Chaos In Tejas

I said in this post last week that Texas' loss to Texas Tech does not have the same weight as Texas beating Oklahoma. If you're not going to include Texas Tech and consider ranking them above both Oklahoma and Texas (and I can't find anyone outside of Mike Leach that would do this), then their defeat of Texas is not as important as Texas beating Oklahoma. While I wrote this post beforehand, it has become a counterpoint to Earl's post here.

This is a raw deal for Texas, but the Longhorns are doing a pretty good job of dealing with this situation. While they are sinking into madness in some instances, I think it is understandable to a point. Texas fans need to remember that the only thing they can do at this point is win their bowl game and then complain and hope the AP listens. As I said with Georgia last year, there's no reason to whine now and then lose your bowl game. Doing so will make you look like you didn't belong in the conversation in the first place (such as Michigan in 2006).

While I do think Texas being left out is ridiculous, I do not blame the BCS. It is not the BCS' job nor its intention to determine the participants in conference championships. This decision was the Big 12's, so they created their own problem. Every conference uses BCS rankings at some point for a tie breaker, and I think it's understandable that conferences would use it in some form in order to not leave this thing up to a coin flip (which I believe was next), or some sort of obstacle course game show tournament.

If this situation does result in a split national title, people are going to completely blame the BCS for it. I think such blame would be misplaced. It's not that you could absolve the BCS completely, but I think there are entities you could blame for having a larger role in creating such an instance.

The first to blame should be the Big 12, for reasons I outlined earlier. The next blame should be placed on irrational voters who placed Oklahoma above Texas. How can I blame voters, but not blame the BCS? Simple, the BCS is reactive to the choices the voters make. If voters in both the Harris Poll (which did rank Texas ahead by a small margin), and the Coaches Poll (who defy logic as often as they can), had largely ranked Texas above Oklahoma, the BCS would have appropriately responded.

Again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Everyone lambasting the BCS for having failed this year reminds me that nothing's actually been decided yet

THIS IS JUST ONE REASON WHY A PLAYOFF WOULD BLOW

Texas Tech is on the verge of destiny. A school relegated to back seat of football in the State of Texas has one more large leap to make before they legitimize their run to the national title (with Baylor and the Big 12 Championship still left on their journey).

If Texas Tech wins this game, and then wins out, they've gone over the hurdles of a rigorous schedule that is probably only topped by a one or two SEC teams.

Not only would running the table this year be a landmark event for a program that managed to only win two SWC titles in 40 years, but it signifies that they are indeed one of the two teams that deserves to play for a national title.

T-Tech beating Oklahoma in Norman means they've completed a sweep of their major divisional foes, which is something that the traditional dominant teams in their conference couldn't accomplish this year.

Why would it then make sense to force this team to play even more games in a playoff, just to prove they're worthy?

Winning out with their schedule is enough of an accomplishment to have a shot at the title and a playoff only diminishes the potential achievement this team can gain tomorrow night.

This game, as well as their previous games against Texas and Oklahoma State, would have a diminished value if a playoff were in place. You could say T-Tech would benefit by still having shot if they lost this game and could still make a playoff.

While potentially true, that only gives evidence to my point that the importance of this game is diminished by a playoff. It also shows how pointless a playoff would be if T-Tech won. With a playoff, they would still have to prove themselves for several more games, despite winning against Oklahoma. With the current system, they can simply lock up their division and ensure they're shot by winning this game. The reason they can do that is because they've already proven themselves on the field in their previous games.

The game tomorrow night displays the essence of college football that so many seem to be forgetting (or just ignoring).

Good luck to the Yosemite Sams against the land thiefs.