Oklahoma Survives TCU Scare, Still Alive for Heavyweight Semifinal vs. Alabama

NORMAN, Okla. — In a season when so many games seem to come down to one play, one coin-flip, one stop, whatever thin group of title contenders there is have to continually find a way to be on the right side of those 50/50 moments when the game is on the line.

On a bitter-cold Saturday night in Big 12 country, as chaos reigned supreme on the national level, the Sooners found themselves facing just such a moment with seconds left on the clock while clinging to a 30-29 lead after allowing TCU back into the ballgame.

As Horned Frogs backup quarterback Bram Kohlhausen started to scramble to his right and complete a furious comeback, Oklahoma nickelback Steven Parker found himself in no man’s land. With Kohlhausen running a path to the goal line and a pair of TCU receivers flashing open at the exact same time, Parker reacted in a way that frightened his coaches right up until the second he swatted the quarterback’s floater to the 20-yard line.

“I had a hard decision between staying with my receiver—I knew the route was Double Drive Seven—and coming to get the quarterback. I just kind of played in between, trying to play dummy,” Parker said, before flashing a large grin. “I timed my jump right.”

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The timing could not have been more perfect, sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy that only grew as soon as teammate Zach Sanchez recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Oklahoma had made it. That gray area had turned golden, thanks to Parker.

To win a title, whether it be a conference championship or a national one, you have to come out victorious when faced with those situations that could swing either way. While it wasn’t pretty in the second half, Oklahoma did so once again to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.

“You look around the country every week, is it ever perfect? No, it’s tough,” head coach Bob Stoops said. “Rarely is it perfect. We had a lot of excellent games, and we were due for one that you could still win when you were not at your best.”

The Sooners are not just in the running to make the final four, however; they should be a lock with a win next week in the annual Bedlam game against their in-state rivals. While folks may make arguments (and have good ones) in South Carolina and Tuscaloosa as to who is the best team in the country, it’s tough to overlook that Oklahoma has been playing the best of anyone over the past two months.

Combined with the result up the road—Baylor throttled Oklahoma State 45-35 in Stillwater—and ensuing chaos elsewhere around the country, it looks increasingly like we’re on a path that includes Stoops’ squad in the playoff.

And while nobody around Norman will ever say it out loud, the most appetizing semifinal matchup still on the board would be the Sooners taking on Stoops’ favorite nemesis—the SEC—in a heavyweight rematch with Alabama for a trip to the title game in Glendale.

That’s right, selection committee, do whatever you have to do in order to justify it, but give us Bama and give us Big Game Bob one more time.

There are precious few complete teams in college football this season, but Oklahoma has a strong case that they are one of them. They run the ball well, they play defense as well as anybody when faced with wide-open attacks and they have a fairly strong kicking game.

Alonzo Adams/Associated Press

More than anything, they may just have the best quarterback in the country in Baker Mayfield. His value was readily apparent as he zigged and zagged through Gary Patterson’s defense on his way to two first-half touchdowns and a 23-7 lead that was far more lopsided than even that scoreline indicated.

The exuberant gunslinger has a penchant for escaping danger most of the time but couldn’t quite survive his head suffering two hard hits to the turf on Saturday. While he did remain in the game for several series late in the second quarter, Mayfield was diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms (he said he had a headache, Stoops relayed after the game) and pulled for backup and former Sugar Bowl hero Trevor Knight.

Mayfield was far from the only player to miss snaps, however, as running backs Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine both missed several series with leg injuries. In the end, despite the well-oiled machine sputtering with Knight under center, Oklahoma still did enough to celebrate senior night in style.

“This wasn’t our best performance, but still, we found a way to win at home,” center Ty Darlington said. “A year ago, this might have been one we would have let slip up.”

“It was just kind of an, ‘Alright, let’s do this’ type of thing,” Knight added. “You never know when somebody is going to take a hit or a helmet is going to pop off. You always have to be ready to go. We put together the plan at halftime, and we didn’t execute it as well as we wanted to, but we got the win, that’s all that matters.”

Critics will use the one-point win to downplay Oklahoma’s chances, noting that TCU was without star quarterback Trevone Boykin and Biletnikoff Award semifinalist Josh Doctson. While that was certainly the case for a Horned Frogs offense that had nothing going beyond a handful of big plays, it’s still a win over a team that has lost just three times in the past two seasons and proved to be far better than the No. 18 ranking the committee had given them four days prior.

Last week’s win at Baylor looks even stronger for the Sooners in light of Saturday’s events, and while there will still be an ensuing Big Ten-versus-Big 12-versus-Notre Dame battle for what looks to be the final two playoff spots behind Clemson and Alabama, there’s only one matchup that could satisfy everybody from casual fans to broadcasters to college football diehards.

Alabama vs. Oklahoma, Part II. The first round went to the Sooners two seasons ago in the Sugar Bowl, and this year would present a perfect opportunity for the Crimson Tide to extract revenge. It could be a semifinal featuring two Heisman finalists in running back Derrick Henry and Baker Mayfield.

Furthermore, it would offer Sooners fans the opportunity to show that the win two years ago was no fluke. After the Big 12 was left out of the playoff last year, it could even serve as a chance to show that the league’s teams do play defense after all, as the Sooners possess a top-25 unit.

“I’m really tired of defending that line, it’s senseless. We all know what good football is,” defensive coordinator Mike Stoops remarked.

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Clemson still has to face 10-1 North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game but otherwise seem to have a lock on one of the top two seeds. The Big Ten will sort itself out with one of Iowa, Michigan State and maybe still Ohio State emerging with another seed. Notre Dame is lurking but may find their resume lacking when examined closely next to the Big 12 champion.

That leaves us with a clear path for a heavyweight title fight in either South Florida or the familiar site at the Cotton Bowl between the Tide and a Sooners team that has a chance to capture three Top-25 wins to close the year out—two on the road.

Oklahoma has proved that they’re good and trending toward great. Just as impressive, they’ve found a way to win when games were up in the air.

Much debate will fill the airwaves and social-media streams over the coming weeks, but hopefully the selection committee is ready to give the people what they want.

In a year when the line between a playoff team and a quality team is thinner than ever, Alabama against Oklahoma just feels like it’s on the right side of a gray area.

Bryan Fischer is a national college football columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.