Controversy in the Big 12
December 1st, 2008 byThe latest BCS Standings are out and they have left the Big 12 in turmoil. The Texas Longhorns have been ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners all season in respect to the BCS Standings for their 45-35 victory over the Sooners this season. However, this week Oklahoma jumped ahead of Texas in the BCS standings to the #2 position and it was a critical point in timing. The Sooners jump in the BCS places them as the team to represent the Big 12 South over Texas leading up to this week’s conference championship. Oklahoma’s jump over Texas in the BCS Standings has ultimately changed the entire Big 12 Championship match-up and perhaps has changed the entire National Championship game as well.
The Big 12 tie breaker rule for sending teams to the conference championship is determined by the higher ranked team in the BCS Standings. Showing how important a week of voting could be for the entire nation, the Sooners jumped Texas in the standings this week by a mere .0128. This change in the BCS Standings put the Oklahoma Sooners in Big 12 Championship game this weekend. This is where the controversy comes in. The Longhorns beat Oklahoma this season 45-35 in Lubbock, TX. Most conferences use the way teams play head-to-head during the season to decide a tie breaker at the end of a season if teams end with the same records.
Big 12 South teams Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech all ended the season with a record of 11-1, and 7-1 in the conference. Texas Tech was blown out by Oklahoma 65-21 and that ruined any hopes they had in playing for the Big 12 Championship despite they ended with the same record as Texas and Oklahoma. Texas on the other hand seemed in control of their own destiny considering they had beaten Oklahoma head to head. With that 45-35 victory over the Sooners, the Longhorn nation thought the BCS would favor them ahead of Oklahoma if the two teams did in fact end the season with the same record. The BCS did favor the Longhorns every week the new standings were released until the week that mattered most.
This has caused an uproar in across the nation for college football fans. The last week BCS voting has changed everything from here on out for the college football season. Texas or Oklahoma either one would be the favorites against Big 12 North Championship contender Missouri. Missouri has lost 3 games already this season and just benefits from being on the weaker side of the conference. Texas is now left out of their own conference championship game despite deserving to be playing more than the Oklahoma Sooners. Not only does it effect the Big 12 Champion, but if Oklahoma wins the Big 12 Championship they will go on to play for the National Championship where again perhaps Texas should be not Oklahoma.
The winner of the Big 12 title game will meet the winner from the SEC Championship between #1 Alabama and #4 Florida in the National Championship game. Texas still has a chance to make the National Title game if Oklahoma losses, but again the Sooners will be fairly reasonable favorites to pick up the victory. Whoever makes it to Miami, Florida to play in the National Title game from the Big 12 will finally have a chance to dethrone the SEC in it’s quest for a 3rd straight National Championship.
One thing this Big 12 incident is achieving is it has given the NCAA even more reason to finally put some type of playoff system into college football. College football fans have been desperately begging for a playoff system for years and this could be a turning point. A playoff system would prevent this exact situation from happening again where a team that perhaps has earned their right to play for a National Championship will be left out. In 2004, the Auburn Tigers went through the SEC undefeated and never got the chance to play for the National Championship despite going undefeated in the toughest conference in college football. Despite the much needed change for BCS and College Football, the season goes on. Still Texas is left on the outside looking in.
Despite not being in the Big 12 Championship, many think Texas still has a good shot to play in the National Championship. Find out what some of the experts are expecting in the Big 12 Championship and the chances Missouri has in upsetting the Oklahoma Sooners.
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January 12th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Texas did get snubbed this year. But a playoff will in no way fix the system, because it still lets human voters determine who goes. If you make an 8 team playoff, only 1 non bcs team would have been there, and only 5 conferences would have been represented. If you make a 16 team playoff, you have only 3 non bcs teams, and you have the ACC still sitting out with no team ranked in the top 16. Here is the answer.
At the end of the regular season, take all 11 conference champions. Use the BCS to rank them 1-11. The top 8 teams play the four BCS bowl games, 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5. All other 6 win teams or better play in normal bowls just as usual. Texas could still play Ohio State, Georgia and Michigan State, etc. The BCS bowls are played on Jan 1 and Jan 2 and are the last 4 bowls. After they and all others have been played, the BCS computers rerank ALL teams in college football. Now you have number one play number two for the title game.
This woule be much more interesting. If Florida, OU, USC and Utah all lost their BCS bowl game and Texas won, they could have still gone to the national title game against Alabama possibly. You could have had Utah and USC in the title game. Any number of things could happen this way, it would be much better. It’s not a real playoff, the BCS is preserved, but the teams in the title game will have earned their spot there by winning a post-season game against a strong opponent.
That and have the BCS rankings get rid of the coaches poll. Coaches watch exactly 12 teams play all year- the 12 teams they will face. They watch plenty of tape on them. They don’t watch anyone else, who in the world thought they would be good pollsters? They never watch games! Take the AP poll instead. The media actually watch all the games. They know better how to rank them. Have this included with the computer polls the BCS currently uses and then you’ve got legitimate rankings.