As the Super Bowl approaches, the Oklahoma Sooners will be well-represented in this year’s NFL championship game. Four Sooners will be playing for a shot at the title and the lines are drawn down the middle.
For the Los Angeles Rams, it’s offensive lineman Bobby Evans and edge rusher Ogbo Okoronkwo. Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine will represent the Sooners for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Sooners are tied with the Clemson Tigers (Brent Venables’ former team), the Washington Huskies, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Georgia Bulldogs for the second-most players playing in the Super Bowl. Those five schools sit behind the LSU Tigers and the Florida Gators. Aside from Washington and the absence of Alabama, that’s a who’s who of college football programs from the last decade.
Joe Mixon hasn’t been as productive as in the regular season when he finished as the second-leading rusher, but he’s been a workhorse for Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense. He’s carried the ball 42 times in the last three games, helping keep teams honest and taking some of the pressure off of Burrow. In the AFC Championship game, the Kansas City Chiefs bottled him up for the most part, but he was able to rip off a few big runs, and his work in overtime put the Bengals in position to win the game on Evan McPherson’s field goal.
Samaje Perine hasn’t received the same workload as Mixon, but his 41-yard touchdown reception on a screen pass got Cincinnati back in the game when it was down 21-3 with halftime looming. That touchdown gave the Bengals life, and they overcame the 11-point halftime deficit to earn their place in the Super Bowl.
On the Rams’ side, Okoronkwo has found a way to make an impact as a rotation edge rusher behind Von Miller and Leonard Floyd. In 12 snaps for Los Angeles, Ogbo had two total tackles and a pressure as Los Angeles came back to beat the San Francisco 49ers.
The end of the NFL season is right around the corner. We get one more Sunday to witness meaningful football before the offseason fully sets in. If you’re not a fan of either team, you’ll have Sooners to choose from on either side in Super Bowl LVI.
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