College football Week 5 winners, losers, overreactions: Oklahoma struggles continue as Big 12 race excites

Oklahoma fans spent all offseason chirping about the program being better off without Lincoln Riley. Leave it to Lincoln’s brother, TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, to help put that narrative to bed in one of the most emphatic upsets in years. 

The Horned Frogs eviscerated Brent Venables’ No. 18 Oklahoma team to the tune of 55-24 on Saturday. The younger Riley gave Venables’ defense nightmares, scoring touchdowns of 73, 68, 67 and 62 yards. It was the worst Sooners loss since the 63-28 embarrassment at the hands of Joe Burrow’s LSU in the 2019 College Football Playoff semifinal and the worst conference loss since 2014 Baylor took Bob Stoops’ Sooners to the woodshed 48-14. And really, this could have been even worse than those performances had Sonny Dykes not called off the dogs. 

Now, an Oklahoma team that entered the year as projected the Big 12 title favorite and preseason top-10 team has to deal with starting 0-2 in Big 12 play in the first non-pandemic season since John Blake was Sooners coach in 1998. Needless to say, stumbling out of the gate in Big 12 play wasn’t on any Oklahoma fan’s bucket list. 

Here are more winners, losers and overreactions from around the country

Winners

State of Mississippi: It’s starting to feel like 2014 in the Magnolia State. Ole Miss pulled off a 22-19 upset of No. 7 Kentucky thanks to a forced fumble on the final drive of the game to move to 5-0. The Rebels should enter the top 10 on Sunday. Across the state, Mississippi State made its own case for the top 25 by demolishing No. 17 Texas A&M 42-24 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score. Add in another strong start from Jackson State, and the three best teams in Mississippi are a combined 14-1. Oh, and by the way, the state might feature the best passing game and best rushing game in the SEC. 

Big 12 undefeateds: There are only three undefeated teams remaining in the Big 12. Those squads? No. 9 Oklahoma State (sure), TCU (huh) and Kansas (what?!). It’s been a weird year in the conference, but all three squads only added to their impressive resumes on Saturday. Oklahoma State proved its lofty ranking was well-deserved with a dominant road win against Baylor. Kansas leaned on its defense to shock Iowa State. TCU had perhaps the most emphatic win of the weekend by crushing Oklahoma. None of the undefeated teams remaining in the Big 12 have won an outright conference title…