Oklahoma Leaves No Doubt About Playoff Spot with Bedlam Beatdown

STILLWATER, Okla. — One is the loneliest—but best—number everywhere in college football but Big 12 territory.

For a full offseason and well into this one, all that Big 12 coaches, administrators, players and fans heard from the rest of the country was how the league slogan of "One True Champion" was nothing more than a punchline. There was no singular champion and no team in the first-ever College Football Playoff.

Like many of its member states, the Big 12 was simply a flyover part of the college football season that took place before the real action occurred elsewhere.

On a bitterly cold Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium, however, "One True Champion" went from laughingstock to reality. Oklahoma throttled Oklahoma State 58-23 in the 110th edition of Bedlam.

"One True Champion" begat one emphatic statement.

"I had a talk with the offense before the game, and I told them how I came in wanting to win a title," Sooners senior Sterling Shepard said. "At the beginning of the game, we were ready to do this thing. Everybody bought in."

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

Oklahoma laid waste to its rival once again to secure the Big 12 title—despite inclement conditions and a hostile crowd—and continued to look like the runaway train it's resembled ever since a loss to Texas in October. Some of the statistics the Sooners racked up against the Cowboys—7.8 yards per play, 8-of-14 on third downs, two takeaways—were impressive but still paled in comparison to other recent outings.

"Nobody knows you're going to win it back in January or in the start of September," Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said. "But I knew we were going to have a good football team, and it was going to be better than people thought."

Beyond the box score, this was an undressing of a Top 10 team that was over almost as soon as it began. The Sooners found the end zone eight times Saturday, including a string of five trips there in the first half and a late field goal for good measure before the break. That run included a 30-point second-quarter barrage during which Oklahoma did whatever it wanted through the air and on the ground. 

Case in point was the bang, bang, bang stretch in which the Sooners ended all hope for most of the 58,321 in attendance who wore orange and black.

After the teams traded three-and-outs late in the first quarter, Oklahoma tailback Samaje Perine took a handoff and raced 68 yards untouched for a score. Sensing a chance to say "anything you can do, I can do better," fellow running back Joe Mixon spun out of a tackle in the backfield and scampered 66 yards for a touchdown, thanks, in part, to a key block by quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield tossed a beautiful five-yard strike to Dimitri Flowers on the Sooners' ensuing offensive possession to cap a 12-play, 80-yard drive. Three plays later, Jordan Thomas returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown. Perine added a 25-yard scoring jaunt before Austin Seibert's 40-yard field goal with 1:14 left in the half.

With such an impressive performance in the de facto Big 12 championship game, Oklahoma erased any doubt that it would make this year's College Football Playoff. In fact, the Sooners played so well over the closing stretch of the season that they didn't need any help from others around the country.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

"Oh, I didn't know Notre Dame lost," Stoops said after the game, with little surprise in his voice. "You just figure if you're third and you go to a championship game away from home to the No. 9 team in the country and win by 30-something points, you can only move up possibly. You sure wouldn't move back."

Perhaps it was a cosmic coincidence that Stoops called timeout to think things over on a third down with 4:48 left in the third quarter. Just a few seconds later, Stanford's last-second field goal sailed through the uprights to topple the Irish and eliminate what little controversy the selection committee may have been forced to deal with. 

Oh by the way, Mayfield scored on a quarterback draw on the very next play to hit half-a-hundred on the scoreboard. It was a fitting way to punch one's ticket to the postseason title chase and another reminder that there is no team in the country playing as well as the Sooners are.

"Our standards are excessively high. If you come to Oklahoma, hopefully you have those same standards," Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. "Nine (Big 12) championships in 17 years. I don't know of many people that have done that. We are held to a different standard. The media holds us to a different standard, and that's how it is. And that's OK because we are Oklahoma."

And the Sooners are back in a familiar perch, with yet another ring for their veteran head coach. They're also again carrying the water for the rest of the Big 12 when it comes to national perception.

Oklahoma will no doubt celebrate its place in the conference pecking order over the coming days. As the Sooners hugged, hooped and hollered on the field to the background music of their fight song, there was a visible sense of astonishment.

Despite the ugliest loss of any playoff contender—one that prompted fresh fears of another 8-5 season—there Oklahoma stood with a trophy for the mantle and a golden ticket in hand.

"I was out there talking to Coach (Bob Stoops), and to think he's won nine of these. This one was hard as hell, and he won nine. I can't even imagine that," Sooners offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley said. "I was in this league on the opposite side of it for a long time, and I knew there was a championship DNA and I knew that hadn't changed." 

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

Nowhere was that more evident than in Riley's protege, the gunslinging Mayfield. An Oklahoma fan in his youth, the junior may have taken the most roundabout path to Sooners stardom after first walking on at Texas Tech and then earning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year honors in 2013. Following a transfer saga that landed him in Norman, Mayfield turned into the missing piece for a program that was searching to find itself following a few subpar (by its standards) seasons.

In doing so, he may also have secured a trip to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, thanks to his play, statistics and all-around leadership—which has turned Oklahoma into the team nobody wants to face.

"It's like a dream come true. I never would have thought it," Mayfield said. "My journey here has been a crazy ride, but to end up here in Stillwater and win a Big 12 championship, it's pretty crazy. But I couldn't have drawn it up any better."

Now, a date in the playoff awaits. 

It could be Alabama, the same team Oklahoma beat in the Sugar Bowl two seasons ago to raise expectations to an unhealthy level. It could be Clemson, the program that throttled the Sooners in the Russell Athletic Bowl last year to put the finishing touches on a miserable season. 

"I don't care," Mayfield said, before quickly recalling past history. "But after watching us lose to Clemson last year, I'd love to get a piece of them. I know they'd love to get a piece of us again. I think we'll play them either way. We'll see."

As he was running off the field to chants of "Heisman" and "Shake'N Bake" from the energetic Oklahoma fans still around after the game, Mayfield's favorite target caught up with him and put his hands around the quarterback's pads.

"Let's go finish it," Shepard yelled.

He didn't have to utter what that was, but for the Sooners, it's clear there's only one thing left to do now.

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