Tag: college football playoff projections

Sooners just outside College Football Playoff in ESPN’s latest projection

In ESPN’s latest College Football Playoff projection, the Sooners are among the first four out.

The beginning of the 2024 season is 10 days away, and all of the talk and the gnashing of teeth about the Oklahoma Sooners entering the 2024 season will give way to actual football games.

The Sooners have quite the challenge ahead of them. Six of the teams on their schedule were ranked in the top 15 of the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll. It’s going to be as entertaining a season as we’ve had over the last 25 years with conference realignment and the expanded playoffs.

The Sooners schedule can be seen as both a positive and a negative. On the one side, it’s tough. Getting to 10 wins will be a challenge. On the other side of the coin, if the Sooners get to nine or 10 wins they’ll be a legitimate title contender.

But how many wins Oklahoma gets to is the question. Heather Dinich of ESPN thinks the Sooners miss the playoff as one of the first four out in her College Football Playoff projection for ESPN (ESPN+).

The Sooners will be better in Brent Venables’ third season — particularly on defense — but it won’t be reflected in their record because of a challenging first season in the SEC. OU has to replace all five starters on the offensive line and could have three or four road losses with trips to Auburn, Ole Miss, Mizzou and LSU. – Dinich, ESPN

Along with the Sooners in the first four out are the LSU Tigers, Missouri Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers. OU plays each of those teams.

No doubt road trips to Auburn, Oxford and Baton Rouge will be tough. The Sooners have had a great deal of success in Columbia and against Missouri with a 67-24-5 record all-time.

But Oklahoma will also have some tough home games when they welcome Tennessee and Alabama to town, and that doesn’t account for the Red River Rivalry, which is always a toss-up.

November could be a make-or-break month for the Sooners. They play Missouri, Alabama and LSU in the final month of the season. How they perform in those games could tell the tale of the 2024 college football season for the Sooners.

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Big 12 Bowl Projections: Sooners to face incoming and ascending Big 12 squad in Bowl Season

The Oklahoma Sooners will play a future Big 12 member in the latest Bowl Projections from USA TODAY Sports.

The regular season is over, and all that awaits before knowing OU’s bowl destination is championship weekend. The Oklahoma Sooners just missed out on the Big 12 title game. It’s the third season in a row that the Sooners won’t play for the conference title.

Things are improving at Oklahoma, but after running the Big 12 to the tune of 14 conference championships, it stings a bit not to be able to play for one more.

Still, 10-2 is better than 6-6. The Sooners are showing they’re a program on the right track as they get ready for the SEC. Recruiting is better on both sides of the ball and in 2023, we began to see glimpses of Brent Venables’ recruiting classes impacting the game.

In Oklahoma’s bowl game, we’ll likely get to see more of the youth the Sooners have added since Brent Venables’ arrival. Who will they play? Let’s take a look at the latest Big 12 Bowl Projections via USA TODAY Sports.

247Sports projects bowl matchups for 2023: Where does Ohio State go?

Is another trip to the College Football Playoff’s in store for the Buckeyes? #GoBucks

Spring football has ended and although we are still months away from the start of college football for the 2023 season, it hasn’t stopped 247Sports from projecting where [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] and every other school will end up during bowl season.

Brad Crawford had the difficult task of making these picks and we all know these are subject to change but it’s still fun to take a look at. Multiple factors can change the course of a season like injuries, suspensions, and mid-season transfers.

Find out below where 247Sports expects Ohio State to finish their season along with all the other teams making bowl games.

Who Desmond Howard projected to make the College Football Playoff

Maybe a wellness check on Howard is in order

There’s being a homer for your alma mater, and then there is Desmond Howard. Michigan was very good last year, they finally beat Ohio State, won the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff. It was a great season for the Wolverines but losing much of their top end talent should mean a bit of a drop off. Well, that’s not exactly how Howard sees it as he projected this seasons field of the CFP and selecting his former school and three other teams aren’t many other’s top choices either. Find out who else the ESPN analyst believes will be in college football’s final four this year.

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USA TODAY Sports’ predicts the College Football Playoff rankings. Where’s Oklahoma?

Ahead of the fourth release of the College Football Playoff rankings, where does USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerburg place the Sooners in his projections?

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After dropping their week 11 matchup with the Baylor Bears, the Oklahoma Sooners fell from eight in the first two College Football Playoff rankings to No. 13. The loss justified the committee’s positioning of the Sooners as a good team, but one they didn’t feel deserved to be in the top four because of their seemingly soft schedule.

A win over a good, but not great Iowa State team, changed the trajectory of this team a bit as they still have a chance to make the Big 12 title game and an outside shot at the College Football Playoff. Getting ready for the fourth release of the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night, Paul Myerburg of USA TODAY Sports set out to project how the top 25 might wind up.

In Myerburg’s projections, he has the Oklahoma Sooners moving on up to No. 9 after losses by top 10 ranked Michigan State, Oregon, and Wake Forcest dropped them from their lofty places among the nation’s best to outside the top 10.

Here’s what Myerburg had to say.

Getting back into the top 10 after topping Iowa State would be a big deal for the Sooners, who have the opportunity to notch two huge wins against the rival Cowboys in the next two weeks and be right on the verge of a playoff berth. It’ll take some help, but 12-1 OU would finish ahead of 11-1 Notre Dame and be ready to pounce should a dash of chaos accompany these last two weeks. – Myerburg

The Oklahoma Sooners were all but counted out a week ago after their loss to Baylor. It’s still an uphill climb for OU to reach the playoff, but like we saw last week, there’s still a bit of chaos that could unfold to allow the Sooners to make a run at the College Football Playoff.

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How does Oklahoma look in FiveThirtyEight’s latest College Football Playoff Projections?

After their 31 point win over the Red Raiders, how are the Sooners looking in FiveThirtyEight’s latest College Football Playoff Projections?

All is right with the world after the Oklahoma Sooners looked like the team many thought they’d be in their 52-21 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Sooners made plays on both sides of the football in their route of the Red Raiders.

It’s the type of performance that everyone’s been looking for from this Oklahoma team, and it was easily their most complete when of the year.

With the win, the Oklahoma Sooners see their chances of making the College Football Playoff improve from last week when they were given just a 45% chance to make the playoff by FiveThirty Eight. After the big win, FiveThirtyEight gives Oklahoma a 50% chance of making the College Football Playoff.

FiveThirtyEight, led by Nate Silver, uses statistical analysis for polling and predicting results. ESPN has used its analysis to predict the College Football Playoff participants, college football predictions, and bowl games for years. Yesterday, FiveThirtyEight released its College Football Playoff Projections, and the Oklahoma Sooners come in with the third-best chance to make the College Football Playoff.

The Sooners held firm at number three in FiveThirtyEight’s projections, but Cincinnati, Ohio State, Oregon, and Michigan State all saw their chances to make the playoff improve over the weekend.

With games coming up against Baylor, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State — and likely a rematch against either Baylor or Oklahoma State in the Big 12 championship — the road to a seventh-straight Big 12 championship won’t be smooth. Each of those teams has a strong defense and a strong running game that can gash a defense.

Though Oklahoma will have the quarterback edge in each of those games, Gerry Bohanon, Brock Purdy, and Spencer Sanders can get hot and make plays that can beat your defense.

The Georgia Bulldogs, the unanimous No. 1 team in the country, saw their chances of making the College Football Playoff improve from 72% to 78%. For them, it’s simple. Go undefeated heading into the SEC Championship game, and there’s a good chance that they make the College Football Playoff, even if they lose to the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama, who held steady in this week’s playoff projections from FiveThirtyEight, needs to win out and beat Georgia in the SEC title game to have a shot.

For the Oklahoma Sooners, it should be pretty straightforward. Stay undefeated and win the Big 12, and they’ll be in the playoff. There’s the potential for chaos, however, if Alabama beats Georgia in a close game, Cincinnati remains undefeated, and Michigan State wins the Big 10. The College Football Playoff Committee would have a very interesting decision to make.

As the initial College Football Playoff rankings will be released, we’ll find out how the committee feels about the 9-0 Sooners tonight. Those aren’t the final rankings, but they’ll provide a good indication of how the committee feels about the Oklahoma Sooners’ first nine games of the season.

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Where do the Oklahoma Sooners end up in latest Bowl Projections?

After Oregon’s loss and the Oklahoma Sooners win over Kansas State, where do the Sooners land in USA TODAY Sports’ latest bowl projections?

The Oklahoma Sooners have come under fire in 2021 for the lack of impressive wins on their undefeated resume. At 5-0, the Sooners are one of the best teams in the country despite four one-score wins over FBS competition.

Even though they keep winning, they keep sliding or getting jumped in both the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25. Not everyone is down on the Sooners despite another close win over Kansas State.

Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports updated his latest bowl projections after the Oregon Ducks’ loss at the hands of Stanford and has Oklahoma back in the College Football Playoff.

For now, the honor goes to Oklahoma, though the ground for the Sooners is shaky with their annual test against Texas coming Saturday. There also is Oklahoma State and possibly Iowa State looming later in the season and Oklahoma has been living on the edge in its previous wins. – Smith, USA TODAY Sports

Of course, the only College Football Ranking that matters the last one. The Sooners have a long way to go to get to that point and have a difficult matchup coming this weekend against Texas. If they can hold off the Longhorns and move to 6-0, they’ll have cleared one of the major hurdles they’ll face in 2021.

The fact of the matter is the Sooners need to keep winning. If they go undefeated, Oklahoma will find itself in the College Football Playoff. They’re too good a team to leave out.

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Notre Dame jockeying for CFP position with Ohio State says ESPN experts

A solid road win against Boston College, a few of ESPN’s experts moved Notre Dame up one spot in their College Football Playoffs projections.

Notre Dame went on the road and defeated a very solid Boston College team yesterday afternoon, 45-31. It was enough for some of ESPN’s set of college football analysts to move the Irish up a spot, although their projected opponent, Ohio State, remains the same.

A total of six of their 13 analysts had the Irish second, the rest had Notre Dame as their 3rd team into the final four. Virtually everyone had Clemson as their 4th team, but Bill Connelly had the Cincinnati Bearcats. Their graphic says they have 14 analysts, but only list 13, the omitted one must have BYU in.

It’s nice to see that the Irish are gaining some respect among the pundits, as this year the look test will be much more important than in years past. The hope is that even with a bye week, the Irish are still in everyone’s minds.

The Irish have three games remaining, at North Carolina, hosting Syracuse and finishing the season at Wake Forest. Except the Irish to be favored in each of their last three contests.