Finally, Oklahoma will learn its path on Sunday.
The Sooners sat out conference championship weekend knowing that they’ll be on the bracket when the College Football Playoff field is announced (11 a.m., ESPN).
And after Saturday’s events, OU will likely get to play one more game at the Palace.
Brent Venables’ fourth OU squad — Team 131, he calls them — entered the weekend ranked eighth by the CFP Selection Committee.
The top four teams in the final rankings will each get a bye in the first round of the CFP, and the teams ranked 5-8 will host the lower seeds in a first-round contest.
Nothing happened Saturday to alter OU’s plans to host.
How to Watch the College Football Playoff Bracket Reveal
- When: Sunday, Dec. 7
- Time: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Channel: ESPN
BYU was torched by Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship Game, then Georgia overpowered Alabama in the SEC title game in Atlanta.
The Cougars and the Crimson Tide were the only two teams who had a real chance to jump Oklahoma and force the Sooners to hit the road for their first-round game.
Sunday, OU simply waits to see who they will face in their first College Football Playoff since 2019, and when: the evening of Dec. 19, or sometime on Dec. 20.
The likely opponents come down to Notre Dame, Alabama or Miami, but it is unclear what the committee will do with the Crimson Tide following their emphatic defeat to Georgia.
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If Oklahoma stays at No. 8, the Sooners will host the 9-seed in Norman. The winner of the 8-9 contest will likely head to the Rose Bowl in the quarterfinals to play the presumptive No. 1 seed, Indiana.
The Hoosiers on Saturday captured their first Big Ten Championship since 1967 and their first outright conference title since 1945 with a victory over No. 1-ranked Ohio State. The Hoosiers improved to 13-0 in Curt Cignetti’s second season in Bloomington. They are quarterbacked by the new Heisman frontrunner, Fernando Mendoza.
The Sooners also have executed something of a rebuild under Venables, albeit a little slower, with their second 10-2 regular-season finish in their last three years and a playoff berth in just their second season as a member of the SEC.
Sunday’s Selection Show is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on ESPN.
