they made the Championship series.

Colorado finished first in the South Division at 8-1.

USC finished second in the South Division at 7-2.

Not sure, but the polls had USC at 9 and Colorado at 10, probably due to the conference championship loss to Washington ? This may have been what determined which bowl they played in.

The week prior to that loss to Washington, Colorado was 8 in the CFP and USC was 11. Basically flipped the next week, and the Rose Bowl committee largely uses the CFP poll to determine it's selections.

It's obviously difficult to determine who is "playing better now", but Colorado on the whole had a better season. Had losses to a highly ranked Michigan & USC team up to the Bowl Season. While USC had losses a dominant Alabama, and then what turned out to be losses to two teams that finished third in their respective divisions of the Pac 12. Generally speaking I wouldn't think that qualifies you for the Rose Bowl, but it must have been a rough year for the Pac 12 as well. I seem to think parity is setting in a bit, outside of two schools. The Pac 12 has teams like Colorado and Washington leading the way. Big 12 has had runs from Baylor and TCU. Makes it more interesting. And that much harder to keep your gig as a coach I would bet.

Big 12 acquitted itself very well in the bowls this year. WVa really showed itself to be a bit of fool's gold, however. Miami really handled them, although I strongly suspect they put a *lot* of their emotional eggs as it were into the basket of playing OU, and OU dismantled them fairly easily. I think they kinda phoned things in after that.

I don't think you'd find too many teams playing significantly better than OU as the season ended. Amid all the discussion about bad B12 defenses, which I'm not saying is entirely unwarranted, it was gratifying to see a Rose Bowl with a Pac12/Big10 matchup rolling up 101 points.

I don't know what in the world happened to Ohio State, but it seems they played their very best game against us and went downhill the rest of the year. Who in the world would have predicted a 31-0 blowout loss to Clemson???

COL was the #3 school in the PAC 12 period. Playing in the conference championship game doesn't make you automatically #2.

Colorado was passed up by USC bc they were hot and have more fans. This is how bowl selection works.

The King is dead. Congrats to Clemson for knocking off Bama in a great championship game.

Brent Venables is a championship DC. Congratulations to him, and boo OU we got stuck with Mikey

Big 12 acquitted itself very well in the bowls this year. WVa really showed itself to be a bit of fool's gold, however. Miami really handled them, although I strongly suspect they put a *lot* of their emotional eggs as it were into the basket of playing OU, and OU dismantled them fairly easily. I think they kinda phoned things in after that.

I don't think you'd find too many teams playing significantly better than OU as the season ended. Amid all the discussion about bad B12 defenses, which I'm not saying is entirely unwarranted, it was gratifying to see a Rose Bowl with a Pac12/Big10 matchup rolling up 101 points.

I don't know what in the world happened to Ohio State, but it seems they played their very best game against us and went downhill the rest of the year. Who in the world would have predicted a 31-0 blowout loss to Clemson???

Nothing happened to Ohio St. OU sucks in big games against quality (non b12) opponents. Clemson kicked our arses twice, badly or did you forget. Several teams not 8-4 would have beaten OU

Nothing happened to Ohio St. OU sucks in big games against quality (non b12) opponents. Clemson kicked our arses twice, badly or did you forget. Several teams not 8-4 would have beaten OU
Not surprised by your comments. You are nothing if not consistent. I guess Ohio State also sucks in big games since they got it handed to them by Clemson.
Alabama beat Auburn by 18 points. OU beat them by 16 points when Auburn took a last second time out to score a meaningless touchdown. Obviously that means OU is severely inferior.

Nothing happened to Ohio St. OU sucks in big games against quality (non b12) opponents. Clemson kicked our arses twice, badly or did you forget. Several teams not 8-4 would have beaten OU

Here we go... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not surprised by your comments. You are nothing if not consistent. I guess Ohio State also sucks in big games since they got it handed to them by Clemson.
Alabama beat Auburn by 18 points. OU beat them by 16 points when Auburn took a last second time out to score a meaningless touchdown. Obviously that means OU is severely inferior.

Using this logic will lead everyone to the wrong conclusion EVERY SINGLE TIME!. It never works.

Nothing happened to Ohio St. OU sucks in big games against quality (non b12) opponents. Clemson kicked our arses twice, badly or did you forget. Several teams not 8-4 would have beaten OU

Vacuous argument as you obviously can't be disproven. Clemson did not "beat our arses" twice *this* season. Maybe they would have. Maybe they wouldn't. We'll never know. All I *do* know is that there's still a respectable talent gap between the two teams I saw on the field last night and what OU has right now. There were/are NFL guys ALL OVER that field last night. OU is getting more of them, and getting better production out of them, but DL and LB still need some work.

And if you think Ohio State finished the season playing as well as they did early in the year, you're fooling yourself. Go read some national writers who have said the same thing - and they started saying it well after OU was in their rear-view mirror and before their Clemson beatdown.

No, Auburn was no world-beater, but guess what - on a national stage in a major bowl, OU beat a quality SEC team with certainly one of that league's better defenses by double digits. Pretending that isn't a good finish is being nothing less than disingenuous. Is it winning the CFP? No, of course not, but any team that starts out 1-2 could have folded its tents and made this season an absolute disaster. Regardless of the quality of the conference, OU did all they could do after that bad start, and put a really nice bow on the package for the season.

If you want to gripe about a loss, gripe about Houston. That's a game, in retrospect, we really had no business losing.

Vacuous argument as you obviously can't be disproven. Clemson did not "beat our arses" twice *this* season. Maybe they would have. Maybe they wouldn't. We'll never know. All I *do* know is that there's still a respectable talent gap between the two teams I saw on the field last night and what OU has right now. There were/are NFL guys ALL OVER that field last night. OU is getting more of them, and getting better production out of them, but DL and LB still need some work.

And if you think Ohio State finished the season playing as well as they did early in the year, you're fooling yourself. Go read some national writers who have said the same thing - and they started saying it well after OU was in their rear-view mirror and before their Clemson beatdown.

No, Auburn was no world-beater, but guess what - on a national stage in a major bowl, OU beat a quality SEC team with certainly one of that league's better defenses by double digits. Pretending that isn't a good finish is being nothing less than disingenuous. Is it winning the CFP? No, of course not, but any team that starts out 1-2 could have folded its tents and made this season an absolute disaster. Regardless of the quality of the conference, OU did all they could do after that bad start, and put a really nice bow on the package for the season.

If you want to gripe about a loss, gripe about Houston. That's a game, in retrospect, we really had no business losing.

I agree with much of what you argued regarding the talent gap, my argument exactly. The facts remain the top programs today RECRUIT on a more consistent basis 4-5 star recruits. OSU, AL, Clemson FSU, are ALL ranked preseason ahead of OU. Ala is the odds on favorite for next year. OU is viewed today as OVERRATED, why, because when you leave the average competition of the b12, they get EXPOSED. Yes Ohio State got beat badly, but they beat the hell out of us. We fire a DC who goes on to lead a NC level defense for a DC that gave up xxxx pts to TT. Beating up on KS, KSU, ISU, OSU, TT, etc does not prepare a team to play against the elite of the B10 or SEC. Leave the mediocre top heavy B12 and you will see OU relegated to 2d tier like NE and MO amd overrated Colo. BS has his statue, he is not hungry. He is good coach, but elite?don't know. Current history suggests not, he has lost to Meyer, Miles, Sweeny,beat Saban in a non championship bowl.

Just to expound on some points above a little further:

The recruiting goes to the SEC and Clemson. Those teams had MEN out there that would spank 95% of the other schools. We're talking NFL ready recruits here. This is something that many people have been saying for the last decade about the Big12 and OU: they're not getting the 4 and 5 star recruits anymore. It's those players who in the 4th quarter have enough fuel in the tank to keep punishing the other team.

And Houston is what sunk OU. Had OU won that game and finished out their season the same way, we're talking OU at #4 or #5. My money would have been on #4 and seeing the playoffs for a second year in a row. Their resume would have been undeniable.

And in retrospect you see why games like that are so important.

^

To be fair, OU has 18 4-star commitments in the 2017 class so this is starting to change after a few down years in recruiting.

^

To be fair, OU has 18 4-star commitments in the 2017 class so this is starting to change after a few down years in recruiting.

This can't be stressed enough. This is potentially a *monster* class for OU. Biggest in a long time if it holds up.

This can't be stressed enough. This is potentially a *monster* class for OU. Biggest in a long time if it holds up.

Just may be the right time to elevate Lincoln Riley to head coach. You're more likely to see the 'monster' unleashed with Riley at the helm.

^

To be fair, OU has 18 4-star commitments in the 2017 class so this is starting to change after a few down years in recruiting.

Yea, it hasn't been like that consistently though. But a CFP appearance doesn't hurt. Amd beating an SEC team in a high profile bowl certainly helps. It's a good trend to keep. I'd like nothing more than to see Stoops and OU hoist another national champ trophy soon.

Just may be the right time to elevate Lincoln Riley to head coach. You're more likely to see the 'monster' unleashed with Riley at the helm.

I have believed for a long time that Stoops wants very much to win *one more* title at OU before stepping down. The 2017 class likely represents the foundation for his next best chance over the next three or four years. Good or bad, title or not, by then, I think he'll be done. And I think OU would be absolutely nuts not to do whatever it can to keep Riley to take over the reins when Bob does finally call it a career. It may be a tricky balance - it'll be very, very hard to keep Riley after next year unless he just wants to stay for the opportunity to follow Bob.

Yea, it hasn't been like that consistently though. But a CFP appearance doesn't hurt. Amd beating an SEC team in a high profile bowl certainly helps. It's a good trend to keep. I'd like nothing more than to see Stoops and OU hoist another national champ trophy soon.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I believe a good chunk of the higher-profile recruits (including Mixon) signed directly after that big Sugar Bowl win over Bama. So, yeah, a major bowl win over a quality opponent - even given that Auburn wasn't even a feint shadow of Bama - plays in those kids' minds.

One thing the OU 2017 class still needs? One or two big-time DL types. As good as it is, looking at our D-line and comparing it to those guys who were playing Monday night was a huge reminder how OU had slipped in that area the last few years. Been a long time since we had anyone like a Tommie Harris in there.

Just to expound on some points above a little further:

The recruiting goes to the SEC and Clemson. Those teams had MEN out there that would spank 95% of the other schools. We're talking NFL ready recruits here. This is something that many people have been saying for the last decade about the Big12 and OU: they're not getting the 4 and 5 star recruits anymore. It's those players who in the 4th quarter have enough fuel in the tank to keep punishing the other team.

And Houston is what sunk OU. Had OU won that game and finished out their season the same way, we're talking OU at #4 or #5. My money would have been on #4 and seeing the playoffs for a second year in a row. Their resume would have been undeniable.

And in retrospect you see why games like that are so important.

Resume undeniable? Pleez. How can a resume that includes perennial CFB 2d tier teams like ks, isu, tt, baylor, ksu even osu except the last 10 yrs compare with competing against usc, cal, asu, stanford, tam, ga, fla, mich, ne, oh st, mich st , wisc etc not even close

Resume undeniable? Pleez. How can a resume that includes perennial CFB 2d tier teams like ks, isu, tt, baylor, ksu even osu except the last 10 yrs compare with competing against usc, cal, asu, stanford, tam, ga, fla, mich, ne, oh st, mich st , wisc etc not even close

I'll summarize this theory:
A win over #15 Houston would have set up nicely.
A one loss OU (Big12 winner who finished #7) whose one loss would have been to a top four (at the time AND finishing) Ohio State.

It's really not that hard to surmise OU would have had a darn good chance at making the playoffs had they also beat Houston. A pre conference schedule that included two top 15 teams - one being a top 4, was the best pre-conf schedule in FBS. That would have been part of an undeniable resume.

I'll summarize this theory:
A win over #15 Houston would have set up nicely.
A one loss OU (Big12 winner who finished #7) whose one loss would have been to a top four (at the time AND finishing) Ohio State.

It's really not that hard to surmise OU would have had a darn good chance at making the playoffs had they also beat Houston. A pre conference schedule that included two top 15 teams - one being a top 4, was the best pre-conf schedule in FBS. That would have been part of an undeniable resume.

Getting to a playoff because you play a weak conference schedule is nothing to covet, because as we have seen, when OU plays against big boys they are outmanned and out toughed. Those are the facts I watched it live at the Orange bowl last year, OU was simply outmanned. Why can't fans be honest and go about trying to improve the roster across the board to compete outside the b12

Getting to a playoff because you play a weak conference schedule is nothing to covet, because as we have seen, when OU plays against big boys they are outmanned and out toughed. Those are the facts I watched it live at the Orange bowl last year, OU was simply outmanned. Why can't fans be honest and go about trying to improve the roster across the board to compete outside the b12

Kind of like Auburn this year or Alabama a couple years ago right ?

We fire a DC who goes on to lead a NC level defense for a DC that gave up xxxx pts to TT.

I'm not saying Bob hiring his brother back was the right move, but to be fair, Brent wasn't setting the world on fire when he was here either.