All those things the Sooners have failed to do? Find a way to win and worry about them later
Oklahoma meets LSU on Saturday with its spot in the playoff on the line
After winning three consecutive games over Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri, Oklahoma must win one more to reach the College Football Playoff.
That’s LSU, 7-4 (2-4 SEC) with a whimper, loser of three straight conference games, to Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Alabama before escaping winless-in-the-league Arkansas by a point, before sneaking past Western Kentucky by a field goal last Saturday.
Ugh.
It would be nice if LSU would just lay down — which it’s kind of tried to do since Brian Kelly was fired after the Tigers’ 49-25 loss to A&M — but that’s rarely how it’s gone for the Sooners (9-2, 5-2). They’ve been winning by overcoming themselves, which is a neat trick, but is it a formula?
Over its last three games, OU has outscored the Vols, Tide and Mizzou by a combined score of 73-54 despite being out-gained 1,138-839.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, for the Sooners have been outperforming their numbers since conference foes began populating their schedule.
For instance, though they remain dead last in total offense, averaging 296.9 yards per conference game (and a next to last 4.8 per snap), they’re nonetheless 11th in the 16-team-league in scoring offense, averaging 22.1 points per game, and a few more than that if their six-point output against Texas could be tossed aside.
Also, though OU is not even near the top in total defense against conference foes, ranking fifth behind A&M, Alabama, Missouri and Georgia, allowing 343.9 yards per game, it’s still second in scoring defense, allowing 18.3.
’Bama’s allowing 18 flat.
The smoke and the mirrors have been thus: a fourth-best in the conference 11.8 yards per punt return; a plus-3 turnover margin and plus-4 against the Vols, Tide and Mizzou: a kicker who’s hit 100 percent (16 of 16) of his 3-pointers against conference foes, six from beyond 50 yards; an SEC best 4.14 sacks per game against conference foes and a nation’s best 102 tackles for loss, nine more than Indiana’s 93 and 19 more than A&M’s 83.
So, about Saturday.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.