Happy Hump Day, friends and fans!

After the Week 15 CFP rankings were unveiled on Tuesday night, the stage has been set for the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners and their push for a top-four seed in the final poll. For OU’s chances, Utah ideally should lose to Oregon in Friday’s Pac-12 Championship game, but it may not be absolutely mandatory. What is crucial, however, is that LSU needs to eliminate Georgia from the discussion on Saturday.

On Wednesday, SEC mouthpiece Paul Finebaum offered his two cents on the subject, and he isn’t gaining any new fans in the Beehive State.

Of course, being an OU fan myself, I hope he’s right about nobody truly wanting to see Utah in the playoffs over Oklahoma, but I’d also like to think the committee doesn’t make decisions based on things like that. It might help the Sooners in some years, but it could easily backfire in others, and in the end that’s just not right. Having said that, I’m not naïve enough to think that it can’t possibly come into play at times.

Still, no one can deny that Oklahoma’s resume is much stronger than Utah’s when it comes to strength of competition. It’s actually not even that particularly close by some measures, and this weekend will provide OU another opportunity to extend their lead in that regard against the No. 7 Baylor Bears.

What I find most amusing about the above clip from ESPN’s ‘Get Up’ show is David Pollack’s jab at whoever makes the final four if his beloved Georgia Bulldogs don’t win the SEC Championship. For the most part, the College Football Playoff results have been largely unsurprising, but this is still college football. Since the CFP era kicked off in 2014, the No. 1 seed has yet to win the national championship, while a No. 4 seed has gone on to win it all twice. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! R.J. Proctor has given Oklahoma’s rushing attack a boost, Dede Westbrook did a very cool thing for a fan, Eli is back and more!

OU Links

• In case you missed it, here’s CFP Chair and Oregon AD Rob Mullens’ explanation of how the committee views Utah and Oklahoma from their latest deliberation. What I find most maddening is that if they agree the Utes are playing lesser quality teams than the Sooners, then doesn’t that have to be a big reason why they look so dominant? Whatever, though.

• The Tulsa World’s Guerin Emig spoke with Mullens about the debate the committee had between OU and Utah, and because the difference is apparently as close as it is in the room, that also means Oklahoma has a real chance at supplanting the Utes, regardless of what they do on Friday. At this point, a convincing win over Baylor is the best bet.
• AP writer Cliff Brunt explored how defense became a main reason why both Oklahoma and Baylor are meeting in the 2019 Big 12 Championship.
• Since being thrust into the starting lineup in the latter portion of the Baylor game, Virginia grad transfer OL R.J. Proctor has been a force in the Sooners’ run game, writes the OU Daily’s Vic Reynolds.
• Dede Westbrook became a Biletnikoff Award winner while he was at Oklahoma, but he’s doing even bigger things for fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Check out this quick yet amazing story told through tweets. Great stuff. Boomer!

• On Tuesday, OU Football announced that senior walk-ons Connor McGinnis and Clayton Woods were both placed on scholarship. Congratulations, guys!

Around the Sports World

• The Houston Rockets gave up a huge lead and ultimately lost to the San Antonio Spurs in OT on Tuesday. However, the biggest story coming out of this game was this bucket that was wrongfully not counted as a bucket. I almost feel bad for James Harden, but he’s got a lot going for himself.

• As expected, Colorado Buffaloes WR Laviska Shenault Jr. has decided to forgo his senior season and enter the 2020 NFL Draft. By many accounts he’s regarded as one of the highest rated receiver prospects, and could become the Buffs’ first first-round pick since 2011.

• After almost nine seasons, the Carolina Panthers have parted ways with head coach Ron Rivera. The timing of this seems a bit strange, but if the powers that be knew it was inevitable, they might as well turn the page. It also gives the franchise a head start in their search for the next coach.
• Speaking of the Panthers, Cam Newton had foot surgery to repair what is believed to be the same foot that was injured in the preseason and reaggravated during the early part of the season.
• With rookie QB Daniel Jones having suffered a high-ankle sprain, the New York Giants are expected to start Eli Manning for the first time since he was benched in mid-September.

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