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The Clearing Folk School

Oklahoma virtually seals a Playoff berth by beating Oklahoma State

Dan Wolken
USA TODAY Sports
Oklahoma cornerback Jordan Thomas (7) celebrates his touchdown off an interception with corner back Zach Sanchez on Saturday.

STILLWATER, Okla. — Breaking down No. 5 Oklahoma's 58-23 win Saturday against No. 10 Oklahoma State:

THE BIG PICTURE: With its dominant victory in a winner-take-all version of the "Bedlam" rivalry, Oklahoma looks like the first team to punch its ticket to the College Football Playoff.

The Sooners are done building their rësumë at 11-1 with an outright Big 12 championship, and given that the committee ranked them No. 3 last week it would seem impossible to deny Oklahoma a spot in the final four at this point (especially with Notre Dame losing to Stanford).

The most remarkable aspect of the story, however, is the transformation Oklahoma made after its inexplicable loss to Texas back on Oct. 10. Since then, the Sooners have been an absolute handful and aside from the second half against TCU (without quarterback Baker Mayfield) have arguably been as impressive as any team in the country. They won't be the No. 1 seed, but they look like a team peaking at the right time.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops won his ninth Big 12 title in 17 seasons.

Oklahoma State, meanwhile, will probably not feel so great about the way it finished the season. At 10-0 with their final two games at home, the Cowboys had as clear a shot at winning the Big 12 as they could hope for. But their defense fell apart against Baylor and Oklahoma, allowing a combined 103 points. What hurts even more is that Baylor gets the Big 12 tiebreaker for second place over the Cowboys and TCU, meaning the Bears will almost certainly end up in the Sugar Bowl.

WHAT WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT: Mayfield's Heisman Trophy candidacy was solidified on Saturday. He may not win it, but a trip to New York certainly seems likely after he played brilliantly again, completing 17-of-25 for 180 yards with two touchdowns and running for 77 yards and a score on 11 carries.

There's a bit of reckless abandon about the way Mayfield runs, which is probably a bit scary given that he was removed from the TCU game last week after a suspected concussion. But he's certainly fun to watch and brings a playground mentality that is unpredictable and hard to defend, which is important if you were to project a future Playoff matchup against, oh, a team like Alabama.

TOP PLAY: Not only does Mayfield throw and run, but he can also block. With Oklahoma leading 14-10 in the second quarter, running back Joe Mixon took a handoff going left where a defensive lineman seemed to have him lined up for a tackle in the backfield. Mixon spun out of it and reversed field to find some open space, but it was a pancake block by Mayfield out on the perimeter that sprung him free and turned an eight-yard gain into a 66-yard touchdown run.

KEY STAT: Nobody in the country has a 1-2 combination at running back like the Sooners.

Samaje Perine finished with 131 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, while Joe Mixon had 107 yards on 10 carries. At times they were in the backfield together, and when you consider what kind of running threat Mayfield presents, it looks awfully hard to defend.

Early in the season, first-year offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley drew criticism for not running the ball enough and relying too much on the Air Raid. But he has found a good balance late in the season and the Sooners are clicking. They finished with more than 524 yards on just 67 plays.

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