Earlier in the week I discussed how crazy the BCS has gotten keeping the Texas Longhorns out of the Big 12 Championship game. Instead of Texas, Oklahoma is playing in the Big 12 Championship despite the Longhorns 45-35 win this season. The national media has assumed that the winner for the SEC Championship game would go on to play in the BCS National Championship. However, taking a closer look at the computer ratings things may be even more bizarre.

The Florida Gators are ranked #2 in the AP top 25 polls but come in as the #4 team in the BCS rankings. The popular speculation is that Florida would go play in the National Championship given they could defeat #1 Alabama. Although, with last weeks jumbled BCS rankings keeping Texas out of the Big 12 Championship a win for Florida still might not be enough to put them in the National Championship.

Texas is ranked #3 in the BCS Standing slightly behind Oklahoma at #2. The Sooners jumped the Longhorns last week in the standings by .0128 and that put the Sooners into their conference championship game over Texas due to the Big 12 tie breaking rules. The Big 12 rule for tie breakers state that the highest rated team in the BCS will win the tie breaker. So despite Oklahoma not be able to defeat Texas head to head, they will still represent the Big 12 South in the championship game.

Can you imagine how mad the state of Texas has been this week? Texas has been kept out of the Big 12 Championship game and their chance to earn a spot in the National Championship game was taken away as well. Texas has been ahead of Oklahoma since the BCS ranking were released until last week which mattered most. Last week BCS standings determined the fate for the Longhorns, considering the Big 12 Championship will be held this weekend. Texas again felt like their chances have been stolen from them and there was nothing they could do to prevent it.

Not so fast Texas faithful, taking a closer look at the BCS rankings things might actually not be so bad. Keeping Texas out of the Big 12 Championship may have in fact benefited them as much as playing and winning the championship game. Florida trails Texas in the BCS Standing by .0328 a pretty fair margin. Florida is an 8.5 point favorite to defeat the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide. Assuming Florida does win the SEC Championship, it may not be enough to jump the ahead of a Texas team that does not have to play this weekend. The Longhorns computer ranking should not change while Florida’s ranking may not be able to overcome the .0328 deficit placing Texas and most likely Oklahoma in a rematch for the National Championship.

Florida trails Texas by .160 in the computer rankings for the BCS while holding pretty even with Texas in the Harris and USA Today polls. If the Gators do pull off the victory over Alabama, they will definitely get some help from the Harris and USA Today polls which are human voters. However, the computer rankings that has to do with other things like strength of schedule will still favor Texas, but by how much? The Gators would have to receive a big help from the computers to overtake the Longhorns.

Then again things may not be that controversial after this weekend if Alabama wins and Oklahoma loses. However, that will be tough for both of those things to happen. Florida as mentioned before is more than a touchdown favorite to win their game while Oklahoma is a two touchdown favorite to win the Big 12. In a perfect world, Alabama and Missouri will win and the BCS will again dodge another missile targeted to take down the BCS rankings forever. However, this year it will not happen. The chances of both Alabama and Missouri winning are bout as good as Ohio State beating an SEC team in a championship game. Even if Alabama can pull of the win over Florida, Texas fans will still feel like they have been robbed of an opportunity to play for the title. An opportunity they have earned.

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The 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.