Tim Cowlishaw gets it, hopefully everyone else does too

[Spanish Sooner]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/colleges/topstories/stories/113008dnspocowlishaw.4094caa.html

[Spanish Sooner]

In with OU, but out with Big 12 tiebreaker

12:52 AM CST on Sunday, November 30, 2008


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STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma needed its fair share of good luck to take command of a football game with Oklahoma State on Saturday night.

The Sooners might need even more luck to win a beauty contest with Texas this afternoon.

After watching the Sooners' 61-41 victory over the Cowboys in a wild game at Boone Pickens Stadium, I think the Sooners should jump past Texas in the BCS rankings, a development that would put Oklahoma into the Big 12 championship game against Missouri.

I also think the Longhorns and their fans are right to think they are getting hosed in this process.

That's because Texas has a good gripe, not with the BCS system, but with the Big 12. The conference uses a three-way tiebreaker that is unimaginative and leaves everything in the hands of voters and computers.

With the Sooners, Longhorns and Texas Tech all tied at 7-1 in the Big 12 South, today's BCS rankings are used to break the tie.

It doesn't have to be that way.

It isn't that way in some other major conferences.

In the SEC and ACC, which also have two divisions within a conference, the tiebreaker actually uses game results to make the ultimate choice. They still use the BCS rankings to drop the lowest team (in this case, Texas Tech).

Then the head-to-head matchup between the two higher-ranked teams can determine who goes to the championship game.

In this case, that would make Texas' 45-35 win over Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl the deciding factor.

And I understand why Longhorns fans think that should be the case. But it's not the case, not yet in the Big 12. And it's not fair in a three-way tie to simply say that Tech's victory over Texas doesn't exist. Or that Oklahoma's 44-point win over Tech shouldn't matter.

Until the Big 12 changes the rule – and we can only hope the conference will do it this off-season – you have to look at all the factors that can be considered.

And plenty of those factors favor the Sooners.

They finished the regular season by scoring more than 60 points against two strong, ranked teams – Tech and Oklahoma State.

The Sooners played the toughest schedule of the three tied teams. Cincinnati won the Big East and will be a top-15 team this week. TCU already is a top-15 team. The best nonconference team Texas played was Rice.

For what it's worth, the Sooners had the most impressive victory in the matchups of the three tied teams (65-21 over Tech). And on Saturday night, they scored the most impressive road win in the Big 12 this season.

The Sooners, Red Raiders and Longhorns did not lose at home this season. Neither did 12th-ranked Oklahoma State ... until Saturday night.

But will voters hold it against Oklahoma that they gave up 41 points? I don't think they should. Oklahoma State put at least 50 points on the board against every other team they played here except Baylor. And they beat the Bears, 34-6.

Will the Sooners be penalized in the minds of voters for scoring a lucky 73-yard touchdown on a pass that bounced off the hands of Manuel Johnson and traveled way downfield into the waiting arms of his teammate Jermaine Gresham?

Luck is part of the game.

I think Oklahoma's bigger concern is that the Longhorns and their fans have been very vocal about their 10-point win over the Sooners. It's a valid argument.

But in a three-way tie, it's only part of the argument, not the final solution.

Not at least until the Big 12 changes its tiebreaker rule and uses the rankings to eliminate one team, then uses what took place on the field to answer the ultimate question.

Hopefully this bodes well

[Flagstaffsooner]

FT Worth Star Telegram says OU too.
Oklahoma Sooners make a strong closing statement





MIKE JONES


STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma’s coaching staff will reach the fail-safe point sometime this mid- afternoon.
After the Sooners’ wild 61-41 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday night, they know they have another game to prepare for. They just don’t know against whom. Or when. Now or later.
All plans will be on hold until the release of the BCS standings today between 3-3:30 p.m. that determine whether OU, Texas or Texas Tech will advance to play Missouri in Saturday’s Big 12 Championship Game.
It should be Oklahoma.
Few can argue anyone has been hotter down the stretch than the Sooners, who since the October loss to Texas have rolled over six opponents in college football’s toughest division and scored 357 points in the process.
"There are plenty of reasons for us, as there are for other people," coach Bob Stoops said. "But in the end, our argument was stated here again [tonight].
"I think we have a really good chance. You look at what we’ve done the last two weeks — played the No .2 team in the country [Tech] and win by 44 and play the No. 12 team in the country in their place where no one else has beaten them and win by 20.
"Usually it’s what you’re doing at the end of the year and we have finished pretty strong."
The extended final weekend did nothing to settle the issue, leaving three of the best teams in the country hopelessly locked in the dreaded three-way tie.
But what a race it’s been and Saturday night’s week-late shootout (see OU 65, Tech 21 last week) was a fitting end to an unprecedented chase for the South’s championship berth.
The question now becomes whether Oklahoma’s final victory was enough to convince the human voters and get the computers to churn out the numbers that say the Sooners are more deserving than Texas to fill the date in Kansas City, Mo., despite the 45-35 loss.
"[The wait] is going to be pretty nerve-wracking," quarterback Sam Bradford said after his four-touchdown, 370-yard passing performance. "Everything we did tonight says why we should be there."
The chances are good that will happen, because the Cowboys were a more worthy opponent than Texas A&M. And O-State proved that. And the mere fact that OU prevailed — scoring the game’s final 17 points after OSU closed to 44-41 on Perrish Cox’s 90-yard kickoff return — should be more than enough to keep them playing next week.
Time after time when the Cowboys punched, the Sooners punched back. And yes, in the end, OU gained some style points in the hardest-fought game the Sooners have played this season other than the one against the Longhorns.
"They had a little too much firepower for us," Pokes’ coach Mike Gundy said.
OSU had almost as much. The Sooners weren’t safe until OU defensive end Jeremy Beal finally got to Cowboys quarterback Zac Robinson and forced a fumble that was recovered with 2:20 left by Adrian Taylor. The recovery in turn led to Chris Brown’s late 28-yard touchdown run.
The game was closer than the 20-point victory margin indicated.
The contest was marked by outstanding individual performances and quirks as well. None perhaps were bigger than the 73-yard TD catch by tight end Jermaine Gresham — off teammate Manny Johnson’s fingertips — to give OU a 30-19 lead.
"I got lucky," admitted Gresham, who caught nine passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. "But I’m going to roll with it. "We can’t really say too much about [what happens next] because we don’t know how it all works. But to be honest, I think we [should go]."

[bri]

I really think we're gonna see almost an underground resistance against ESPN and their week-long banging of the drum for Texas. At the end of the day, no one likes being told what to think.

[MojoRisen]

Murder the Fmother ****DR - and then kiss them... See ya in cold *** Kansas city,

4 points at home for Texas 20 points for OU on the road- enough said

[boomersooner28]

Talk about the lucky breaks all you want but what about the unlucky ones? What about the fumble at the 30 yard line when we should of had the ball going in to increase the lead, but instead OSU keeps the ball and scores soon after.

[soonergirlNeugene]

Another one over at Sporting News



Steve Greenberg

What we learned: Sooners, Cowboys put on a show

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Five things we think we know after watching Oklahoma out-PlayStation Oklahoma State 61-41 in the Big 12 regular-season finale.

1. It pays to play last

We can't say at this point with conviction that Oklahoma will pass Texas in the BCS poll and represent the Big 12 South in the conference title game next weekend. But there is no doubt the Sooners walked off the field at Boone Pickens Stadium feeling very good about their chances.

A national audience of pollsters flipped off their TVs, and you can bet the number that stuck with most of them was the 61 points scored, not the 41 points allowed. For many pollsters, the numbers 45 and 35 -- as in 45-35, Texas over Oklahoma -- are the only ones that matter now.

But you can bet there were a dangerous number of previous "undecideds" who were swayed the Sooners' way on Saturday night.

2. Sam's the man

Many of you don't want to hear what I'm about to tell you, but I've got to say it: Sam Bradford is so far out in front in the Heisman Trophy race, Texas' Colt McCoy and Florida's Tim Tebow can hardly see him. But they have to keep running.

If Oklahoma goes to the Big 12 championship game and loses to Missouri, Bradford won't win the Heisman. If Texas goes to the Big 12 title game and McCoy has another monster game, he'll have a chance to pass Bradford for much the same reasons pollsters will have supported the Longhorns over the Sooners.

But looking at it as November ends, Bradford has had the best season of anyone and deserves to be leading the race. He was close to perfect (30-for-44 passing, 370 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs) agaisnt the Cowboys, and his 46 TDs is the most impressive individual statistic for any player in the BCS conferences.

3. The truth hurts

Big 12 fans won't like this, either. After leaning for weeks toward the Big 12 as the best conference of 2008, I've finally gone the other way, back to the SEC.

The fact Oklahoma allowed Oklahoma State to move the ball so easily really bugs me. Why should I believe OU might be the best team in college football if it plays defense like that?

To me, Florida is the best team and there's little doubt about it. The Gators are unstoppable right now on offense and dominating defensively. Alabama's defense, meanwhile, is as impressive as any Big 12 offense, and the Crimson Tide are undefeated. There's greater strength at the top in the SEC.

4. Location, location, location

Week after week, season after season, many of us lose sight of one of the most influential factors in the national championship race: home-field advantage. Were those the same Sooners in Stillwater who destroyed Texas Tech so spectacularly the week before in Norman? Yes, and the fact is OU played very well against the Cowboys.

OK, maybe not very well. But Bradford was money on third downs all night, the receivers caught every big pass thrown their way, and the defense came up with a couple of turnovers that led to 10 points.

True, the run defense was porous and the special teams were putrid. But look around college football, will you? No one ever plays a perfect game on the road against a quality opponent. Everyone just tries to escape with victories.

Consider that for all the huge games in the Big 12 this season, OU's nail-biter in Stillwater and Oklahoma State's self-pronouncement Oct. 11 at Missouri were the signature road wins. There really weren't any others of significance.

5. Stillwater was worth the wait

We should pause for a moment and appreciate what Oklahoma State endured this season, and that was waiting longer than any big-time program in America to play host to a really big game.

The Cowboys played four games against teams ranked in the top three nationally at the time, and only the Oklahoma game was in Stillwater. The program and its fans really earned their time in the spotlight Saturday night, and they held up impressively.

Speaking of impressive, Mike Gundy's team was outstanding overall in those four games, beating Missouri in Columbia, taking Texas down to the wire in Austin, getting bombed by Texas Tech in Lubbock and, finally, going up and down the field for four quarters of thrilling football with the Sooners.

Given all we saw from the Big 12 this season, who's to say the Cowboys wouldn't have flipped the script on Texas Tech had their game been played in Stillwater?

Steve Greenberg is a staff writer for Sporting News. Email him at [email protected].

[insuranceman_22]

ESPN may be on the orange kool aid, but it seems not everyone is. We've got a chance to make KC and clash with the tigger's, fingers-crossed!

[Crucifax Autumn]

We'll kust ahve to roll up 70 on missouri if we make it and if we don't get that hope texass loses or bammer beats florida by 50.

Seems to me we're in as long as we beat the booger pickers or if we're not in texass blows it or the sec title game is ugly.

[Soonerfan88]

And Jason King from Yahoo! Sports


The Sooners the better
By Jason King, Yahoo! Sports
1 hour, 11 minutes ago

STILLWATER, Okla. – True to his word, Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops didn’t spend any time “politicking” for a spot in the Big 12 title game following his team’s 61-41 victory at Oklahoma State on Saturday.

For the first time in weeks, he didn’t need to.

Oklahoma’s 20-point win over the Cowboys should be enough to catapult the Sooners ahead of Texas in this week’s BCS standings. That means Stoops’ squad should emerge from a three-way tie with the Longhorns and Texas Tech – all of whom are 11-1 – and represent the league’s South Division in the conference championship against Missouri.

If you’re a fan of the Longhorns – who defeated Oklahoma 45-35 on Oct. 11 – you have the right to be peeved.
But if you’re a Big 12 fan, if you truly want what’s best for the league, then you should be glad Oklahoma appears headed to Kansas City.

As good as Texas is, the Sooners are the team that gives the Big 12 its best chance at a national title. And you can bet they’ll get their chance after defeating a struggling Missouri squad next weekend at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

“Obviously, we’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t go our way [and we don’t get chosen],” quarterback Sam Bradford said. “If it doesn’t we’ll just look back and say, ‘We should’ve won that game in October.’ ”

Still, schools that perform the best late in the season are usually the ones that get rewarded when it comes to bowl selections and high positions in the polls, and arguably no team is playing as well as Oklahoma.

The Sooners have won six straight games since losing to Texas, and in those games they’ve scored 45, 58, 62, 66, 65 and 61 points. They’ve played a tougher nonconference schedule with wins over Big East champ Cincinnati and Texas Christian.

Even more impressive is that their 65-21 victory over Texas Tech on Nov. 22 came when the Red Raiders were undefeated and ranked No. 2. And remember, this was the same Tech team that defeated Texas.

Because he played against both schools, Oklahoma State kick returner Perrish Cox was asked to pick the better team between the Sooners and Longhorns.

“I would pick OU,” he said. “They’ve got more weapons. They move the ball around a lot. They have a lot of running backs. Sam Bradford is a good quarterback. They just keep making plays.”

Indeed, those who follow Oklahoma’s program closely are saying that this offense could be one of the best in school history. The Sooners have a solid one-two punch at running back in DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown, but their biggest strength is their passing game.

Juaquin Iglesias is regarded as one of the top receivers in the country while Ryan Broyles is one of the Big 12’s best freshmen. Jermaine Gresham, a future NFL tight end, had 158 receiving yards and two touchdowns Saturday. Linemen Duke Robinson and Phil Loadholt are both pro prospects.

It also helps that the person spearheading Oklahoma’s attack is arguably the top quarterback in the program’s storied history. If he wasn’t there already, Bradford likely jumped to the front of most voters’ Heisman ballots with a 371-yard, four-touchdown effort against Oklahoma State.

Bradford has thrown just six interceptions all season and, with him under center, the Sooners have turned 61 of their 71 red-zone trips into touchdowns.

That’s the kind of production that a team will need to beat Florida, who will likely end up in the national title game after defeating Alabama in the SEC championship.

Just like the Sooners after their loss to Texas, the Gators have made huge strides following their early season setback against Ole Miss. Texas would have a chance against Urban Meyer’s squad – but Oklahoma will have a better one.

Granted, both teams will have a tough time stopping the Gators’ offense and 2007 Heisman winner Tim Tebow. If Oklahoma and Texas have a weakness, it is clearly their defense. But it’s not as if the Sooners have been porous in that area as of late.

They surrendered just 21 points against a Texas Tech squad that features the nation’s top pass-catch duo in Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree. A week later, on Saturday, the Sooners faced the Big 12’s best collection of skill players in Oklahoma State’s Cox, Kendall Hunter (tailback), Dez Bryant (receiver) and quarterback Zac Robinson.

Hunter rushed for 86 yards, Cox scored on 90-yard kickoff return and Bryant snared a pair of touchdown catches. Still, the Sooners’ bend-but-don’t-break defense came through with big plays when it mattered most.

After Oklahoma State pulled within 44-41 on Cox’s kickoff return, Oklahoma responded with a scoring drive that upped its lead to 51-41 with 7:07 remaining. The Sooners then thwarted any chance of an Oklahoma State comeback by forcing the Cowboys to go three-and-out on their next possession. The Sooners capitalized with a field goal and then forced Robinson to fumble after the Cowboys got the ball back.

Ballgame.

“All we can do now is hope,” Bradford said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be in Kansas City.”

Texas can probably think of one. In fact, Longhorns boosters footed the bill for a plane to fly above Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday towing a banner that read “45-35: Settled On a Neutral Field.”

You can’t debate the Longhorns on that one. The fair solution, of course, would be to give them the nod to the Big 12 championship since they defeated Oklahoma head-to-head. But that’s not the way this screwy system works. So the Sooners, it should be.

I think.

Texas officials were sending out all sorts of emails late Saturday night in an effort to convince voters to keep the Longhorns ahead of Texas in the BCS standings. Texas Tech made similar efforts, although the Red Raiders are considered a longshot after getting blown out by Oklahoma (65-21) on Nov. 22 and barely squeaking by Baylor (35-28) on Saturday.

“The good thing,” Oklahoma State defensive back Andre Sexton said, “is that the Big 12 South is going to be represented well. I think we’ll have a team in the [national] championship game, and whichever team it is, they will be good.

“I’ll cheer for either one of them. Everyone should.”

[SoonerBorn68]

But if you’re a Big 12 fan, if you truly want what’s best for the league, then you should be glad Oklahoma appears headed to Kansas City.


As good as Texas is, the Sooners are the team that gives the Big 12 its best chance at a national title.

:D

[FirstandGoal]

Here (http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11105393) is another great article I just read.

I can't believe its already past 4am and I am still so keyed up that sleep is not happening right now.


You can land the plane now, Tex. Pick up the banner you flew overhead here reading "45-35 SETTLED ON A NEUTRAL FIELD" and use it for one giant crying towel.



Here's a tip, folks: This is not between Oklahoma and Texas. It's between Oklahoma, which beat Texas Tech, which beat Texas, which beat Oklahoma. Texas Tech's win over Texas cannot be discounted.

2 comments that had me lmao :D

[Czar Soonerov]

Here (http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11105393) is another great article I just read.

I can't believe its already past 4am and I am still so keyed up that sleep is not happening right now.






2 comments that had me lmao :D

#3

The BCS rankings come out today at 2 p.m. At that time, another banner should be flying over Oklahoma. It should read Big 12 South champion.

:D

[SoonerBacker]

#4 Bradford and the posse of Oklahoma weapons were unstoppable. The sophomore probably inched ahead of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy in the Heisman race, hitting 30-of-44 passes for 370 yards and four touchdowns. This is not Florida Atlantic he did this against.


lmao

[SoonerGrad2003]

I really think we're gonna see almost an underground resistance against ESPN and their week-long banging of the drum for Texas. At the end of the day, no one likes being told what to think.

I really hope this happens. Anyone else watching the Sports Reporters right now? These arse hats cannot even get the score to the game right!

[bri]

Well, they probably can't count that high.

[Vic n Tulsa]

Hopefully this bodes well

Here's the other side of the arguement!
The SweepSI.com's All-American Blog TeamRSS
Texas still gets my No. 2 vote over Oklahoma
Views61439Comments645Posted by: Stewart Mandel01:38 AM ET 11.30 Share

RB Chris Brown clinched OU's fourth straight 60-point game.
APIt's only fitting the Big 12 -- this season's most entertaining conference -- would allow its championship race to culminate in yet another, enthralling primetime shootout. Two great quarterbacks and two great offenses traded punches well into the fourth quarter Saturday night in Stillwater, with 10-1 Oklahoma ultimately prevailing 61-41 over 9-2 Oklahoma State.

Now, the conference that's provided the nation with so many thrillers this season -- including Friday's Nebraska-Colorado nail-biter and Saturday's last-second Kansas-Missouri finish -- will sit back and let voters from around the country decide one of its championship-game participants. In a sport built on often-strange traditions, this may well be one of its most bizarre moments yet.

If you tuned in Saturday night, you saw yet another virtuoso performance from Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford. He completed 30-of-44 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns and added a "signature" moment to his Heisman campaign when he went airborne in an attempt to somersault into the end zone. (He scored on the next play.)

You also saw an Oklahoma State team that simply would not go away, with dual-threat QB Zac Robinson accounting for 358 total yards and four TDs. Three times in the second half, Oklahoma went up by double-digits, only to have the Cowboys respond with a touchdown, including Perrish Cox's 90-yard kick return that made it 44-41 with just over 10 minutes remaining.

But Bradford marched right back down the field to throw yet another touchdown (the Sooners produced six straight at one point), OU finally got a couple of stops and ultimately managed to break the 60-point mark for a fourth straight week. (Almost by accident, Chris Brown broke a 28-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left.)

Personally, I want nothing to do with deciding which 11-1 team -- Texas, Texas Tech or Oklahoma -- should be crowned Big 12 South champion, and fortunately I don't. That's up to the coaches poll, the Harris poll and BCS computers.

I do, however, have an AP ballot to submit by Sunday morning and must decide which order to rank them.

First of all, to no one's surprise, Texas Tech is not in my equation. The Red Raiders ended their season losing 65-21 to Oklahoma and barely surviving 4-8 Baylor. (They also lost star WR Michael Crabtree on Saturday, but that's another story.) They will remain right where I had them last week -- lowest of the one-loss teams (seventh).

Before Saturday night's game started, here's how I decided to approach the Texas-Oklahoma paradigm: The Longhorns were the incumbents and the Sooners were the challengers. In other words, the onus was on No. 4 (as of last week) Oklahoma to do something Saturday night to prove why it should unseat No. 3 Texas.

As hard as it is to take issue with a road win over a top-15 foe -- I do not think that "something" took place.

Whereas Texas has hard evidence on its behalf in the form of its 45-35 victory over OU on Oct. 11, any argument in favor of Oklahoma is essentially subjective. It comes down to arbitrarily determining the Sooners are playing better right now than are the Longhorns.

That would be a lot easier argument to make if Texas, like Texas Tech, had limped its way to the finish. However, all the 'Horns have done since their last-second loss in Lubbock is drill Baylor, 45-21; win at Kansas (the same team that toppled No. 12 Missouri 40-37 on Saturday), 35-7; and hammer Texas A&M, 49-9. There's no evidence that the 'Horns are playing any worse than they were on Oct. 11.

As for Oklahoma, there's little question the Sooners have the most dangerous offense in the country right now. They've put up no less than 58 points their past five games, and Bradford looks unstoppable every time he takes the field.

Oklahoma's defense, however, has hardly looked immortal this season, and Saturday night was no exception. The Sooners' defense played the game of their lives in shutting down Texas Tech's Graham Harrell last week, but they had a much harder time handling Oklahoma State's Robinson. And, for the fourth time this season, OU's special teams allowed a kick return for a touchdown.

Much like an instant replay review, I need "insurmountable evidence" to convince me to move one team (Oklahoma) above another (Texas). All I see are two extremely deserving teams with no discernible separation between them -- except, of course, for that 10-point margin on the day they played each other.

[soonerfan28]

I think the voters should look at who they think would win between Texas and OU at this point in the season and I think the answers pretty clear.

[GrapevineSooner]

You have your argument, we have ours.

[bri]

Great, I'm now one of those guys that emails sports writers when I disagree with them. :D