Posted by The question on everybody’s mind is: Will Oklahoma make the College Football Playoff with Alabama beating Georgia Saturday hours after the Sooners took care of Texas, 39-27, in Dallas?
The answer is almost certainly will Oklahoma be in as a four-seed at worst, third at best.
The question on my mind is: how is Marquise “Hollywood” Brown? He left the game in the second half with a foot injury and not only didn’t return for Oklahoma, he was carted off and returned in a boot and on crutches. Hollywood is one of the best receivers in Oklahoma history, and definitely the most explosive. He’s ‘Little Joe’ explosive.
In a national title game situation, he’s an X factor — against anybody.
To be honest, the injury appears to be a foot injury, not an ankle injury. My fear is that he broke his foot on the top of it or along the midfoot, also known as a Lisfranc injury. That makes me sound smart, but I’m not. I got the idea from a tweet:
I thought, “That’s a very specific proclamation,” so I looked it up. It fit what I was seeing in how the trainers were looking at Hollywood’s foot. For what it’s worth, head coach Lincoln Riley had nothing to say about it other than stating the obvious: Brown suffered a lower-body injury, and they’d examine him further. Multiple reports indicate that Brown seemed to tell his coach that he’d be OK although that could just be him saying it’s out of his hands and not to worry about him.
Without Brown, the Sooners are much less lethal on offense. With him, Oklahoma has a chance to win the whole thing.
Eventually they’re gonna win it all, you know.
And with or without him, what Saturday’s 39-27 win over the Longhorns showed is Oklahoma’s resiliency. This is the second season in a row in which the Sooners lost midway through the year and still made the playoff. Or so we think. I think it would be the third in four, too. To be able to come back and win out in each instance is highly impressive and speaks to a team’s mental fortitude as much as anything else.
Yes, I hate that the team’s defense was non-existent for much of the season.
Yes, I’m over those 59-56 games. That’s not good football.
These Sooners had every reason to throw in the towel or let up after the Texas loss. They had every reason to cave after getting blistered on social and in the press for a defense that gave up 47 to OSU or 40 to Kansas. Yuck! It’s not like they didn’t have it coming; they weren’t really improving.
However, they just took care of business, won games and waited for the moment the defensive side of the ball would step up.
They stepped up today.
That resiliency is proof positive that Oklahoma fans don’t need to sweat too much the loss of Marquise Brown. Hollywood will be back if he can, and if he’s not available for a Dec. 29 national semifinal, these Sooners of all Sooners are well equipped to figure it out.
Not because it wouldn’t hurt losing a player the caliber of Hollywood Brown.
But because this team, even though they’ve made us crazy for much of the season, might just be the most resilient Sooners of them all.
Resiliency is a winning quality. Winners are resilient.
Well done, men.
Heck of an example to the rest of us.
ryanwelton.com 