The following is a college football sports rant. Reader discretion is advised.
Yes, I am a partisan. I love my Longhorns. As a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, I've got burnt orange in my blood. And I know that the situation in the Big 12 is very messy.
For those of you who don't know, there are six schools in the Big 12 South (which is a division of college football). Every year, a champion of the South is named to take on the champion of the Big 12 North. This year is messed up because there are three schools in the division with 11-1 records. And they all beat each other in a circle.
Texas beat Oklahoma
Oklahoma beat Texas Tech
Texas Tech beat Texas
So, which school is the champion? It all came down to polls, along with a computer system. And, ultimately the computer gave the nod to Oklahoma by a tiny margin. So now Texas is going to sit home while Oklahoma (who they beat) plays Missouri (who Texas also beat) for the championship. So, whoever wins, they will be a school that Texas defeated.
Further, Oklahoma beat Texas Tech at Oklahoma, with a huge home field advantage. Texas Tech beat Texas--on the final play in the last 8 seconds of the game--at Tech, with a big home field advantage. But Texas beat Oklahoma on a neutral field, the Red River Shootout, which is always evenly balanced.
And here is the real pain in my tail. If Oklahoma wins against Missouri in the so-called Big 12 Championship game, then Oklahoma is very likely to play against the SEC champ in the BCS Title Game. So Texas will get to play in a big bowl game, but won't get to play for the national championship. Even though it has the same record as a team that it BEAT who IS playing for the championship.
So, this coming weekend, I will be rooting for stupid Mizzou. Because if they can somehow pull it off against Oklahoma (who didn't look that great against OSU by the way), then maybe the Longhorns could sneak into the National Championship, even though they won't have won the Big 12. Of course, if it goes that way, the stupid pollsters will probably give it to stupid USC, the University of Spoiled Children, just because they happen to be the only professional football team in America's second largest TV market. I Hate USC, and all the morons on ESPN who love it so, so much.
OK, rant over.
HOOK 'EM HORNS!
The Horns Got Hooked
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5 comments:
You might want to consider a few facts: The Texas win over OU was earlier in the year, and not by much of a margin. The venue is still in Texas, so I have my doubts about it being truly neutral.
All of our schools have lived and died (together) by the flawed system that is the BCS. Texas just happened to get a particularly bitter end of the shaft this year. Bummer.
Texas made the mistake of losing...and they did it later in the year. Bummer. It's not only about who beat who. If it was, what do you say to Texas Tech? To complain about field advantage and a last-second score really is grasping.
If Texas deserved to be the only challenger from the Big 12, then they shouldn't have been in a dogfight with Tech where they were one TD away from defeat.
As far as this coming weekend, the Zen master says "We will see."
First off: I don't want to consider facts. I'm a fan. :)
Texas beat OU 45 to 35. That is a solid two score margin.
If you think that the Red River Shootout, which occurs in Dallas, is not neutral, then I argue that you have never been to one. As someone who has, let me assure you that the stadium is evenly divided.
It is grasping to argue about last-second scores and fields. You are right. And the BCS system has led us to this sort of grasping.
i'm with you thomas as a bama grad. texas should be in the game. its painfully obvious how swaying the polls are to the whims of what happened last weekend.
if texas was on the primetime tv last saturday and showed no defense and scored 60 points against another team who had no defense then they would have held onto their 1st place standing in the b12 south by keeping ahead in the bcs.
as history goes, the media loves oklahoma and what have they done in championship games? generally they tank with only one national championship win. they are even the great team that lost to a non-bcs conference.
texas when they got a shot only beat the, at the time before kick-off, the 'team of the century' as the pundits were calling usc.
i don't know why they don't consider tradition, it doesn't leave from weekend to weekend. plus an offense cannot win a championship. the colts never did till they sured up their offense. the '92 miami hurricanes got throttled when they met the alabama defense. no one gave the ravens much of a chance with dilfer, but how'd that turn out?
okay, that feels like sufficient rant. texas got hosed because our pundits are more into fads than they are into sustainability.
note: i am glad they still hold fast to the undefeated being number one, bama gets no respect for being undefeated except that as tradition goes an undefeated team gets default number 1 status. it pissed me off when ohio state got there with slow teams in the past, but it's proving helpful for my team this year.
"And the BCS system has led us to this sort of grasping."
With that we can agree. Good luck to your team, whatever happens from here.
:)
Basically, Texas beat OU on a neutral field (did you already know that?) and lost to Texas Tech in Lubbock on the last play against a hostile crowd who was had enjoyed College Game Day being there for the first time. They were hosting the #1 team in the country, a team they hate almost as much as OU does. They were trying to get everyone to wear black so they could "black out" the stadium for this historic event. They even had Bobby Knight publicly say how much he hoped Tech would kick Texas' a$$. They were undefeated, but still feeling disrespected by those not giving them a chance. That game was a trap, no way Texas could match the emotional intensity. They got behind early, and fought back to take the lead late, only to lose on a desparation last second play.
No, it really doesn't matter as much that OU dominated an overconfident Texas Tech in Norman. That night belonged to an emotional crowd and Red Raider football team. It was the emotion that carried Tech past Texas.
Texas did lose that game, so they can't blame anyone but themselves, but it sucks to see two teams that you beat play for a conference championship. If this were any other conference that has a championship game, Texas wins the tie breaker.
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