Even as a Sooner fan, I actually feel (a little) bad for Texas. It’s unfortunate that the Big XII uses the BCS rankings as a tiebreaker for a division. What SHOULD be happening is Texas and Oklahoma should be playing again for the title. I don’t think anyone questions that these are the top two teams in the conference. Yes, Texas won the regular season matchup, but rematches have been common in the Championship game since its inception. Let’s just trash the division format and put the two best teams out there.

What I’d really like to see is an OU win next week, and a squeaker of a Florida win that somehow doesn’t let the Gators jump the Horns. Unfortunately, I don’t think the coaches would allow it to happen. If Florida does win, I expect they will jump from 4th to 1st just to make sure the game is inter-conference.

Comment by Mark L — Sunday, November 30, 2024 @ 5:57 pm

The divisional structure is a tad annoying, to be sure. Indeed, an OU-UT Big XII Championship makes more sense than OU-Mizzou.

Ah well.

Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Sunday, November 30, 2024 @ 5:59 pm

Mark, a Florida team that beats an undefeated number 1 team should jump 2 & 3. On another note, I know it has to be frustrating for Texas, but I doubt they would have had any sympathy for Texas Tech had they themselves gotten in and put Tech in their own position. But aren’t they just playing to see who gets to get beat by Alabama anyway.

Comment by Talmadge East — Monday, December 1, 2024 @ 9:37 am

As an OSU fan, I am still recovering from the Cowboys’ collapse in the last quarter (okay, half) of Satuday’s game against OU.

However, I definitely acknowledge that the selection process is pretty screwy. It’s crumby that Texas beat both of the so-called “champion” teams this season.

Comment by S.K.B — Monday, December 1, 2024 @ 11:21 am

It seems like the fact that OU is able to run up the score matters more than anything else. I will admit it is impressive the number of points they are rolling up, especially against teams like Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. But their game against State was a lot closer up until the last 5-6 minutes, and the Sooner’s defense looked very porous.

Comment by ts — Monday, December 1, 2024 @ 11:32 am

TS,

I don’t think OU’s running up the score was the deciding factor. The human polls swung Texas’ way some, but the computers were what pushed OU ahead. And the computers have been told to not take scores into account - just wins and losses. For example, Sagarin from USA Today publishes two results - one with W/L only (used by BCS) and one that includes margin of victory.

OU went ahead of Texas because they won on the road against a top 15 opponent. Texas won at home against a cellar-dweller in the conference. Everyone predicted a week ago that OU would pull ahead in SOS because of it.

OU benefitted from playing a bit better competition than Texas this year. Playing conference champ Cincinnati, and conference runner up TCU in the non-conference schedule certainly helped. OU also played Washington, but no one would have predicted they would be down so much, likewise for the Horns and Arkansas.

OU’s defense certainly has issues. We’ve had two senior starters and one of their replacements go out, so I don’t think there’s anything certain.

The one plus side to this that is being missed is that OU is being rewarded for playing a slightly tougher schedule. Considering Tech had four cupcakes as non-conference opponents, I would hope the message would be clear - cupcakes can be hazardous to your health.

Comment by Mark L — Tuesday, December 2, 2024 @ 6:40 pm