Syndication: The Oklahoman
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Facing one of the toughest schedules across across college football this season, there was always a strong possibility for Brent Venables that if the Sooners got off to a hot start, November would ultimately determine his team's fate in the playoff conversation.

Saturday's comeback attempt against No. 8 Ole Miss came up just short, 34-26, No. 13 Oklahoma's second loss with four games left against teams currently slotted inside the AP poll's top 20. Oklahoma got off to a 5-0 start earlier this month but a loss to Texas was a precursor to what could happen when the offense failed to sustain drives, which showed up again in the loss to the Rebels.

Oklahoma (6-2) managed 342 yards of total offense and 13 downs, well below its season averages after most of the Sooners' production came on a 76-yard catch-and-run from Isaiah Setagna in the first half and Xavier Robinson's 65-yard scamper in the third quarter. 

With a chance to tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion midway through the fourth quarter, the Sooners stalled at the Ole Miss 30-yard line following consecutive incompletions from John Mateer before getting it back with 1:03 left and no timeouts remaining.

The Sooners' last gasp ended on an unsuccessful Hail Mary attempt that reached the goal line and was batted down. It was the Rebels' first SEC road win over a ranked opponent under Lane Kiffin.

There was always hesitancy to include Oklahoma in various week-to-week playoff projection updates this season at CBS Sports for multiple reasons — Mateer's unexpected hand injury and what was forthcoming for the Sooners on the back half of the slate. 

If there's a potential three-loss team getting one of the seven at-large spots, Oklahoma has a shot based on scheduling, but what's the likelihood that happens with a brutal November to tackle?

Oklahoma's remaining schedule

Oklahoma holds top-25 wins over Michigan and Auburn, and three victories over the final four games would give the Sooners more than most at-large options when the selection committee meets for a final time the first weekend of December.

However, the only three-loss team to ever appear in the playoff was Clemson last season, doing it under the auto-bid designation as the ACC champion. On four previous occasions prior to 12-team expansion, only four three-loss teams finished inside the top 12 of the final poll -- all missing the four-team bracket (Utah, Kansas in 2022; Utah in 2021; Washington in 2018).

Winning out gets the Sooners to the 12-team bracket with 10 victories, but even going 3-1 and finishing 9-3 overall means they would have to accomplish a feat they haven't managed since the 2015 season -- beat three ranked teams in conference play down the stretch.

"Everything gets easier when you stop expecting it to be easy, and so I think that's a tough-mindedness that you want your guys to play with a level of comfort when things aren't going well," Venables said this week on his team's daunting stretch. "Or when things are a little harder, I don't want guys to panic, I don't want guys to (think), 'Oh my God, now what do we do?' You're gonna get punched back a lot, and this isn't the old Big 12 days where Oklahoma destroys everybody, you know, every single week, except for one game a year.

"And I'm not saying that in any other way than, man, every other week there's big, long, fast, explosive dudes, great staffs, really good quarterback play, tremendous lines of scrimmage, things of that nature."