Longhorn Nation, I have stood with you for nigh on 20 years. I have bled in your streets (okay, peed in the alley behind Joe's Generic Bar) and fought the good fight (screamed obscenities at Gary Gibbs during the Red River Shootout in 1990), so it brings me no pleasure to tell you we're screwed.
In case you hadn't heard, there's a three-way tie in the Big 12 South. The Longhorns has no problem handling crybaby Stephen McGee and the Aggies, Oklahoma did slightly more than eke out a victory against OSU, and Tech...survived against Baylor. All are 11-1, meaning we'll have to wait until Sunday's BCS rankings to see who gets to curb stomp Mizzou in the Big 12 championship.
The sad fact - which has been all but admitted by everyone from Kirk Herbstreit to Bob Allen - is that OU will jump Texas in the standing. Whether that means they'll be the new #2 or, more likely, Texas will swap places with #4 Florida, will be apparent later today. Whatever the case, we'll likely be on the outside looking in at OU vs. Missouri.
I'm not thrilled, but I'm not going to chant "45-35" like an idiot either. We should have handled Tech, and we didn't. And maybe we ought to reconsider scheduling that game against North Texas every year. I imagine the conference will revisit the tiebreaker rule after the season is over, but when you have a very realistic of having every major conference champion emerging with at least one loss (the Gators are going to destroy Alabama), it's pretty obvious the system is still screwed. No playoff is going to make everybody happy, the NCAA Tournament proves that, but anything has to be better than what we're stuck with now
UPDATE: Surprise, surprise, surprise:
The Longhorns beat Oklahoma by 10 points on a neutral field.
But .13 of a point will keep them from playing in the Big 12 championship game.
Oklahoma finished with the highest ranking in Sunday's Bowl Championship Series to break a three-way tie with Texas and Texas Tech in the Big 12 South.
Oklahoma (11-1) will play Missouri in Saturday's Big 12 title game in Kansas City, Mo.
And Florida, which lost to an unranked Mississippi, will probably move to #1 with a win over Alabama. I love college football.
I was actually a student at North Texas when they played A&M the first time, and I remember there was quite a kerfuffle because the UNT band sprinkled glitter all over Kyle Field during their halftime show. But I guess rolling in UNT’s glitter isn’t as bad as playing Texas Tech, as they have TT all over their uniforms (ah, junior high humor…).
A Mississippi team with Texas ex Sneed at QB. Hook ‘em Catfish !!!!
You could always get rid of the divisions in the Big 12 so that a 5-3 team (probably) doesn’t make the title game.