BCS has spoken: It's OU
Well, now we can officially stop the discussion- Oklahoma will be the Big 12 South representative Saturday night against Missouri, and with a win will be in the national championship, It is a shame that this selection had to come at the expense of a team as talented, and with as strong an argument to be there, as Texas. At the end of the day, Texas tried hard to lean on their neutral field victory over Oklahoma in early October, but most voters realized and understood that determining the top two teams in the country is much more complicated than simply weighing head to head factors. As Bob Stoops pointed out last week, if you are forced to put Oklahoma behind Texas by virtue of their head to head loss, then Texas Tech must be placed ahead of Texas and Oklahoma must be placed ahead of Texas Tech. This, of course, is impossible, just as it is with other situations (Ole Miss isn’t ranked ahead of Florida, Oregon State isn’t ranked ahead of USC, Iowa isn’t ranked ahead of Penn State, etc.). So other factors need to be considered. There is precedent here as well, as Florida State benefited from similar scenarios in 1993 and in 2000, where their overall body of work earned them shots at the title.
Texas certainly didn’t benefit from Missouri’s home loss to Kansas over the weekend. This was the only Big 12 win that they had to their credit that the Sooners did not, and it doesn’t look nearly as good now as it did a week ago. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s dominating preseason wins over
TCU and Big East Champion Cincinnati gained luster, while much more impressive performances against the next best teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, all made for a much stronger resume. I didn’t see it as clearly last week and was leaning toward Texas, but after a lot of consideration, I think that the BCS got it right this time. And honestly, does anyone think that Texas would beat Oklahoma right now? I’m still trying to figure out how that happened in the first place.
Meanwhile, Alabama continues to get no respect heading into this season’s first #1 vs. #2 matchup. They are ten point underdogs against Florida despite a virtual iron curtain defense and an efficient, versatile offense. Florida’s offense is arguably the most explosive in the nation, but they haven’t seen a defense this strong yet. It should be an epic battle, and I think ten points is an awful lot.
Now, the only hiccup in determining the BCS Championship game would come in the extremely unlikely event that Oklahoma loses to Missouri. In this case, it appears Texas could get the nod, and probably should since it was nearly a toss-up to keep them out of the conference championship. Still, voters who feel iffy about putting a non-conference champ in the BCS Championship may look in other directions. Leading candidates would be USC, who figures to bury arch rival UCLA next weekend, and Penn State, who while a less likely choice, did defeat the team that beat USC with ease, and whose only blemish is a one-point loss on the road to an 8-4 team that hasn’t lost by more than six points all season.
TOP 25 OF THE MATTY:
- Alabama ( 12-0)
- Florida (11-1)
- Oklahoma (11-1)
- Texas (11-1)
- USC (10-1)
- Texas Tech (11-1)
- Utah (12-0)
- Penn State (11-1)
- Boise State (12-0)
- Ohio State (10-2)
- Ball State (12-0)
- TCU (10-2)
- Cincinnati (10-2)
- Oklahoma State (9-3)
- Oregon (9-3)
- Boston College (9-3)
- Georgia Tech (9-3)
- Georgia (9-3)
- BYU (9-3)
- Michigan State (9-3)
- Missouri (9-3)
- Pittsburgh (8-3)
- Ole Miss (8-4)
- Iowa (8-4)
- Oregon State (8-4)
HEISMAN WATCH:
- Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
- Tim Tebow, Florida
- Colt McCoy, Texas
- Graham Harrell, Texas Tech
- Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech
ENTHUSIAST OF ALL 