Gil LeBreton Ft. Worth Stat Telegram Article

[aurorasooner]

Excellent article by Gil. Just like Bob Stoops press-conference, it tells it like it is w/o all the carpetbagging politics BS. I only quoted the 1st part of Gil's article, but the whole column is worth the read. http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1066534.html
In the eternal struggle of man versus machine, man failed miserably Sunday.

That’s not to say that the right team won’t be playing in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. The Oklahoma Sooners argued their case eloquently.

They said nothing.

No rented planes circling over Austin. No phone-ins from Bob Stoops in the middle of Mack Brown’s Thanksgiving dinner.

Just football. Just a 61-41 victory in hostile environs over a No. 11-ranked archrival.

The Sooners’ decisive win Saturday over Oklahoma State was as significant a road victory as any team in the Big 12 Conference achieved this season.

There’s your tiebreaker.

As myopic Texas fans — and their head coach — conveniently decline to acknowledge, there was a three-way knot, not a two-team tie, atop the Big 12 South standings.

and this is just too good not to quote.
In the end, what could Brown have done for me?

He could have just shut up and allowed his team’s memorable 11-1 season do the talking for all of Longhorns, Inc.

Instead, Brown began to show up on TV more than that Geico lizard. :D :D :D The poor-taste clincher came Saturday night when he agreed to be interviewed in the middle of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State telecast.

Why didn’t Oklahoma do that, Stoops was asked Sunday?

"I was asked to be on the Texas game Thursday," the OU coach said, "and I said no. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think it was right." BTW, That's Ft. Worth Star Telegram not Stat-Telegram in the title Typo.

[tbl]

"I was asked to be on the Texas game Thursday," the OU coach said, "and I said no. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think it was right."


Nice... Scoreboard!

[boomersooner2001]

"I was asked to be on the Texas game Thursday," the OU coach said, "and I said no. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think it was right."

And this is why saxet will always be picking up the scraps from OUr thanksgiving table.

[aurorasooner]

After the Sooner Girls BB tonight, I switched over to ESPN's SportsCenter while flipping through the channels and that host that looks like a Men-In-Black reject, was leading in with the Bob Stoops press conference. And as is customary by these carnival-act TV sports reporters, he had a quip about "Bob is still selling".
Now I watched and listened to the whole press-conference this afternoon, and there was absolutely no selling. What I heard was just telling it honestly like it was. Of course, ESPN only quoted a small portion of the press conference and configured it to portray what they wanted. Unfortunately most of the CFB fans didn't get to see the whole press conference and take what these talking-heads say as factual.

[tbl]

Even more frustration about the ESPN machine... :mad:

[vigilantesooner]

This is why OU is at the top and staying, and Texas is still considered "new to the game". OU makes its statement on the field where it counts, and Texas has to go off the field, begging the voters to change their mind. No truly elite program resorts to begging to get what they want.

[SoonerPr8r]

Just submitted this on digg.com
Please go digg it up

[Crucifax Autumn]

The good thing is that next week if we beat Booger and company we will be even further ahead thanks to the transparent coach vote, the additional quality opponent, and the extra game. Not to mention the voters and compueters that move us over the loser of the SEC championship.

[adoniijahsooner]

Basically calls the whorns a bunch of whiners and politicians; and says that we deserved to be there.


http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/columnists/gil_lebreton//index.html

[adoniijahsooner]

sorry didnt see that someone already posted this. please delete

[Blues1]

Someone Finally Gets it Right......Mack Brown the Biggest Cry Baby of All Time ---!!!

[Widescreen]

Wow, that dude better watch his back. :eek:

[OUinFLA]

new link (http://forums.hornfans.com/php/wwwthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=football&Number=5816215&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=)



By GIL LeBRETON [email protected]

In the eternal struggle of man versus machine, man failed miserably Sunday.
That’s not to say that the right team won’t be playing in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. The Oklahoma Sooners argued their case eloquently.

They said nothing.

No rented planes circling over Austin. No phone-ins from Bob Stoops in the middle of Mack Brown’s Thanksgiving dinner.

Just football. Just a 61-41 victory in hostile environs over a No. 11-ranked archrival.

The Sooners’ decisive win Saturday over Oklahoma State was as significant a road victory as any team in the Big 12 Conference achieved this season.

There’s your tiebreaker.

As myopic Texas fans — and their head coach — conveniently decline to acknowledge, there was a three-way knot, not a two-team tie, atop the Big 12 South standings.

Why should a single game played Oct. 11 decide everything? Why not a game played Nov. 1?

Yet, over and over again over the past two weeks, Brown had filibustered for voters not to forget his Texas team’s October victory over the Sooners.

Never mind, he seemed to say, that just one week ago Oklahoma took apart a then-undefeated, No. 2-ranked Texas Tech team by 44 points — the same Tech team that beat Texas on Nov. 1.

Never mind that the Sooners’ season ledger included nonconference victories over TCU and BCS-bowl-bound Cincinnati.

Longhorns fans countered by trumpeting their Oct. 18 — what is it about October? — win over the Missouri Tigers.

Oh, right. The team that Kansas beat.

In the end, what could Brown have done for me?

He could have just shut up and allowed his team’s memorable 11-1 season do the talking for all of Longhorns, Inc.

Instead, Brown began to show up on TV more than that Geico lizard. The poor-taste clincher came Saturday night when he agreed to be interviewed in the middle of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State telecast.

Why didn’t Oklahoma do that, Stoops was asked Sunday?

"I was asked to be on the Texas game Thursday," the OU coach said, "and I said no. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think it was right."

Stay classy, Austin, Stoops was saying, without mentioning any names.

But as Stoops and the Sooners saw, Brown’s politicking for his team worked. The Longhorns gained ground in both of the human polls.

Go figure. Texas, playing at home, defeated a vastly disappointing Texas A&M team 49-9 in a game that Colt McCoy was still quarterbacking in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, playing on the road, knocked off the No. 11 team in the nation — and yet lost ground in the human polls to the Texas poor-us campaign.

"It was the campaigning. I don’t think there’s any question," said Jerry Palm, whose CollegeBCS.com Web site is the bible for all things BCS.

For all the whining, in other words, about computers and formulas and BCS rules, the human element continues to be the bug in the equation. The same thing happened in 2004 when writers and coaches, after Brown again had politicked all week, leapfrogged Texas over Cal in the final poll and sent the Longhorns to the Rose Bowl.

Everyone seems to complain about the so-called "BCS computers," but as Stoops said, "They don’t have agendas. They don’t have loyalties. They don’t have opinions. They don’t have all the bias that everyone else does.

"And if you say no one else does, I don’t think you’re being truthful."

When the numbers were finally added, Stoops thinks that the strength of Oklahoma’s schedule likely was the determining factor that will send his team to Kansas City next weekend.

It’s probably not going to make TCU feel any better, but the Horned Frogs might well have sent the Sooners to the national championship game.

"For people to continue to want to play out-of-conference games that people want to watch and go to and be excited about," Stoops said, "there has to be an incentive. Otherwise, just schedule four wins and move on down the road. You could almost schedule a bowl game by that."

If Texas wants to blame anyone today, it needs to blame the guy that scheduled Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Arkansas and Rice. Similar cream-puff scheduling cost undefeated Auburn a title game shot in 2004.

This time, fortunately, the six BCS formula computers cut through the rhetoric.

They judged the football, not the filibuster. And Oklahoma came out the winner in more ways than one.

[sooner_born_1960]

I encountered a problem...

[sooneron]

I had a close encounter

[Lott's Bandana]

"We cannot proceed."

How ironic...and delicious.

[OUinFLA]

lol, well, I dont know why the link doesnt work
it's the "good read" thread at hornfans.



edit: well, I know now. they deleted the thread :D

[zeke]

good read

[IBleedCrimson]

Haha that's awesome. LOL ur right they're melting down completely

[zeke]

http://www.star-telegram.com/289/gil_lebreton/

[Jacie]

A horn's pain is my pleasure. It shoudn't be that way but they bring down the wrath upon themselves.

The horn fans are positively hysterical over the current BCS rankings. No doubt they are doing internet searches on everyone associated with the BCS in an effort to find some scrap of information that might discredit them. I honestly expect to read about a campaign to beseige the Whitehouse with emails and phone calls demanding the Executive Office step in and right the wrong that only orange-colored glasses can see.

Okay, it is too damn bad that an 11-1 team had to be left out. Well, sportsfans, had it been OUr team we would have been chapped but there would not have been any "campaigns" or other shenanigans that only bring embarrassment (Texas, are you reading any of this?) upon OUr state and university.

Texas fans = crybabies

[TUSooner]

I'm sure this has been mentioned, but why not a little more overkill:
The only basis Texas has for arguing (or, more correctly just "assuming") a two-team race is that OU beat the steaming snot out of TTech. Maybe we should have beaten TTech by only 1, then Texas might have gotten the point about it being a 3-way tie.
I know, I know. Their gripe is really with the BCS ranking them behind a team they beat, but that happens a lot, and I just don't care!! :)

[Scoregasm]

Living here in Austin, all they are saying on the radio, etc. is how Mack was standing up and fighting just like his team does. Standing and fighting? I saw him on his knees begging.

[PDXsooner]

Here's another one from the LA Times:



Texas Coach Mack Brown learned Sunday that no two campaigns are alike.

In 2004, his lobbying on behalf of Texas for a Rose Bowl berth may have helped swing enough votes away from California to deny the Golden Bears their first trip to Pasadena since 1959.

Texas deprived Cal by claiming the coveted No. 4 spot in the Bowl Championship Series standings by a minuscule margin of .0129.

Cal lost points in the final coaches' and media polls after a 26-16 win at Southern Mississippi in which Coach Jeff Tedford ordered quarterback Aaron Rodgers to take a knee at the end rather than try to tack on another score.

Cal still hasn't been to a Rose Bowl since 1959.

Minutes after Sunday's release of the BCS standings, an e-mail hit my in-box that read, "I hope you remind readers that Texas , now crying foul, didn't seem to have a problem with the BCS when it jobbed Cal in the same fashion a few years ago. This Thanksgiving, Mack Brown is getting a karma cookie for dessert."

The 1st Amendment thrives in Berkeley .

This year, not for any lack of effort or eloquence, Brown's second campaign fell a few stump speeches short.

The release of the next-to-last BCS standings was bad news for Texas .

The 'Horns got hooked.

Alabama came in first, as expected, but Oklahoma jumped Texas for the No. 2 spot.

This was crucial because Big 12 Conference rules dictate the BCS standings be used to break a three-way tie in the South Division among Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech.

All three teams are 11-1, but only one could advance to next week's Big 12 championship game against Missouri .

The winner of the BCS bake-off was Oklahoma , which, if it beats Missouri , has the inside track to face the Southeastern Conference champion, Alabama or Florida , in the BCS title game on Jan. 8.

Of course, had Texas been forwarded by the BCS standings, the Longhorns would have the inside track.

"It is what it is," Brown said in a statement Sunday. "We don't like it, we don't agree with it or think it was fair, but, like anything else, we'll handle it and move forward."

Brown has never apologized for campaigning on behalf of his employer.

"What I want is obvious, that's what's best for Texas ," Brown said.

Brown offered himself to numerous media outlets last week to speak to the merits of a Texas team that defeated Oklahoma , 45-35, in October.

It was a compelling argument.

And it almost worked.

Texas , which began the weekend trailing Oklahoma in both the USA Today coaches' and Harris polls, closed considerable ground.

Texas moved ahead of Oklahoma in Harris and came within a whisker of catching Oklahoma in the coaches' poll. The Sooners prevailed by a single point, 1,397 to 1,396.

Oklahoma , though, jumped from No. 3 to No. 1 in the BCS computer index while Texas stayed at No. 2.

The voting coaches and Harris pollsters were allowed to hide under the cover of anonymity because only their final ballots next week are required to be made public.

So here's what it means:

With one week left, the BCS top five is Alabama , Oklahoma , Texas , Florida and USC.

Florida figures to jump to No. 1 or No. 2 with a win over top-ranked Alabama in the SEC title game.

If Oklahoma defeats Missouri , the Sooners are positioned to grab a BCS title-game spot.

Texas will sit at home, at 11-1, hoping Missouri can pull off the upset that allows the Longhorns to claim the BCS berth.

These are the likely scenarios.

There is no predicting what happens if Alabama suffers its first loss on a last-second field goal. Might the Crimson Tide drop only to No. 2 and earn a rematch with Florida ?

What if Oklahoma looks horrible in beating Missouri ? Might voters, knowing their ballots are going to be public, reconsider Texas when the final BCS standings are released this Sunday?

Mystery, as much as percentage points, is part of the equation.

Texas also might have a shot at claiming the Associated Press crown. Texas is No. 3 behind Alabama and Florida in that poll, which the AP pulled out of the BCS after the great Texas-Cal fiasco of 2004.

Texas could move to No. 2 in place of the Alabama-Florida loser and stake its national-title claim from there.

USC won the AP title in 2003 after it was snubbed from the BCS title game despite finishing No. 1 in the coaches' and media polls.

Here, in my opinion, is how the BCS bowls are most likely to shake out:

National title: Florida vs. Oklahoma .

Rose: USC vs. Penn State .

Fiesta: Ohio State vs. Texas .

Sugar: Utah vs. Alabama .

Orange : Cincinnati vs. Boston College .

For Texas , it might take time for the pain to subside, but the BCS standings don't always break your way.

In this sport, shift happens.

Did Texas deserve the BCS nod this year?

Probably.

The Longhorns beat Oklahoma , fair and square, on a neutral field.

But you could understand how voters and computer components might factor in Texas Tech's defeating Texas but then getting crushed by Oklahoma .

"None of us put together the system, but that's the way it is," Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops said.

Stoops said if head-to-head was the only argument, then Texas Tech "has [as] legitimate [a] beef as anybody does."

But, Stoops noted, "If they're out of the conversation because of how we beat them, then you've said a lot by taking them out of the conversation."

Mack Brown screams for a playoff but, until then, continues to be a voter in the system he abhors.

It's just the way the BCS works . . . or doesn't work.

Cal has never gotten over 2004.

Texas might never get over Sunday.

In the BCS, though, there's always a (rotten) tomorrow.

Dufresne is a Times staff writer.

[email protected] m

[Blues1]

Quote -----


"If Texas wants to blame anyone today, it needs to blame the guy that scheduled Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Arkansas and Rice. Similar cream-puff scheduling cost undefeated Auburn a title game shot in 2004."

Amen and Amen ......!!!

PS ----- His Name is "Mack Brown"

[oupride]

Quote -----


"If Texas wants to blame anyone today, it needs to blame the guy that scheduled Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Arkansas and Rice. Similar cream-puff scheduling cost undefeated Auburn a title game shot in 2004."

Amen and Amen ......!!!

PS ----- His Name is "Mack Brown"
Are you sure? Coaches usually do not set the schedule. You have a link?

[Blues1]

Are you sure? Coaches usually do not set the schedule. You have a link?


You know darn well The AD's talk to the head coach about the games they want to Book.....Even Our AD talks to Coach Stoops about the future games....
It just is....

[stoopified]

Gil LeBreton is a smart man.

[Dio]

Gil LeBreton is a smart man.

...and he's probably getting death threats right about now.

[budbarrybob]

The problem with scheduling is that teams that look good one year and then suck the next. Notre Dame 3 yrs ago woulda been a good bet. Arkansas looked good 2 years ago. Then you have the problem of teams cancelling games and having to book a Div 1AA team on short notice. Of course taking Rice any year before this year woulda been just plain dumb. Washington for us was a "weak" game as it turned out. I'll bet not so bad when we scheduled them. SOS is a more nebulas thing to predict years out but you can hedge your bets by getting teams like ND, Miami and tOSU.

[Oldnslo]

IF I were a horn fan, I'd support Mack.

consider:

If Mack doesn't get to that Rose bowl, where his team won an exciting game against Meatchicken instead of <yawn> another trip to lovely San Diego and the Holiday Bowl, then I'm pretty sure his team doesn't have the confidence to breakout the next year to rise up and win all the chips.

Until that Rose bowl, the whorns had pretty well gotten comfortable in their role as a sometimes team. Once they had that win, they made a run to the next level.

Can't blame the guy for trying it again. It's just that this time it didn't work.

Look for whoever is playing tx in their bowl to pull an upset.

[Partial Qualifier]

You're right, Oldnslo -- can't blame Mack too much. After all, it was ESPN/ABC ringing his phone off the hook, asking him to interview on the air.

ESPN and ABC should be ashamed for trying to stir this pot the way they did. What they tried to do, and the way they tried to do it -- it's completely outrageous.

[OUTrumpet]

OU beat #11 on the road by 20. Florida beat #20 Florida State on the road on a terrible fricking storm ridden field and Texas passed them. There is no reason whatsoever that Texas gained so much in the polls.

[BigRedJed]

Sure there is. It is called the human element. Or more appropriately in this case: lobbying, coercion and stupidity.

[blackbeauty02]

Sure there is. It is called the human element. Or more appropriately in this case: lobbying, coercion and stupidity.

with a lot of emphasis on stupidity

[Leroy Lizard]

I don't believe for one minute that Mack didn't prearrange the phone call-in.

[SanDiegoSoonerGal]

I saw him on his knees begging.

So that's what they call it these days?

;)

[tulsaoilerfan]

OU beat #11 on the road by 20. Florida beat #20 Florida State on the road on a terrible fricking storm ridden field and Texas passed them. There is no reason whatsoever that Texas gained so much in the polls.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone bought some votes; who's to say these idiots can't be bought?

[btk108]

Why do the sportswriters conveniently forget that Texas almost lost to OSU on their own field. They should have lost, OSU outplayed them and had more talent. The only thing in favor of Texas was their coach was smarter. Gundy lost that game in the final minutes, not the Cowboys. By the way, the SAME Cowboy team that OU beat by twenty on THEIR home field. Maybe someone ought to make signs of the TEXAS-OSU score if Texas continues to whine.

[shaun4411]

i doubt they keep ou out of the national championship game if they beat missouri. even if its 3-2. votes will be public. they wouldnt put themselves up to that kind of public scrutiny

[SoonerinSouthlake]

Why do the sportswriters conveniently forget that Texas almost lost to OSU on their own field. They should have lost, OSU outplayed them and had more talent. The only thing in favor of Texas was their coach was smarter. Gundy lost that game in the final minutes, not the Cowboys. By the way, the SAME Cowboy team that OU beat by twenty on THEIR home field. Maybe someone ought to make signs of the TEXAS-OSU score if Texas continues to whine.

Why do some of the sportswriters continue to say that both human polls have Texas above OU. We are still ahead of them in the Coaches arent we?

I have seen some articles today claiming Texas is ahead in the Coaches. These are no doubt same dumba$$es voting in the Harris Poll

[FlatheadSooner]

Nice to hear this issue is not completely one-sided in media

--------------------------------
Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Human Element is the Bug in the BCS System
GIL LeBRETON
--------------------------------

In the eternal struggle of man versus machine, man failed miserably Sunday.

That's not to say that the right team won't be playing in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. The Oklahoma Sooners argued their case eloquently.

They said nothing. (Coach Stoops is a class act ? read on)

No rented planes circling over Austin. No phone-ins from Bob Stoops in the middle of Mack Brown's Thanksgiving dinner.

Just football. Just a 61-41 victory in hostile environs over a No. 11-ranked archrival.

The Sooners' decisive win Saturday over Oklahoma State was as significant a road victory as any team in the Big 12 Conference achieved this season.

There's your tiebreaker.

As myopic Texas fans ? and their head coach ? conveniently decline to acknowledge, there was a three-way knot, not a two-team tie, atop the Big 12 South standings.

Why should a single game played Oct. 11 decide everything? Why not a game played Nov. 1?

Yet, over and over again over the past two weeks, Brown had filibustered for voters not to forget his Texas team's October victory over the Sooners.

Never mind, he seemed to say, that just one week ago Oklahoma took apart a then-undefeated, No. 2-ranked Texas Tech team by 44 points ? the same Tech team that beat Texas on Nov. 1.

Never mind that the Sooners' season ledger included nonconference victories over TCU and BCS-bowl-bound Cincinnati.

Longhorns fans countered by trumpeting their Oct. 18 ? what is it about October? ? win over the Missouri Tigers.

Oh, right. The team that Kansas beat.

In the end, what could Brown have done for me?

He could have just shut up and allowed his team's memorable 11-1 season do the talking for all of Longhorns, Inc.

Instead, Brown began to show up on TV more than that Geico lizard. The poor-taste clincher came Saturday night when he agreed to be interviewed in the middle of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State telecast.

Why didn't Oklahoma do that, Stoops was asked Sunday?

"I was asked to be on the Texas game Thursday," the OU coach said, "and I said no. I didn't want to do it. I didn't think it was right."

Stay classy, Austin, Stoops was saying, without mentioning any names.

But as Stoops and the Sooners saw, Brown's politicking for his team worked. The Longhorns gained ground in both of the human polls.

Go figure. Texas, playing at home, defeated a vastly disappointing Texas A&M team 49-9 in a game that Colt McCoy was still quarterbacking in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, playing on the road, knocked off the No. 11 team in the nation ? and yet lost ground in the human polls to the Texas poor-us campaign.

"It was the campaigning. I don't think there's any question," said Jerry Palm, whose CollegeBCS.com Web site is the bible for all things BCS.

For all the whining, in other words, about computers and formulas and BCS rules, the human element continues to be the bug in the equation. The same thing happened in 2004 when writers and coaches, after Brown again had politicked all week, leapfrogged Texas over Cal in the final poll and sent the Longhorns to the Rose Bowl.

Everyone seems to complain about the so-called "BCS computers," but as Stoops said, "They don't have agendas. They don't have loyalties. They don't have opinions. They don't have all the bias that everyone else does.

"And if you say no one else does, I don't think you're being truthful."

When the numbers were finally added, Stoops thinks that the strength of Oklahoma's schedule likely was the determining factor that will send his team to Kansas City next weekend.

It's probably not going to make TCU feel any better, but the Horned Frogs might well have sent the Sooners to the national championship game.

"For people to continue to want to play out-of-conference games that people want to watch and go to and be excited about," Stoops said, "there has to be an incentive. Otherwise, just schedule four wins and move on down the road. You could almost schedule a bowl game by that."

If Texas wants to blame anyone today, it needs to blame the guy that scheduled Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Arkansas and Rice. Similar cream-puff scheduling cost undefeated Auburn a title game shot in 2004.

This time, fortunately, the six BCS formula computers cut through the rhetoric.

They judged the football, not the filibuster. And Oklahoma came out the winner in more ways than one.

GIL LeBRETON,

[oupride]

Already been posted, but loved reading it again! May your rep be increased 10 fold! Boomer!

[Bccajun]

I wonder if his inbox if full of hate mail

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/columnists/gil_lebreton//index.html

Human element is a bug in BCS system

In the eternal struggle of man versus machine, man failed miserably Sunday.

That’s not to say that the right team won’t be playing in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. The Oklahoma Sooners argued their case eloquently.

They said nothing.

No rented planes circling over Austin. No phone-ins from Bob Stoops in the middle of Mack Brown’s Thanksgiving dinner.

Just football. Just a 61-41 victory in hostile environs over a No. 11-ranked archrival.

The Sooners’ decisive win Saturday over Oklahoma State was as significant a road victory as any team in the Big 12 Conference achieved this season.

There’s your tiebreaker.

As myopic Texas fans — and their head coach — conveniently decline to acknowledge, there was a three-way knot, not a two-team tie, atop the Big 12 South standings.

Why should a single game played Oct. 11 decide everything? Why not a game played Nov. 1?

Yet, over and over again over the past two weeks, Brown had filibustered for voters not to forget his Texas team’s October victory over the Sooners.

Never mind, he seemed to say, that just one week ago Oklahoma took apart a then-undefeated, No. 2-ranked Texas Tech team by 44 points — the same Tech team that beat Texas on Nov. 1.

Never mind that the Sooners’ season ledger included nonconference victories over TCU and BCS-bowl-bound Cincinnati.

Longhorns fans countered by trumpeting their Oct. 18 — what is it about October? — win over the Missouri Tigers.

Oh, right. The team that Kansas beat.

In the end, what could Brown have done for me?

He could have just shut up and allowed his team’s memorable 11-1 season do the talking for all of Longhorns, Inc.

Instead, Brown began to show up on TV more than that Geico lizard. The poor-taste clincher came Saturday night when he agreed to be interviewed in the middle of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State telecast.

Why didn’t Oklahoma do that, Stoops was asked Sunday?

"I was asked to be on the Texas game Thursday," the OU coach said, "and I said no. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think it was right."

Stay classy, Austin, Stoops was saying, without mentioning any names.

But as Stoops and the Sooners saw, Brown’s politicking for his team worked. The Longhorns gained ground in both of the human polls.

Go figure. Texas, playing at home, defeated a vastly disappointing Texas A&M team 49-9 in a game that Colt McCoy was still quarterbacking in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, playing on the road, knocked off the No. 11 team in the nation — and yet lost ground in the human polls to the Texas poor-us campaign.

"It was the campaigning. I don’t think there’s any question," said Jerry Palm, whose CollegeBCS.com Web site is the bible for all things BCS.

For all the whining, in other words, about computers and formulas and BCS rules, the human element continues to be the bug in the equation. The same thing happened in 2004 when writers and coaches, after Brown again had politicked all week, leapfrogged Texas over Cal in the final poll and sent the Longhorns to the Rose Bowl.

Everyone seems to complain about the so-called "BCS computers," but as Stoops said, "They don’t have agendas. They don’t have loyalties. They don’t have opinions. They don’t have all the bias that everyone else does.

"And if you say no one else does, I don’t think you’re being truthful."

When the numbers were finally added, Stoops thinks that the strength of Oklahoma’s schedule likely was the determining factor that will send his team to Kansas City next weekend.

It’s probably not going to make TCU feel any better, but the Horned Frogs might well have sent the Sooners to the national championship game.

"For people to continue to want to play out-of-conference games that people want to watch and go to and be excited about," Stoops said, "there has to be an incentive. Otherwise, just schedule four wins and move on down the road. You could almost schedule a bowl game by that."

If Texas wants to blame anyone today, it needs to blame the guy that scheduled Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Arkansas and Rice. Similar cream-puff scheduling cost undefeated Auburn a title game shot in 2004.

This time, fortunately, the six BCS formula computers cut through the rhetoric.

They judged the football, not the filibuster. And Oklahoma came out the winner in more ways than one.

[instigator]

Who had 5 as the number of times this would be posted? Congratulations you win!!!

[Turd_Ferguson]

From the Fart Worth Star Telegram



Human element is a bug in BCS system

In the eternal struggle of man versus machine, man failed miserably Sunday.

That’s not to say that the right team won’t be playing in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. The Oklahoma Sooners argued their case eloquently.

They said nothing.

No rented planes circling over Austin. No phone-ins from Bob Stoops in the middle of Mack Brown’s Thanksgiving dinner.

Just football. Just a 61-41 victory in hostile environs over a No. 11-ranked archrival.

The Sooners’ decisive win Saturday over Oklahoma State was as significant a road victory as any team in the Big 12 Conference achieved this season.

There’s your tiebreaker.

As myopic Texas fans — and their head coach — conveniently decline to acknowledge, there was a three-way knot, not a two-team tie, atop the Big 12 South standings.

Why should a single game played Oct. 11 decide everything? Why not a game played Nov. 1?

Yet, over and over again over the past two weeks, Brown had filibustered for voters not to forget his Texas team’s October victory over the Sooners.

Never mind, he seemed to say, that just one week ago Oklahoma took apart a then-undefeated, No. 2-ranked Texas Tech team by 44 points — the same Tech team that beat Texas on Nov. 1.

Never mind that the Sooners’ season ledger included nonconference victories over TCU and BCS-bowl-bound Cincinnati.

Longhorns fans countered by trumpeting their Oct. 18 — what is it about October? — win over the Missouri Tigers.

Oh, right. The team that Kansas beat.

In the end, what could Brown have done for me?

He could have just shut up and allowed his team’s memorable 11-1 season do the talking for all of Longhorns, Inc.

Instead, Brown began to show up on TV more than that Geico lizard. The poor-taste clincher came Saturday night when he agreed to be interviewed in the middle of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State telecast.

Why didn’t Oklahoma do that, Stoops was asked Sunday?

"I was asked to be on the Texas game Thursday," the OU coach said, "and I said no. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think it was right."

Stay classy, Austin, Stoops was saying, without mentioning any names.

But as Stoops and the Sooners saw, Brown’s politicking for his team worked. The Longhorns gained ground in both of the human polls.

Go figure. Texas, playing at home, defeated a vastly disappointing Texas A&M team 49-9 in a game that Colt McCoy was still quarterbacking in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, playing on the road, knocked off the No. 11 team in the nation — and yet lost ground in the human polls to the Texas poor-us campaign.

"It was the campaigning. I don’t think there’s any question," said Jerry Palm, whose CollegeBCS.com Web site is the bible for all things BCS.

For all the whining, in other words, about computers and formulas and BCS rules, the human element continues to be the bug in the equation. The same thing happened in 2004 when writers and coaches, after Brown again had politicked all week, leapfrogged Texas over Cal in the final poll and sent the Longhorns to the Rose Bowl.

Everyone seems to complain about the so-called "BCS computers," but as Stoops said, "They don’t have agendas. They don’t have loyalties. They don’t have opinions. They don’t have all the bias that everyone else does.

"And if you say no one else does, I don’t think you’re being truthful."

When the numbers were finally added, Stoops thinks that the strength of Oklahoma’s schedule likely was the determining factor that will send his team to Kansas City next weekend.

It’s probably not going to make TCU feel any better, but the Horned Frogs might well have sent the Sooners to the national championship game.

"For people to continue to want to play out-of-conference games that people want to watch and go to and be excited about," Stoops said, "there has to be an incentive. Otherwise, just schedule four wins and move on down the road. You could almost schedule a bowl game by that."

If Texas wants to blame anyone today, it needs to blame the guy that scheduled Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Arkansas and Rice. Similar cream-puff scheduling cost undefeated Auburn a title game shot in 2004.

This time, fortunately, the six BCS formula computers cut through the rhetoric.

They judged the football, not the filibuster. And Oklahoma came out the winner in more ways than one.

[SeattleOUstudent]

Wow, this reporter hit it on the head. EXACTLY what I was thinking!

[soonerspudman]

Spot on.

[Turd_Ferguson]

:D:D:D

[sendbaht]

Now that's a good read!!!!!!!!!:texan:

[SoonerSoph]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I can't start my own thread yet, but here's a good read. Try figuring out whorns logic without hurting your had too much.

http://www.forums.hornfans.com/php/wwwthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=football&Number=5815315&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=

My favorite part is when Alan802 says "I for one, say texas is more deserving than tech. UT's 2008 body of work is way more impressive to an outsider looking in."

Because head to head doesn't matter if you're talking about Texas and Tech???

Also many of them dismiss Tech because they got obliterated a few weeks ago. They fail to mention that the team doing the obliterating was Oklahoma.

[Dan Thompson]

Beside all that, we are the Big XII defending champions!