Why Texas should be in the Big 12 Championship game (and other assorted takes)

This is a place that I'm sure that Big 12 ADs wish they'd never be in. A three-way tie to be broken by the BCS poll, and by extension, by voters in the coaches and Harris poll, many of whom might have a vested interest in one team or another. It has been pointed out elsewhere that Mack Brown, if he chose to do so, could vote OU out of the poll, thereby putting Texas in the championship game.

That being said, it is the system they have, and two out of the three teams will be unfairly snubbed. In my mind, the team that should get the nod is Texas.

It's clear that Oklahoma has the best offense in the conference, and maybe the best in the country. They have scored over 60 points in their last four games, and over 50 in 8 of 12. Their offensive line is dominating everyone in sight, Sam Bradford is clinical in his accuracy, they have a gaggle of talented running backs and receivers and you get the feeling they could name their score in just about every game.

But it's just as clear that Texas has the best defense in the conference. Texas is the only one of the contenders that has played all the top teams in the conference (OU, Texas, Tech, Kansas and Missouri -- although Nebraska is probably better than KU), and has held each on of them to less points than their season average. They are first in the conference in Scoring, Rushing, and Total Defense, and second in Pass Efficiency Defense.

Each of the three teams went 4-1 in their toughest five games, but Texas played only 2 of those at home, with a road win at Kansas, a neutral game win against OU, and a road loss to Texas Tech. OU played 3 of five at home, with only the road win at OSU and loss to Texas away from Norman. Tech also played three games at home, with the road loss to OU and a win against Kansas. Furthermore, Texas played the second half of their only loss without their best defensive player, Brian Orakpo. Does OU win the Bedlam game if Bradford goes down in the second half? Bottom line, the best two teams in the league played on a neutral field and Texas won. End of story.

Other stuff:
-I found it appropriate that Minnesota lost its last game at the Metrodome 55-0 to Iowa. When The Gophers started playing their home games at the Hubert H. Humphrey, they were one of the top 15 teams all-time, having won almost 64% of their games. Since that time they have won only 41.67% of the time. They are .520 at home, which is inflated quite a bit by a number of FCS and lower FBS opponents. They were 0-12 in the battle for the Little Brown Jug, and 0-11 against the Buckeyes. Attendance at the off-campus facility was awful, centering around 40 to 45k out of 64k capacity for most of their history there. This is not to say that the new on-campus facility will cure all that ails Gopher football, but it's a good place to start.
-I also can't help but think there is some sort of metaphor for Gopher Football in this story.
-For all of those making fun of the ACC this year, better get your licks in now, because it looks like it will be much improved next year. Miami and FSU are young and very athletic. Cutcliffe has done a great job at Duke. Carolina will be better if Butch Davis doesn't bolt. Clemson might finally stop being so wildly inconsistent with a new coaching staff in place. And Paul Johnson has done wonders at Georgia Tech this year. Give him one more year to perfect his offense, and it will be nearly unstoppable (if it isn't already)
-BTW, for the first time in forever, the ACC had a winning record against the SEC this year, despite Florida's demolishing of FSU and Miami. They've jumped ahead of both the SEC and the Big 12 in the most recent Golden Rankings (to be posted later today).
-Although I'd like to see USC play somewhere other than the Rose Bowl, I'm glad that Penn State gets a crack at them. Anyone who wants to include USC in the championship discussion should include Penn State since the Knitknees beat Oregon State by 31 and USC lost by a TD to them.
-One of things I enjoy about the Thanksgiving weekend is watching the Michigan High School championship football games from Ford Field. Eight games involving teams from throughout the state running all sorts of offenses, from pro-set, to the spread option, to the wing-T, and even to the single-wing. It's like a walk through the history of offensive football. This year it was a big year for the western side of the state, with three teams from Muskegon winning championships, along with East Grand Rapids, Holland, and Rockford.

Bowl Math

After getting undressed on homecoming, we sat in the stands doing bowl math. That's when you go through the schedule and try and figure out where the six wins will come from to make us eligible for the the 33rd year in a row. What we came up with:
Sure Losses -- at Penn State, at OSU -- This is the year the streak ends for the Knitknees. Considering they lose almost all their starters next year, it better. And the trip to the Snakepit could get ugly.
Sure (as much as anything is sure in this year) wins -- Toledo, at Minnesota, at Purdue -- If we don't win all three of these games, we'll be home for the holidays.
Tossups -- Michigan State, Northwestern -- This is where the bowl push will be won or lost. Lose both of these, we go nowhere. Win both, we go bowling, maybe in the Alamo bowl, or the Champs Sports Bowl. Split these games, things get dicey. The bowl rules say that all 7-5 teams must be guaranteed a bowl spot for 6-6 teams to get a spot. The Big Ten has seven slots, including the BCS. Five Big Ten teams currently have 5 or more wins (Penn State, OSU, MSU, Northwestern, and Minnesota). The first four are likely to be bowl eligible, although never count out the ability of the Spartans to completely implode. 3-2 Illinois and 3-2 Wisconsin will both probably get to seven wins. That leave Minnesota, 2-3 Purdue, 2-3 Indiana, 3-3 Iowa and us fighting for that last Bowl bid. Now, if Ohio State and Penn State both end up with two or less losses, they are both likely to end up in the BCS, meaning there will be an extra bowl spot open. So at 6-6, we have a good shot at a bowl, but not a risk.
Will we get there? Good question. I think that MSU is a good match up for us, similar to Wisconsin. Power team with not much offensive diversity and serious questions in pass defense. Northwestern doesn't have the athletes the Spartans do, but they might have a better defense.

As for the game, not much to say other than Juice Williams. We stopped their zone running game fairly well, but just couldn't stop Williams running or throwing the ball. He has certainly grown as a QB. Last year you could count on him to make a number of bad reads and throws every game. This game he didn't. In short, he is exactly the type of QB I think Rich Rod would want for our system.
The offense was the same as it ever is, stop and start, very erratic. Occasionally flashes of what it could be, but mostly just missed plays. Throws off by a bit, routes run incorrectly, blocks not held long enough, etc.

From other games:
-Iowa flat out gave away the game in East Lansing. The Hawkeyes out gained the Spartans and held their all-everything uberback Javon Ringer to under 100 yards. But two endzone turnovers, another on their own 20 put the spartans up16-3 halfway through the third. Iowa rallied to 16-6, when Kirk Ferentz made the first of two ridiculously bad decisions with about 8 minutes left in the game. With a 4th and 5 at the MSU 15, he passed up the field goal which would have brought them to within 7 and went for it. The pitch play failed, and State took over. After Iowa scored again to make it 16-13, Ferentz again passed up a field goal to go for it on 4th and 2 at the MSU 20 with two minutes left and only one time out. When the off tackle play was stuffed for no gain, MSU took over and ran out the clock. If I were an Iowa fan, I would be livid. The decision to pass up the game tying field goal was inexcusable. Considering your five previous red zone trips had resulted in 6 points, you take the points whenever you can. For the Spartans, they need to find offense from someone other than Ringer, or he won't last the season.
-I was thinking that OSU looked beatable until that last drive. Yikes, let's hope Pryor actually starts to play like a freshman at some point this year.
-With apologies to MSU and Northwestern, I think the big ten is a three team race now: OSU, Penn State and Illinois. I know the Illini have that loss already, but I still think they can give the Buckeyes trouble.
-I wonder if any of the defensive coordinators in the Big 12 sleep at night. My goodness, Sam Bradford at OU has been near flawless, Texas Tech is still taking no prisoners, Texas' Colt McCoy has been scary good, Kansas can't fall behind far enough to stop it's offense from coming back, and i don't think Missouri has a punter on it's roster. The Tigers haven't had a 3 and out with the first string offense all year. Oh, and Oklahoma State has scored 223 points in their last four games!
-On that note, the next four games for Texas: OU, Missouri, Oklahoma State, @ Texas Tech. That's the #2,3,4 & 5 scoring offenses in the country.
-How bad has the year been for the Pac 10? Their second best team, Cal, got whipped by a team (Maryland) that got blown out by a team(Virginia) that got blown out by Duke.
-If Miami and Florida State played a football game in an empty stadium, would it make a sound?
-Golden Rankings out later this week, after the Wednesday game. Guess who's number one?
-Hey, I got a link from the UofM Alumni Association! Glad to see our donations going to good use.