- Bob Stoops explaining with a straight face why his team deserves to be ranked higher in the BCS standings than Texas.
- Rick Baker explaining with a straight face that the Cotton Bowl doesn’t have a policy excluding 6-6 teams from playing.
- Georgia Tech getting waxed in Athens this Saturday, but backing into the ACCCG due to Virginia Tech’s upset at the hands of the incredibly mediocre Virginia Cavaliers – and the weak smack coming from the mouths of Tech fans in the wake of that happening.
- Oregon State knocking Southern Cal out of the Rose Bowl. One of these days, you figure the Trojans will learn that not showing up for a game against a weaker opponent has consequences.
- Houston Nutt vs. Charlie Weis in the Cotton Bowl. (Okay, it’s not gonna happen, but I sure wish it would.)
- Given the track record of ranked ACC teams this season, Georgia Tech creeping back into the top 25 this week.
- Utah in a BCS game. It’s not charity; the Utes have earned it.
- The look on Bob Stoops’ face if Baylor were to upset Texas Tech this week.
Things I’m looking forward to…
Filed under College Football
Get The Picture 
I don’t really care to hear smug, obnoxious Stoops explain anything, but I don’t need to because Oklahoma is the better team this year. I know there will be some split in the voting but I think Oklahoma may be the most complete team in the country. Based on the total body of work, I would vote Oklahoma ahead of both Texas, Florida, and any other one loss team. That said, the OU game at Oklahoma State this weekend could be very entertaining. (It may be similar to Arena Football, but the Big 12 this year is damned entertaining!)
LikeLike
Can you imagine where ND would be if they didn’t have a distinct schematic advantage over every opponent that they play?
LikeLike
… but I don’t need to because Oklahoma is the better team this year.
Other than the fact that they lost by ten on a neutral field to a team with the same record and a better resume to date, of course. 😉
LikeLike
How about Stoop’s face if they lose to Ok State.
LikeLike
USC isn’t going to mind the consequences of not winning the Pac-10 outright. They will go to the Fiesta Bowl to play Texas or Oklahoma. Ohio State is the only one who will suffer from Oregon State making a BCS game…not that the Buckeyes deserved a BCS game any more than UGA. Should be a good matchup in Orlando!
LikeLike
I know it won’t happen because only 1 non-BCS team is guaranteed a spot, but I would really, really enjoy USC getting passed over for Utah and Boise State.
I suspect some the the other bowls would enjoy sticking it to the Rose Bowl and their Pac-10/Big 10 buddies for the uncompromising stances they have taken in the past.
One can only hope.
LikeLike
Does Texas really have a better resume than Oklahoma, though? The best non-conference opponent Texas played was probably Rice; Oklahoma played (and demolished) TCU and Cincinnati, both of whom are currently ranked, the latter of which may well go to a BCS bowl.
I mean, look, in the circular firing squad that is the Texas/Oklahoma/TTU trio, it’s inevitable that you’re going to rank one of those teams above somebody that beat them. So you might as well give the highest spot to the team with the biggest win, and right now, that’s OU.
LikeLike
Does Texas really have a better resume than Oklahoma, though?
I’d argue that at this minute, yes it does. You’re leaving out the wins that Texas has over Missouri and Oklahoma State, both of whom I believe are better teams than either TCU, whose best win is over a team that Utah demolished last night, or Cincinnati.
Oklahoma will narrow the gap considerably after next week, of course, when it plays in Stillwater.
I just think the call of which team is the best in the Big XII South is a very tough call today.
LikeLike
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do too — I’m just saying that in a threesome where everybody’s 1-1 against everybody else, “X beat Y head-to-head” isn’t necessarily the be-all-end-all, because then what about Z, who lost to Y but beat X?
Dr. Saturday makes perhaps a better case here. I don’t know that there’s really any right or wrong answer here, but a 44-point evisceration of the former #2 team in the country has to count for something.
LikeLike
Senator, I can’t wait to see you have some fun with this story:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2008/11/22/notre_dame_snowballs.html
LikeLike
Oklahoma didn’t demolish Cincy. They were up by one score with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and this was when Cincy was still playing QB roulette.
Texas won heads up, that should be the end of the UT/OU argument.
LikeLike
Honestly, I think the slavish devotion to head-to-head as the ultimate and final arbiter of one team being better than another is a big problem with college football. As a general rule it is a fair tiebreaker. But in a situation like you have in the Big 12 South–three teams, all 1-1 against each other–it can seem illogical to make any argument one way or another.
I suppose Stoops would might like a fool if he tried to argue OU should be ranked ahead of Texas. But wouldn’t Mack Brown appear just as foolish arguing that Texas is clearly the best among the 3 when OU just beat Texas Tech, who his team couldn’t beat, by 44 points?
Say what you will about the benefits of playing at home, there’s not a home field in America worth that much.
LikeLike
Senator, while there is no arguing that Texas won the game against OU, I believe we have both been watching CFB long enough to know that a one game contest is certainly not totally conclusive of which is the better team (we need only look back at Stanford’s win over USC last year, or Pitt’s win over WVU for quick proof).
Unlike baseball where we have best 3 of 5, or 4 of 7 to get more/better evidence, in football we have to look at the total body of work. You have examined that and find an edge to Texas, and I have evaluated that same information differently. Oklahoma State may help decide that more definitively this Saturday, but I feel if OU handles OSU on the road, they should be given the chance to play Mizzou. (I am not convinced Mizzou is a quality enough win for Texas to override what I have seen, but respect your right to feel differently.)
My primary reason for rating OU over Texas is the defense. I just don’t think Texas has anywhere near the defense Oklahoma does, and that is what allowed the Sooners to dominate TT last night. There is no way I see Texas capable of doing that to Texas Tech. I also think that same lack of defense is what keeps Mizzou a couple of steps back of both of them.
Neither of us will have any say in who gets the shot in the Title game, and we will never know who is best, but I think Oklahoma would beat Texas 7-8 times out of 10….and I am not anti-Texas at all. They are in my Top 5 again this week. I just think Oklahoma is the most complete team I have seen this year. It will be an interesting call and the debate will rage with no way to determine the answer. Now with my 8 team playoff proposal………OK, I won’t start that one again!
LikeLike
USC wouldn’t play Texas or Oklahoma in the Fiesta. USC would play Utah. What a great game… I wonder if Utah would put up more of a fight than Illinois did last year.
LikeLike
These guys suck outside the big 12 when they play some good
2007 Jan. 2, 2008 Fiesta Oklahoma 28 West Virgina 48
2006 Jan. 1, 2007 Fiesta Oklahoma 42 Boise State 43
2005 Dec. 29, 2005 Holiday Bowl Oklahoma 17 Oregon 14
2004 Jan. 4, 2005 Orange (NC) Southern Cal 55 OKLAHOMA 19
2003 Jan. 4, 2004 Sugar (NC) Louisiana St 21 OKLAHOMA 14
These guys are better
• 2003 Holiday Bowl: #15 Washington State 28, #5 Texas 20
• 2005 Rose Bowl: #6 Texas 38, No. 13 Michigan 37
• 2006 Rose Bowl: #2 Texas 41, No. 1 USC 38
• 2006 Alamo Bowl: #18 Texas 26, Iowa 24
• 2007 Holiday Bowl: #17 Texas 52, #12 Arizona State 34
LikeLike
Doug,
Your circular firing squad (which begs to be called a triangle) reminds me of the ending of “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” In which case, Mike Leach is clearly Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez – known as The Rat. I can easily see Stoops as Angel Eyes. I guess that leaves Mack Brown as Blondie by default, though he is also like Angel Eyes.
LikeLike
Texas won heads up, that should be the end of the UT/OU argument.
And Texas Tech beat Texas, so that’s the end of the TT-UT argument. And OU beat Tech, so there’s that.
If OU beats Oklahoma State, I think they ought to be the highest ranked. Of the games involving two of the three one-loss teams, Tech barely beat Texas, Texas beat OU by 10, and OU beat Tech big. (Obviously, not having OSU on the resume yet probably puts OU behind Texas at this point. But at season’s end, OU will own the biggest win in the circle of death.)
I suppose one could also argue that Texas had the least-bad loss (and is therefore the closest to being undefeated), which is true. Had OU won last night by 15 or 20, I’d agree. But when you beat a 10-1 conference opponent by a similar margin as Florida beat Citadel, all bets are off.
USC wouldn’t play Texas or Oklahoma in the Fiesta. USC would play Utah.
Don’t bet on it! Assuming that the NCG is SEC vs. B12, Fiesta and Sugar probably take the Big 12 South runner-up and SECCG loser with their picks. I guess Fiesta could take USC instead of UT/OU, but even so, the remaining order is Fiesta-Sugar-Orange, so it could take UT/OU with the second pick, leaving the Sugar and Orange to take Utah and the Big East champ, meaning two disgusting BCS bowls. (Not to mention the Penn St-Oregon St rematch….)
LikeLike
Why does the fact that Oklahoma thrashed Tech seem to do away with the fact that Tech beat Texas?
Stoops has a point if you can not put Oklahoma over Texas then you have to leave Tech above Texas.
If you try and talk OU and Texas one and two (no matter the order) every one brings up head to head on a neutral field. When #4 Texas beat #1OU. Forget that #7 Tech beat #1 Texas. And throw out #2 Tech got annihilated by OU
LikeLike