The home in Oak Grove would certainly get EF-5, they haven't been that strict, its just we have never had a blatantly obvious EF-5 since Moore 2013.Look a few years ago I'd have agreed with you, but now I'm doubtful. They seem to be both very insistent that any 'flaw' in the land path means it can't be EF5 and very nitpicky about potential flaws to the point of conjecture. It's like they don't recognise that the load path has to fail somewhere.
I recently read the actual survey report on the Elie F5. They decided to go with F5 because they thought the position of the sill plate showed it had been pulled upwards and that meant there was a good connection, rather than the more common situation of a weak connection that separates easily. Under EF scale practice I don't see that being accepted.