OU Wins Third Straight Big 12 Title, Pokes’ Bowl Destination Still Up in Air

Just 13 games into his coaching career, Lincoln Riley has matched Mike Gundy’s Big 12 title total with one. The Sooners won their third in a row on Saturday with a 41-17 shellacking of TCU.

That puts OU at 12-1 and the Big 12 champion, which means they will be in the CFB Playoff. That means Oklahoma State (and every other Big 12 team) will get $600,000 (or $6M total to the conference) — enough money to pay off that Gundy raise!

It also means that 10-3 TCU is now on the bubble for a NY6 bowl game. The CFP selection committee will sort everything out on Sunday, but I  don’t have a lot of confidence that TCU is going to be selected for one of the big boy bowls (which would result in an additional $4 million for the Big 12).

However, Brett McMurphy said on Friday that he thinks TCU will go to the Cotton Bowl (although this was before their 41-17 thumping). The good folks at CBS Sports agree that TCU is probably in, but the homies at SB Nation think they’re out.

If TCU drops out of the NY6 bowls (I think they will), that means OSU will head to Orlando for the Camping World Bowl on December 28.

It seems like the last spot for the NY6 bowls is going to come down to Notre Dame (9-3), Washington (10-2) and TCU (10-3). This affects Oklahoma State in pretty much every way it possibly can.

If TCU makes NY6: Oklahoma State to Alamo vs. Washington
If ND makes NY6: Oklahoma State to Camping World vs. Virginia Tech
If Washington makes NY6: Oklahoma State to Camping World vs. ND

Got all that?

Here are the current projections.

SB Nation Projection

Semifinal 1: Clemson-Wisconsin
Semifinal 2: Auburn-Oklahoma
Peach: Georgia-UCF
Fiesta: USC-Ohio State
Cotton: Washington-Penn State
Orange: Miami-Alabama

Camping World: Oklahoma State-Virginia Tech

Brett McMurphy Projection

Semifinal 1: Auburn-Oklahoma
Semifinal 2: Clemson-Ohio State
Peach: Georgia-UCF
Fiesta: USC-Wisconsin
Cotton: Penn State-TCU
Orange: Miami-Alabama

Alamo: Oklahoma State-Washington

CBS Sports Projection

Semifinal 1: Oklahoma-Georgia
Semifinal 2: Clemson-Wisconsin
Peach: Ohio State-UCF
Fiesta: USC-TCU
Cotton: Penn State-Auburn
Orange: Miami-Alabama

Alamo: Oklahoma State-Washington

We will keep you updated on this throughout the evening and into Sunday.

Of course the bigger issue at work here than the Camping World Bowl, obviously, is that OU seems to have not missed a beat under Lincoln Riley. They kept their Big 12 title streak going and now have a legitimate chance at a national championship.

Oh, and after recruiting outside the top 10 under Bob Stoops, they’re now recruiting inside the top 10. All of this is not good for the future of Oklahoma State football. It’s incredibly unfortunate that one of the handful of teams that have been better than the Pokes on a national level in the last decade resides less than 100 miles south of them on I-35 and looks like it is just going to keep getting better and better.