Nov. 4—OU fans seem to have taken a good attitude about the Sooners’ stunningly-low position of eighth in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.

Generally, being grouped with Wake Forest (No. 9) would be cause for rebellion in Sooner Nation. How dare the committee place OU next door to the Demon Deacons, though both are unbeaten against less-than-stellar schedules.

But Sooner hearts are warmed that OU’s stiffest tests still await, which means the committee will be quickly won over, as it usually is by crimson and cream. And the No. 8 slight will serve as motivational ointment for a squad that has been betwixt with sleepwalking against the likes of Kansas and Tulane.

The masses might be right. All’s well that ends well, and the disrespect could fuel the November Sooners.

But OU’s No. 8 ranking also serves as potential disaster in Sooner hopes to reach the four-team playoff.

In previous years, when the initial rankings arrived and OU was down the food chain, the Sooners were cornered. They already had suffered a defeat.

To Texas in 2015 (leading to a 15 ranking in the first committee poll).

To Iowa State in 2017, leading to No. 5 in the first rankings.

To Texas in 2018, leading to No. 7 in the first rankings.

To Kansas State in 2019, leading to No. 9 in the first rankings.

Those OU teams knew they were on their last chance.

But this Sooner team, despite its lackluster performances, have not spent the get-out-of-jail-free card that comes with Power 5 Conference designation. If you’re a blueblood in a Power 5 league, one defeat does not doom your season to some consolation bowl.

And the Sooners have taken advantage. In the seven-year history of the four-team playoff, any season in which the Sooners get to the finish line with just one defeat, they’ve been admitted to the ball, scars and all.

But the ranking Tuesday night shows that such esteem is not on the agenda for the 2021 Sooners.

“Yeah, those close calls are seen by the committee just like everybody else,” said committee chairman Gary Barta, the Iowa athletic director. “They’re undefeated, so they get a lot of credit for that. But .... defensive struggles throughout the year certainly was discussed.”

And Barta had the decency not to mention the offensive struggles, perhaps because he’s aware of the Caleb Williams-induced explosion in recent weeks.

“Oklahoma is still trying to find their identity, but certainly when they added Caleb Williams at quarterback, the committee agreed that the offense certainly changed in a positive way, but we may be seeing it impacting the whole team, defense included,” Barta said. “That switch in quarterback, I think everybody agreed, is potentially fun to watch from here forward.”

Still, it’s win-out-or-bust for OU. It’s hard to see a 12-1 Oklahoma making the playoff, without inordinate help.

For example, a two-loss Alabama almost surely would go in before a one-loss OU. The committee has played its card on the crimson powers. Bama, at 7-1, is ranked second. OU, at 9-0, is way back at eighth.

Alabama’s remaining schedule seems as daunting as OU’s. The Crimson Tide has Louisiana State, Arkansas and Auburn remaining, plus likely Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

Can a 12-1 OU bank on getting the nod over a 12-1 Big Ten champion? I don’t see how. Can a 12-1 OU bank on getting picked over a 12-1 Oregon? No way, not with the Ducks’ victory over Ohio State. Can a 12-1 OU bank on jumping a 13-0 Cincinnati? Maybe, because the committee members would allow their mothers to wear combat boots before inviting a mid-major to the playoff.

It just seems like the Sooners have played their way into the same corner as always, with no room for a defeat, even though OU has a spotless record.

Those huff-and-puff wins over woebegone Tulane and Kansas, and those by-a-whisker victories against mediocre Texas, Nebraska and West Virginia, have branded OU as suspect.

The Sooners can firehose such a reputation with four straight wins over quality teams Baylor, Iowa State and OSU, followed by a Big 12 title game against one of that trio. But a loss at any of those way stations likely dooms the Sooners’ hopes.