Texas Position in the BCS

Terry O'Keefe · Oct 16, 2006

John Lopez whines about Texas position in the BCS. He complains about being 2 TD's better than the Irish, that nobody in the SEC could beat Texas. He doesn't mention that we hurt ourselves by being dominated by Ohio State and playing Rice and North Texas along with Sam Houston State. The Computers hate Texas because of those things which is why we are ranked below ND and SEC team and W.Va./Louisville.

I don't think we can move to #1 or #2 even if USC/OSU/Mich all have a loss at the end of the season. It's too much of a jump. But we'll still have a great year and it wasn't that long ago that we'd never even been to a BCS game and the fans were so excited to get to the BCS game vs Michigan instead of the Holiday Bowl.

UT, Big 12 not getting proper due

By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

IT is easy to believe the hype when you're the one creating it.

And for that, I am sorry. In fact, everyone who has perpetuated the myth, participated in polls, input data in computers or wasted air time hyping the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Pac-10 and Notre Dame should apologize today.

The first Bowl Championship Series poll was released Sunday and while we won't go into the whole playoff discussion — I think you know I stand firmly behind the idea — clearly the BCS brought to light a bigger, more pressing problem.

It's all a lie.

The BCS standings include the appropriate No. 1, Ohio State, and much-deserved acclaim for Michigan at No. 3. But after that, the standings reflect the misguided belief that the Big 12 is down, and the best football is played elsewhere.

It took seven weeks and a number of enlightening moments involving alleged superpower conferences and teams. But the BCS standings have it all wrong, and the Texas Longhorns — ranked No. 9 in the first poll — are the unfortunate victims.

Where's the respect?
The Longhorns can erase much of the slight by just continuing to win, but if undefeated teams fall, then Mack Brown's team, perhaps the second-best team in the land, could be snubbed from a chance of redemption for that early loss to the Buckeyes. Nebraska, Missouri, Texas A&M and Oklahoma deserve more play among the nation's best, too.

But a Longhorns return to the national championship game will not happen because early notions that SEC football was the best in the land will be impossible to shake. The BCS top 10 on Sunday featured the SEC's Auburn (fourth) and Florida (sixth) ahead of Texas, along with equally overrated USC, West Virginia and Louisville.

Some of the undefeated teams in the BCS standings will suffer losses between now and bowl-bid time because they will face off against another unbeaten or could slip elsewhere. Still, it figures two of those teams — say, Michigan and USC — won't drop below Texas.

Horns better than Irish
Remember, strength of schedule and margin of victory no longer figure into BCS computations. And with long-entrenched poll bias that favors Notre Dame, an Irish victory over USC on Nov. 25 would vault them into the mix ahead of the Longhorns.

The fact is, Texas is about two touchdowns better than Notre Dame. The Horns also are better than West Virginia, Louisville, anything the SEC could offer and possibly Michigan.

It won't matter. Worse, a two-loss Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma or Texas A&M likely won't earn an at-large BCS berth, if that's how any of those four teams finish, costing the Big 12 between $8 million and $10 million.

False perceptions about conferences and teams set the template for Sunday's first BCS standings.

Full disclosure: I bought the hype, too, particularly when it came to the SEC. There's just nothing quite like a football Saturday afternoon in the South, where the intensity is unrivaled and atmosphere is unmatched.

But today I'm selling. When it comes to what should matter most, the product on the field, the fact is the SEC is full of bad offenses, underachieving playmakers and inconsistency. Auburn, for example, jumped to No. 4 in the BCS a week after getting drubbed at home by then-unranked Arkansas.

Big Ten lacks depth
Notre Dame is fortunate it's not 3-3 instead of 5-1. As for USC, it struggled against Washington, Arizona State and Washington State, which barely got past Baylor (17-15).

The Big Ten has a pair of truly great teams, but it is in essence a two-team league with Ohio State and Michigan. Iowa lost Saturday to Indiana; Purdue and Wisconsin were beaten soundly in their only tests against ranked teams.

The Big East has three undefeated teams, but only West Virginia should be considered much more than mediocre. Louisville's most distinguished win came against flagging Miami and, on Saturday, it struggled to get past Cincinnati (23-17).

Rutgers? Nice story. But the Scarlet Knights' combined margin of victory over North Carolina and South Florida was seven points. If you think they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Nebraska or Texas A&M, much less Texas, you're mistaken.

The nation's pollsters, throats and computer geeks figured the Big 12 in 2006 was going to be all about the Longhorns and the 11 dwarfs.

As Sunday's BCS poll proves, the Horns are suffering because of that notion. Some of those dwarfs are getting the short end of the stick as well.

Big 12 teams can score
News of the Big 12 being the worst of the so-called power conferences was greatly exaggerated. It might be the best, if only because Big 12 teams know how to do something others don't: Put the ball in the end zone.

Teams such as Auburn win without scoring an offensive touchdown, as the Tigers did Saturday against Florida, but seven Big 12 teams rank among the nation's top 27 offenses. Big 12 teams also account for six of the top 21 scoring offenses in the nation.

But in the BCS, Texas has a formidable hill to climb from No. 9, and other deserving Big 12 teams won't even get a sniff. Everyone who believed the hype should think again. Others have foundered, but the little league that couldn't has proved it deserves better.

john.lopez@chron.com
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Sid · Oct 16, 2006

Notre Dame is fortunate it's not 3-3 instead of 5-1.
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No anti-ND bias here. :roll:

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Texas Position in the BCS

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Texas Position in the BCS

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