Entering the 2024 season, there has been a lot of talk about the Oklahoma Sooners’ first-year schedule in [autotag]SEC[/autotag]. The schedule is tough considering OU will face six teams ranked in the top 15 in the US LBM coaches poll.
Due to the evolving nature of college football, with conference realignment and expansion [autotag]College Football Playoffs[/autotag]The national title race will be very different than ever before.
Most years, your national champion will have one or fewer losses. However, we have reached the era of college football where the team that wins the title can suffer multiple losses in the regular season and still win the national championship.
And given the depth of the SEC and Big Ten, there is a reality where a three-loss team could make the playoffs and (cough, cough) win it all.
247Sports Brad Crawford Explored Multiple Teams that could make it to the College Football Playoff with three losses. It included teams like Texas, USC and Florida, among others. But one team he didn’t include in his discussion was Oklahoma. The Sooners have one of the toughest schedules in the country and arguably the second toughest schedule in the SEC.
No one within the program or the Oklahoma Sooners fan base would ever be satisfied with a three-loss regular season. But in the new era of college football, there is a path in which the Sooners could get through the regular season with three losses and still make the College Football Playoffs.
The Sooners will play Texas, AlabamaOle Miss, Missouri, LSUand Tennessee. These six teams are in the top 15 in the preseason coaches poll. And they’ll likely all be in the top 15 of the voting when they play Oklahoma. These will be landmark games that will have implications for the SEC title and playoffs. These six games will likely determine the 2024 season for the Sooners. Go 4-2 in those games and the Sooners will be a playoff team. Make it 3-3 and they’re on the periphery.
If Oklahoma’s losses are to teams like Texas, Alabama and Ole Miss, three teams ranked in the top six in the preseason poll, then there’s a good chance the Sooners will earn one of those final at-large bids with wins over Missouri , LSU , and Tennessee along with a road win over Auburn. If they can get a win over Texas, Bama or Ole Miss, they will have an even better chance.
Currently, the ESPN Football Power Index gives the Oklahoma Sooners a 36.6% chance of making the playoffs in 2024 and just a 5.1% chance of winning the SEC. The chance to make the playoffs puts the Sooners at 10th in the country, even with a projected win-loss record of 8.2-3.9.
Throughout the history of college football, a team with three losses would be out of contention for the national title. But that is in the past. It’s a new day in college football. Teams with two defeats still have a long way to go in November. And the Oklahoma Sooners will be one of those teams with a lot to play for in the playoffs in the final month of the season.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Can the Oklahoma Sooners make it to the playoffs with 3 losses?
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