It just means more than a slogan sometimes... During the first game of this year's 12-team College Football Playoff, the Oklahoma Sooners went from being "hard to kill", to 0-5 in the playoff to date in the matter of hours. They blew a 17-point lead at home to the visiting Alabama Crimson Tide, while becoming the first home team to lose in the College Football Playoff up to this point by falling, 34-24.
In the lead-up to kickoff, many Georgia fans were puzzled to see Oklahoma fans, Brian Bosworth and all, repping the "hard to kill" mantra on sweatshirts and posterboards galore. Was this not the phrase Kirby Smart used to describe his team weeks ago? Instead, Oklahoma adopted this moniker en route to totally embarrassing itself in the playoff again. Are the Sooners ever going to win a playoff game?
This game may have only been the third-most important game of the weekend from a Georgia fan's perspective, it could serve as the perfect tone-setter for what it to come. The team that is the most resilient shall prove victorious in the end. Outside of undefeated Indiana, how many teams have winning streaks as long as Georgia has going right now? At this time, this team is quite "hard to kill".
Let's now unpack what all went wrong for Oklahoma to allow Alabama to come back in this ballgame.
Why Oklahoma was not in fact "hard to kill" in the College Football Playoff
Before we really get into ripping Oklahoma, let's do give them some well-deserved respect. This team had a ferocious pass rush all season long. It had to overcome its talented, but reckless quarterback John Mateer getting hurt after the first third of the season before bouncing back. Brent Venables did a great job of taking himself firmly off the hot seat this year. Oklahoma is certainly trending up of late.
However, this is a team that, for whatever reason, chokes like nobody's business during the playoff. The Sooners are now 0-5 all time in the College Football Playoff, dating back to its first foray in the tournament in 2015. This is a different regime from the ones Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley won with in the old Big 12. Oklahoma is an SEC team now, so they need to look at this as a sign to level up a bit.
At this stage of the game, a playoff team cannot be so one-dimensional. Yes, there were moments where Oklahoma's offense sort of held its own, but we all know this was a defensive-minded team down the stretch. Ben Arbuckle needs to use this season to grow as an offensive coordinator. Mateer needs to take better care of the ball. Tate Santell needs to give the Lou Groza to Peyton Woodring...
To tie a bow on this, Oklahoma can only blame itself for suffering its third loss on the season to end it.