OU stays at No. 6 in AP Poll, path to CFP is clear

The path to the College Football Playoff for OU is clear. 

Win out and the Sooners are more than likely going to get in. Oklahoma escaped on Saturday, coming from behind in the fourth quarter to beat UCF 31-29. OU remained No. 6 in both the USA Today Coaches Poll and the AP Poll. In the AP, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State and Washington rank ahead of the Sooners in the order. The first College Football Playoff rankings are set to be released at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday, Oct. 31.

Still, OU somewhat controls its own destiny, unless four of those teams go undefeated, which is possible. But first, Oklahoma has to continue to handle its business.

“In a perfect world, we’ll continue to get better, we’ll continue to learn, we’ll continue to figure out different kinds of ways to win, and not peak too soon whatever that means,’” coach Brent Venables said Saturday. “You don’t not peak intentionally. But experience is when you find your identity through the struggle and disappointment and the tough moments of a season. It does that for you. Plenty of games and plenty of championship teams that, or several of those — ‘ah-ha.’ That’s not a lot of fun in the middle of it, but there’s lots of ways to do it.”

It won’t be easy for OU to run the table, as the Sooners found out on Saturday. Their poor performance against Central Florida might have been a result of coming off its biggest win of the season, an emotional 34-30 victory over No. 7 Texas. The Longhorns are the only other team in the Big 12 ranked in the AP Poll. Kansas State and OSU are both receiving votes. 

OU enjoyed its win over the Longhorns all the way through the bye week. But according to Venables, he believes his team will be more focused moving forward. 

“You’re always a week away from humility in this game, so I don’t look at that,” Venables said. “Well-managed failure is the No. 1 reason for success. We had a year of, if you will, failures when building the program in lots of different areas. And then poorly-managed success is the No. 1 reason for failure. Some people will say, ‘Oh, you didn’t handle that success very good.’ That’s fair game. That’s one way to look at it. 

“You honor and respect what it takes to win and be successful with precision and details and doing, not talking. I think sometimes some of the momentum that’s outside the building is all talking. There’s an anointment that happens in sports, and sometimes it’s premature. It’s still a game of earning and doing and executing and believing and fighting and outlasting and all of those things.”

Currently, OU does not face another ranked opponent in its final five regular season games. That could change in a couple of weeks in Bedlam, with Oklahoma State surging. And if the Sooners get a rematch with Texas, that would be another ranked game. 

For now though, OU is taking it a week at a time, knowing if it goes 1-0 each week, the Sooners will be in the playoff conversation at the end of the season. 

“Certainly we’re not looking ahead but I just want to make sure our guys —  I’ve been trying to tell them even before we started this season that you can’t play for the applause,” Venables said. “You’ve got to win in different ways. You start peeling it all the way back, that’s the game of football.”