No. 7 Oklahoma (10-1, 7-1 in the Big 12) will play No. 13 Baylor at 11 a.m. December 7 in Arlington, Texas, for the Big 12 Championship on ABC.

OU clinched a chance to defend their Big 12 title after a “too close for comfort” 28-24 win over TCU Saturday in Norman. OU jumped up two spots in the polls due to losses by Penn State and Oregon. The Sooners are just three spots away from a return trip to the College Football Playoff.

But first, the Sooners must beat in-state rival No. 21 Oklahoma State (8-3, 5-3 in the Big 12) at 7 p.m. Saturday on Stillwater on Fox.

A win over the Cowboys and a rematch victory over Baylor would set up the Sooners for a genuine shot at the playoff.

“The 10th win and getting to play the Big 12 Championship here is a couple of weeks is significant obviously,” said OU coach Lincoln Riley. “It is a big deal. Winning 10 games, getting to play for your conference championship is huge. Right now all the focus is going to go towards Bedlam and Oklahoma State. Going into Stillwater with a lot of goals intact. It is exciting. I still know that our best ball is out there and our team feels like that too. We are going to go try to work our tails off and put it all together.”

Three costly turnovers kept OU from a decisive win over TCU.

“Obviously we need to do a better job in the turnover department,” Riley said. “I think that goes without saying. Really all three of the turnovers were positive drives. The one in the first half and then obviously the two down there low at the end of the game. You have to do better with those. That is part of the game. It is an equalizer and something that we need to find a way to do a better job of.”

OU intercepted a TCU pass with about a minute left to preserve the win.

“We talk about takeaways equal victory,” said OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. “In my head, we’re going to get five of them and it’ll be a great day and Saturday’s going to be easy, but it doesn’t work that way all the time. It’s proof of how critical those things are… In the moment, you’ve got two options. Find a way to get three good plays in a row, in a situation like that you’re talking about four plays… and you also know that if you can also get two hands on this football somehow, someway or be able to strip that thing out, you’ve got a real good chance of calling it a win. Those are pretty good evidence for the guys in terms of how critical those things are.”

OU raced to a 21-0 lead in the first half against TCU but then was outscored 7-24.

“Well our group has to learn, and I told them before the ballgame, they didn’t know that they could play with Oklahoma,” said TCU coach Gary Patterson. “After a quarter they figured out they could. That’s what TCU is. It’s a group that can play with anybody. We’ve always been a group that can do that. We’re a young football team and we’re going to keep getting better. The bottom line of it, is that you can’t spot a team like that 21 points and win a ballgame.”

OU quarterback Jalen Hurts hit 11 of only 21 passes for 145 yards and two scores. He rushed a season-high 28 times for 173 yards and two touchdowns as the Sooners faced a TCU defense that dropped by eight players and rushed only three.

Hurts fumbled away a scoring attempt and had a potential touchdown pass intercepted by TCU and returned for a score.

“We found a way to win this one,” said Hurts. “Just the will, give a lot of credit to not giving up and staying true to who we are and playing ball. Defense played great all night, they made plays in critical times all night. O-line played great, controlled the line of scrimmage. There’s a lot of opportunities for us to learn so we’ve just gotta continue to learn from them and continue to move forward from there. I always say it’s one or the other.”

OU running back Kennedy Brooks ran 25 times for 149 yards Returning after sitting out the Baylor game with an injury, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb caught his 32nd career touchdown pass and finished the game with 49 all-purpose yards (16 receiving, 21 rushing, 12 punt return). Rambo had a career-high six receptions, totaling 77 yards (12.8 average) against TCU.

“We honestly just did not really need to throw it that much,” Riley said. “Honestly, we ran it so well. Some of it had to do with what TCU was doing and some had to do with us just running it great.”

The big challenge for the Sooner defense will be to slow down OSU running back Chuba Hubbard.

“He’s leading the country in rushing yards,” said OU safety Pat Fields. “He’s having a phenomenal year. One of the top guys in the Heisman race. Phenomenal player and you know he’s going to be a difficult matchup next but you just gotta go focus on yourself”

“I didn’t go to Oklahoma State my freshman year, I redshirted, so it should be nice,” OU wide receiver Charelston Rambo said. “We know their dudes, we know how their guys play and I played high school with A.J. Green. He went to DeSoto, I went to Cedar Hill, we beat them. I know his technique so we’ll just go from there. Just going through practice and just being ourselves and getting better. We just control what we can control.”

Oklahoma tight end Grant Calcaterra has retired from football after suffering a series of concussions.

“I spent countless hours visiting with OU medical professionals and specialists around the country. Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that it would be best for me to step away from the game,” Calcaterra said.

“We knew it was possibility after he had the latest concussion,” said Riley. “He made the right decision. It stinks because you know the passion that he has for the game and certainly a very potential future for him in the game. Obviously here and potentially professionally as well but there is more to it than this game. I think everybody supports him a thousand percent.”

This may not be a good bowl season for the Big 12, which may only send six teams bowling.

OU, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Texas and Kansas State have achieved bowl eligibility by winning at least six games. However, TCU is 5-6 and must beat West Virginia Saturday to go to a bowl. And three teams – Texas Tech, West Virginia and Kansas – have at least seven losses and won’t go to a bowl.