The finale has arrived.

Oklahoma was the preseason pick to win the Big 12 for the sixth-straight year. Iowa State was picked to finish fourth. The Sooners ended up losing two games and Iowa State just one to end up with a rematch in the Big 12 Championship.

The Cyclones handed Oklahoma one of its two losses in the second Big 12 game of the season. The Sooners just lost an inexplicable heartbreaker to Kansas State after leading by three touchdowns with just over 15 minutes left in the game, too. Iowa State used a huge kickoff return and scored two touchdowns late to give Oklahoma back-to-back regular season losses for the first time since 1999.

Then, Lincoln Riley and the Sooners responded. They strung off six-straight wins, including a historic win over Texas in quadruple overtime to start it off and a Bedlam beatdown. Thanks to Kansas State falling off and Oklahoma State dropping games to Texas and TCU, Oklahoma avoided any and all disaster from a tiebreaker scenario to get back into the Big 12 Championship game.

The Sooners and Iowa State will kickoff at 11 a.m. CT. Here are the score predictions from the Sooners Wire staff.

Josh Callaway

Oklahoma and Iowa State are both completely different teams than when they first met all the way back in early October. It is hard to just totally ignore that first game, but honestly I think we largely should when trying to evaluate what will happen this time around.

The Sooners are obviously a different beast with Ronnie Perkins and Rhamondre Stevenson in the lineup and Spencer Rattler has grown a lot since what was just his third career start.

The Cyclones are playing extremely well themselves, with that decimation of West Virginia being really impressive a couple weeks ago. The fact they have been so hot down the stretch paired with Matt Campbell’s ability to always give Lincoln Riley fits gives me some level of pause to Oklahoma winning another conference crown.

But, at the end of the day, the Sooners have completely owned this conference in the last half of a decade since Riley came to Norman. Until someone takes the crown from them, it is hard to every pick for it to happen.

This game will be fun and extremely entertaining all the way down the stretch. I think Spencer Rattler makes some big plays on a national spotlight and the Oklahoma defense comes up with a couple huge turnovers to set the offense up on some short fields. Gabe Brkic comes through in a big way as well sinking a few field goals.

Oklahoma 30, Iowa State 23

Steven Plaisance

For a sight that’s anything but new—Oklahoma playing for a Big 12 title in Arlington—there’s something uniquely intriguing about this matchup in particular. Oklahoma doesn’t enter as the Vegas underdog, but they are the lower-ranked team in this game for the first time under Lincoln Riley.

There’s certainly an air of underdog energy around this Oklahoma team right now. On Tuesday, they broke into the top ten of the College Football Playoff rankings for the first time this season. On Thursday, they claimed three first-team All-Big 12 selections, paling in comparison to Iowa State’s nine. And of course, Oklahoma was on the losing end the last time these teams met, in Ames in early October.

Needless to say, the peripherals say that Oklahoma shouldn’t be the favorite in this game. Perhaps they’re favored for that very reason. This Oklahoma team is at its best when people count them out, they’ve shown that time and time again. I’m picking Oklahoma to win, and cover, for that very reason.

Oklahoma 35, Iowa State 21

Kegan Reneau

I am much of the same.

As I broke down this game and weighed out each side of what I thought could happen, I ultimately came back to the same thought I had last week: Iowa State can’t block Oklahoma up front.

The Sooners missed tackles loom large in this game the first time around. Oklahoma had around 15 missed tackles, which included six or eight of those being missed tackles for loss. Not only that: the Sooners had six drive extending penalties in the secondary, missed three interception opportunities and couldn’t run the ball until late in the game.

If you flip that game around and say Oklahoma only shoots themselves in the foot 50 percent less, we may be talking about the Sooners playing in the College Football Playoff instead of just winning another Big 12 Championship game.

Back to this game: I like Spencer Rattler more than Brock Purdy. Oklahoma is better in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The coordinator matchup is pretty even, but the Sooners had a chance at a lot of success offensively and defensively in the first game but didn’t execute.

The last time Oklahoma played is holding me pause for a bit. It wouldn’t shock me if the Sooners blew them out. Spencer Rattler may have a turnover and Oklahoma may not run the ball consistently, and that brings my score down.

Hot take: Iowa State doesn’t end up scoring 20 in this game.

Oklahoma 34, Iowa State 24.