Big 12 creates more BCS controversy

A week before the final standings are released, and the Bowl Championship Series is already ticking people off.

Oklahoma - not Texas - is headed to the Big 12 championship game with an inside track to the national title game by moving ahead of the Longhorns in the BCS standings Sunday.

Texas' victory against the Sooners in October wasn't enough to give the Longhorns the advantage in a three-way tie between the Red River rivals and Texas Tech atop the Big 12 South. And that's sure to leave many in Austin dismayed.

The Big 12 had to use its fifth tiebreaker, best BCS rating, to determine which team will play North winner Missouri on Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.

The Sooners (11-1), who lost to Texas 45-35 in October, barely edged the Longhorns. Oklahoma has a .9351 BCS average. Texas' BCS average is .9223.

Oklahoma was a point ahead of Texas in the USA Today coaches' poll and six points behind the Longhorns in the Harris Interactive. The computer ratings preferred the Sooners, and that made the difference.

"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," said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. "And if you say no one else does, then I don't think you're really being truthful."

So the Longhorns will be watching two teams they beat play for the conference title, rooting for Missouri. Oklahoma is second in the BCS standings behind unbeaten Alabama. Texas is third and Florida is fourth.

The winner of the Southeastern Conference championship game between the Crimson Tide and Gators is virtually guaranteed a spot in the BCS national title game on Jan. 8 in Miami.

Oklahoma would earn the other spot by beating Missouri. If the Sooners lose, it could open the door for Texas to go to the national title game, despite not playing for its conference championship.

The Sooners were behind Texas last week in the BCS standings by a tiny margin. The Sooners actually led the Longhorns in the polls, but a week ago the computers had Texas ahead of Oklahoma.

After the Sooners' 61-41 victory Saturday night against Oklahoma State - 14th in the latest standings - and the Longhorns' 49-9 win over lowly Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night, the polls tightened but the computers flipped.

The strength of the Big 12 South led to this new BCS controversy, with the top three teams in the conference each finishing 11-1.

After beating Oklahoma and jumping to No. 1 in the polls, Texas (11-1) lost at Texas Tech 39-33 on Nov. 1. The Red Raiders (11-1), No. 2 at the time, then lost at Oklahoma 65-21 on Nov. 22.

Texas coach Mack Brown has stopped short of supporting a playoff, saying only that the BCS is flawed. Brown also lamented the Big 12's tiebreaker system, which removed the head-to-head element.

In the SEC, a similar three-way division tie would be settled by eliminating the lowest rated team in the BCS standings, then reverting back to head-to-head results between the remaining teams.

But ultimately, the Longhorns' victory against Oklahoma couldn't trump the Sooners' surge over the past two months. Oklahoma has scored at least 60 points in its past four games, and has won its past five games by at least 20 points each.

Though it's not as if Texas has been struggling down the stretch. The Longhorns' only loss of the season came on a Graham Harrell-to-Michael Crabtree touchdown pass with one second left in the game.