College Gameday will be in Norman on Saturday to kickoff the day's action and cause many sleepless Oklahoma fans to wait another eight hours until kickoff after Gameday signs off.
Anyways, all the talk of the game started to get me thinking on difference scenarios of how the Big XII South could play out and what kind of affect it will have on those still in the hunt for the divisional title.
After all of the thinking, Texas is the team that seems to be SOL.
Sure, I like Texas and it was one of my top three when choosing a college (I say that like other places had a chance), but the Longhorns need a lot of help in order to reach Kansas City.
For better understanding, here goes my thought process.
- Of the three teams still in the hunt for the Big XII South title, and more or less BCS Title Game berth, Texas has the weakest remaining schedule. The Longhorns finish with Texas A&M next Saturday as their final game. Oklahoma finishes with Oklahoma State in the annual Bedlam game and Texas Tech will finish with Baylor.
- I will start the thought process by saying if Texas Tech wins, all that is written below is a moot point. The Red Raiders win, they will clinch the Big XII South for the first time since the inception of the Big XII Title Game
- Now, if Oklahoma wins, the division will fall into a three way tie entering the final weekend of the season. Also, voters will have many questions to ask of themselves.
- Does Oklahoma jump Texas even though the Longhorns won the head-to-head game?
- How far does Texas Tech drop after losing to Oklahoma?
- Where does Texas belong after beating Oklahoma, but losing to Texas Tech?
- You may ask why this all matters, but it is huge. Assuming all three teams win their final games, there would still be a tie at the top of the division. The final tie breaker in the Big XII is BCS rank. That means, if Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech all finish 7-1 in the conference, the team with the highest BCS rank will go to the conference title game to face Missouri. That would be why schedule would come into play with the computers. For Oklahoma, a win Saturday should put them into the Big XII Championship Game. The Sooners have the most appealing final game and lost the earliest out of the three teams battling for the final spot.
- Now, if Oklahoma beats Texas Tech and then loses to Oklahoma State, Texas Tech will win the division by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker with Texas. In this case, Oklahoma would go from first to fourth in the span of a week.
So, after discussing all of that, what would Texas need to go to Kansas City?
First, they must exert revenge on Texas A&M next Saturday to still have any kind of shot should Oklahoma win tomorrow.
Second, their lead on Oklahoma in the computer polls must remain solid. As it stands this week, Texas' average computer ranking is 2.75, resulting in 0.93 BCS points. Oklahoma's average is 5.50 and 0.82 BCX points . With a Texas Tech loss, Texas' average should jump to a 1.75 and 0.97 BCS points, putting them second in the computer polls only behind Alabama. How much weight the computer's put on Oklahoma's win would dictate a lot in the BCS.
But as I said when I started this, if Texas Tech wins, all will be right with the world.
However, this is BCS era college football we are talking about, and nothing ever plays out the easy way.
Now, how bout some Auburn "love"?
Since I missed posting yesterday, today will once again bring a double dose of "love."
To start off today, we will take a look at Auburn sociology.
You know, the class where Auburn football players never show up and then get an A...
And remember Exhibit A, Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, whom the professor of the sociology class had never hear of...
And the impending scandal that pretty much made a Sociology Degree a joke?
Ok, so they were eventually cleared by "an internal investigation," but still 18 players and 97 hours is a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment