ARLINGTON, Texas –  For the fifth year in a row and the third time under Coach Lincoln Riley, the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners have won the Big 12 Championship.

It was a struggle but the Sooners held off No. 7 Baylor and won 30-23 in overtime here  to win an unprecedented fifth Big 12 Championship in a row. OU has won 13 Big 12 titles in the past 20 years.

The reward is a date with No. 1 LSU in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta in the College Football Playoffs. The Peach Bowl Semifinal  kicks off at 3 p.m. on December 28.

Ohio State and Clemson will kick off at 7 p.m. December 28 in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

LSU, Ohio State and Clemson are all undefeated conference champions while OU is 12-1, with a single loss to Kansas State.

OU is being labeled a heavy underdog to LSU. The line is as high as 13 points even though LSU has never made it to the College Football Playoff before. Only Alabama and Clemson (five each) have more playoff appearances than OU (four).

LSU jumped Ohio State for the No. 1 seed after Ohio State struggled yet won Saturday.

“We’ve been the number one team all year, in my opinion,” said LSU’s Jacoby Stevens. “The great players we have, the great coaches we have, the support staff, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’re the number one team in the nation.”

OU is making its fourth appearance in the playoff with four losses. Riley was head coach in three of those games. The winner of the two semi-final games will meet for the national championship January 13 in New Orleans.

Oklahoma has never played in the Peach Bowl. OU and LSU have met twice in the Sugar Bowl. OU won 35-0 in 1949 and LSU won 21-14 in 2003.

LSU (13-0 overall 8-0 in the SEC) won the SEC’s West Division. LSU beat Georgia 37-10 on Saturday. 

The Tigers rank first nationally in total offense (554.4 ypg) and 32nd in total defense (341.3 ypg). OU leads the nation in offense yards per play (8.2) and are narrowly second to LSU in total offense (554.2 yards per game).

Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts is tops in the country in yards per pass attempt (11.8), yards per completion (16.4) and touchdowns accounted for (51; tied). Hurts completed 222 of 309 passes this year for 3,634 yards and 32 touchdowns to just seven interceptions while rushing for 1,255 yards and another 18 scores.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron coached against Hurts when Hurts played for Alabama in the SEC. In 2017, Alabama defeated LSU 24-10. Hurts threw for 183 yards and rushed for 44 yards.

“He’s an outstanding player, and he actually beat us with his feet,” said Orgeron, recalling the game. “He made big plays with his feet, and he threw the ball very well.

“I haven’t watched him at all this year, but I have watched Coach Riley’s offense, especially that counter read. I’ve asked him about it. I think they’re one of the best in the country in running what they do on offense. They’re very difficult to stop.”

OU had to defeat  Baylor twice to win the championship.

Even though the two teams tied in regulation Saturday,  No. 4 Oklahoma dominated almost all the statistics. OU had more first downs (21-8); more time of possession (13 plus minutes – 36:36 to 23:24); more total offense (433 to 265 yards); more passing yards (287 to 230); more rushing yards (146 to 35); a better punting average (41.2 yards versus 38.8 yards); and third down conversions (6 of 15 versus 3 of 15).

“Jalen Hurts is one of the best in the country,” said Baylor’s James Lynch. “After playing him you realize what you need to do to try and contain him. We did it at times today and also we didn’t do it at times today so we’ve got a lot to learn.”

The big advantages for Baylor were OU’s penalties (6 for 50 yards). Baylor was penalized only 4 times for 37 yards. Those penalties stalled drives and Hurt’s interception put Baylor in great field position.

Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer left the game in the second quarter with an injury and didn’t return. Second team quarterback Gerry Bohanon replaced him but he was struggling with a sore leg.

“I think action speaks so much louder than words,” said Baylor coach Matt Rhule. “Again, to lose Charlie, and to go out there and play the way we played and to hold OU to 23 points. I just think — I just think that speaks about who we are. We’re a tough, hard-nosed group, we find a way and we get better and better every year. This is just the beginning for us. I think that was really who we are. “

Eventually, true freshman Jacob Zeno took over and even though he hit only 2 of 6 passes attempts, one was for an 81-yard touchdown to Trestan Ebner.

“I couldn’t sit here and tell you I thought he could,” Rhule said. “I have confidence in him. We were down, Gerry (Bohanon) was hurting all week, and he was trying to gut it out, really couldn’t move and if you put a guy out there who can’t move he’s eventually going to get hurt. We said let’s turn to (Jacob) Zeno and he had three, four throws last week, maybe had three or four in his career and we turned to him and he certainly hit some big plays and it was more of a function of that’s where we were at.”

Zeno also hit Chris Platt for 78 yards on a play that ended with a touchdown-saving tackle by OU’s Tre Brown.

“That’s our speed D,” Riley said. “That’s what we are. Coach (Alex) Grinch said it from day one, and that’s spot on. We are an effort-based defense, and you got to see us make one of the key plays of the game on a great effort by Tre running them down, and then the defensive line was relentless all day. That’s the way you’ve got to play. Our guys have bought in, and we’ve done it early, and it’s kind of time here in key moments and games, and we’ve gotten better and better as it’s went on.

“I couldn’t be happier with our defense, the way those guys have played with so much new — we knew it could be done here, and our guys believed it, our coaches believed it, and we got a pretty good defense here.”

OU’s defense is 24th in the nation, allowing 330 yards per game.

In the first game with Baylor, OU overcame a 25-point deficit for the biggest comeback win in school history. Last Saturday, Baylor tied the score late in the game forced overtime. But OU didn’t panic.

“We’ve got a mentally tough football team,” Riley said.  “Just because you’ve been mentally tough, doesn’t mean you’re going to in this moment. You still have to do it. We brought the guys up as we went to overtime I told them. This is fitting, the way we started fall camp was red zone work, and three straight days of it, and it’s fitting that start fall camp and finish the regular season championship game with kind of that overtime period.

They stuck to it, they absolutely stuck to it. So, you know, we had to be mentally tough again and this group proved venues that it is.”