Where are Oklahoma and the Big 12 heading in latest bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports?

Where is Oklahoma heading in the latest bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports?

The regular season of college football has come and gone. Seems like only yesterday we had hopes of the Oklahoma Sooners making a run for the Big 12 title. These last few months have flown in a flash.

But bowl projections are gaining more clarity with the regular season and only the conference championship games to come. After this weekend, we’ll know who the playoff participants are, but most bowl-eligible teams are pretty well locked into their games.

There could be some changes still, but here’s where USA TODAY Sports’ Erick Smith sees the Big 12 headed in his latest bowl projections.

Updated USA TODAY Sports bowl projections after Oklahoma’s win over Oklahoma State

The Oklahoma Sooners are bowl bound and headed for a reunion of sorts after their win over Oklahoma State. From @john9williams

Eight Big 12 teams are bowl bound after Oklahoma and Texas Tech picked up their sixth wins of the season on Saturday.

Though it hasn’t been the best season for the Sooners, they’ve gone 3-2 since their 0-3 start to Big 12 play and have a chance at an eight-win season if they’re able to win in Lubbock this Saturday and in their bowl matchup.

Only Iowa State and West Virginia failed to qualify for the postseason. TCU looks bound for the College Football Playoff, and Kansas State has a New Year’s Six bowl in their sites after a strong season.

Though a lot can still happen over the final two weeks of Big 12 play, here are the latest Big 12 bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports.

Sooners playing in the postseason in latest bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports

Where are the Oklahoma Sooners headed in USA TODAY Sports’ latest bowl projections?

The Oklahoma Sooners have two games remaining in the 2022 season. Two more opportunities to put their best foot forward as Brent Venables and his staff build toward the future.

On Saturday night in Norman, they can take a positive step in that direction. They can end a two-game losing streak and eliminate their in-state rival, Oklahoma State, from Big 12 contention. More significantly, for Oklahoma, they can earn an opportunity to play one more game with their sixth win.

Though simply making it to a bowl game isn’t good enough, that’s the last remaining measuring stick the team can use to evaluate its 2022 season. Whether it’s this week against Oklahoma State or next week in primetime against Texas Tech, Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports believes the Sooners will play in a bowl game.

Let’s see where his latest projections are taking the Sooners, the rest of the Big 12, and what the College Football Playoff field looks like.

Sooners playing in the postseason in latest bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports

Where are the Oklahoma Sooners headed in USA TODAY Sports’ latest bowl projections?

The Oklahoma Sooners have two games remaining in the 2022 season. Two more opportunities to put their best foot forward as Brent Venables and his staff build toward the future.

On Saturday night in Norman, they can take a positive step in that direction. They can end a two-game losing streak and eliminate their in-state rival, Oklahoma State, from Big 12 contention. More significantly, for Oklahoma, they can earn an opportunity to play one more game with their sixth win.

Though simply making it to a bowl game isn’t good enough, that’s the last remaining measuring stick the team can use to evaluate its 2022 season. Whether it’s this week against Oklahoma State or next week in primetime against Texas Tech, Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports believes the Sooners will play in a bowl game.

Let’s see where his latest projections are taking the Sooners, the rest of the Big 12, and what the College Football Playoff field looks like.

Latest bowl projections for Oklahoma and the Big 12 from CBS Sports

After week 11 action, who’s going bowling in CBS Sports latest projections for the Big 12. From @john9williams

“Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs. You kidding me? I hope we just can win a game.”

One of the great all-time coach rants from former Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Mora feels apt for the Oklahoma Sooners regarding bowl expectations.

After the Sooners won two in a row over Kansas and Iowa State, they moved to one game from bowl eligibility. Since then, they’ve had a two-game losing streak to Baylor and West Virginia that’s clouded the hopes for the rest of the season.

Oklahoma can certainly win each of their final two games. Still, they’ll have to execute far better than they did on Saturday against West Virginia to beat Oklahoma State or Texas Tech n the final two games of the season.

Oklahoma State’s defense is beginning to come on strong and in the same way, Texas Tech’s offense is playing good football of late. While Oklahoma may be favored in both games, the Sooners aren’t a team that can take anyone lightly. So much of what happens over the final two games will come down to execution. If Oklahoma can minimize mistakes or unforced errors like Dillon Gabriel misses and Marvin Mims drops, they should be able to finish the season on a high note.

The operative word being, “should.”

Let’s take a look at CBS Sports latest bowl projections for Oklahoma and the Big 12.

Updated Oklahoma and Big 12 bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports

A look at the latest bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports after week 10’s action.

Despite the loss to Baylor last Saturday, there’s still a strong probability that the Oklahoma Sooners will go bowling in 2022. It won’t be a New Year’s Six bowl like many projected to start the season, but Oklahoma will likely get another game that helps them build toward the 2023 season.

As things stand now, USA TODAY Sports’ Erick Smith projects eight Big 12 teams to bowl games. Iowa State is back in the bowl hunt after their win over West Virginia. The Cyclones are 4-5 with games against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and TCU remaining. With their defense, picking up wins in two of their final three seems reasonable.

For the Sooners, they need just one more win to be bowl eligible. Their final three against West Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech each have the potential to be winnable games, but if there isn’t any improvement on defense, they could also be losable games.

Where are Oklahoma and the Big 12 headed in USA TODAY Sports latest Bowl Projections?

Seven Big 12 teams are bowling in USA TODAY Sports’ latest Bowl Projections. Where are the Oklahoma Sooners headed?

At this point through the Big 12 schedule, the TCU Horned Frogs are the last team in the conference with a shot at playing for a national championship. Though they don’t have a ranked team on the remainder of their schedule, the Big 12 championship, assuming they get there unscathed, will be the last shot for the Horned Frogs to stake their claim to a College Football Playoff spot.

The reality is the Horned Frogs may need a lot of help to get to the playoff. As USA TODAY Sports’ Eddie Timanus described in his week nine overreactions, the Horned Frogs’ schedule doesn’t do them any favors.

As for the Horned Frogs, they handled their business at West Virginia, but their non-conference achievements are unexceptional and the remainder of their Big 12 slate affords them no opportunities for top-tier wins except possibly on championship weekend. Would the résumé of an unbeaten ACC or Big 12 champion automatically be viewed as superior to, say, a one-loss SEC or Big Ten runner-up, or a 12-1 Oregon team with only that season-opening loss to Georgia marring a clean Pac-12 record? – Timanus, USA TODAY Sports

Being undefeated may not be enough for TCU. They’ll need to be impressive down the stretch and in the Big 12 title game, which would be their last shot at a ranked win before the playoff committee decides which teams will vie for the national championship.

Elsewhere, USA TODAY Sports Erick Smith projected seven Big 12 teams to land in bowl games this season. Let’s take a look at who’s going bowling.

Sooners fall out of playoff in USA TODAY Sports’ latest bowl projections

Where are the Oklahoma Sooners heading in USA TODAY Sports’ latest bowl projections after the loss to Kansas State?

The reaction after a loss, particularly a home loss, is never pretty for high-profile college football programs. The Oklahoma Sooners are feeling the effects of that reaction after a loss at home to Kansas State.

In Erick Smith’s latest bowl projection’s for USA TODAY Sports, the Sooners have fallen out of the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six entirely.

Their landing spot? A date with Wake Forest at the Cheez-it Bowl. Clemson has taken Oklahoma’s spot in the playoff in these new projections.

The big loser this week is the Sooners, who drop all the way out of the New Year’s Six with the first defeat of the Brent Venables era. They might still be the best team in the Big 12, but its hard to project winning the league with one home loss already. – Erick Smith, USA TODAY

This is not an unfair assessment from Smith.

While I could voice displeasure after such a sharp fall for the Sooners, these projections are following the same trend that every other ranking has. Such as the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and the AP Poll.

There’s hope that the Sooners turn it around against TCU this week and take care of the Longhorns next week. Otherwise, this projection is going to stick.

Here’s the thing about these weekly projections: they’re very volatile. This was what Smith had to say after week three.

A few convincing wins are the best remedy for unflattering places in the polls and bowl projections. The Oklahoma Sooners have an opportunity to right the ship over the next few weeks with with games at TCU, vs. Texas in the Red River Showdown, and at home against the resurgent Kansas Jayhawks.

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Oklahoma remains in CFP spot in CBS Sports updated bowl projections after UTEP win

CBS Sports updated bowl projections after week one put the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Oklahoma entered the 2022 season as a relative unknown. Media opinions on the Sooners varied before the start of the season, with some believing Oklahoma may be overrated and not a threat for the Big 12 championship. On the flip side, there were whispers of intrigue and confidence that with Brent Venables’ hire as head coach, they were legitimate darkhorse contenders to make the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019.

Nothing that happened in week one for Oklahoma should move the needle one way or another regarding that debate.

The Sooners remain steadfast as a projected participant in the College Football Playoff against Alabama per CBS Sports’ latest bowl projections after week one.

Before the season, a few CBS Sports experts tabbed Oklahoma as a CFP participant in their bowl projections. After Oklahoma’s dominating win over UTEP, they remain in the fourth spot, with Alabama projected as the one seed.

The two would meet in the Peach Bowl, a place that was an actual “House of Horrors” for the Sooners the last time Oklahoma played in a College Football Playoff game. The Sooners were destroyed by eventual national champion LSU in a historic rout.

Oklahoma has a lot to work on before considering a playoff date with college football’s biggest giant, but the seeds of greatness have been sown. Keep winning, and the rest will take care of itself.

Oklahoma’s path to the playoff could include three top 25 wins. That is, if Texas, Oklahoma State, and Baylor remain ranked throughout the season. That’s in the future, and if you let Brent Venables tell it, it’s the last thing he’s worried about. Oklahoma’s focus is on their Saturday evening date with Kent State.

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Oklahoma takes on Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl in ESPN’s latest bowl projections

Where’s Oklahoma headed in ESPN’s latest bowl projections for the 2022 season?

With just 12 days until Oklahoma takes the field in Norman against UTEP, projections and predictions for the season are in high gear. Rosters and position battles are being won left and right, and the outlook for each team’s season is becoming more clear. All that’s left is to do the most important part: play the games.

ESPN’s taking the liberty of protecting the bowls and CFP matchups for the 2022 season (ESPN+).

Oklahoma’s projected matchup pits it against an old foe it will reunite with when it joins the SEC. Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M Aggies are projected to take on Oklahoma in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

A&M’s schedule features a significant Top 25 matchup against the Miami Hurricanes, which is a better nonconference test than Oklahoma’s matchup with Nebraska. A&M faces the tougher conference schedule with Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss.

A matchup for these former Big 12 rivals would be their first matchup since the 2013 Cotton Bowl. That game featured high-powered offenses led by Johnny Manziel and Landry Jones. A&M came out on top, 41-13, outscoring Oklahoma, 27-0, in the second half to pull away.

A trip to the Allstate Sugar Bowl in his first year as head coach would be a very nice start for Brent Venables, considering the amount of turnover the Sooners went through since the end of last season.

Double-digit wins (a possible Big 12 Championship) and a New Year’s Six bowl against an SEC opponent would be a great start to the Venables era in Norman.

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