World-Herald Joins in the Texas Whine

Whether it's the old 1997 Husker/Weasel debate or this year's debate between Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech, you can always count on the sports media taking an opinion and refusing to even consider contrary opinions.

Yes, I said Texas Tech. I may not be allowed into the press box, but the Big XII web site shows all three teams tied with 7-1 conference records and 11-1 overall records. But if you read the paper and listen to the radio, you'd swear that Texas Tech somehow lost another game somewhere along the way.

Here's Tom Shatel:

The Big 12 should follow the Southeastern Conference (touchy subject, sorry) and have a three-way tiebreaker that says if all three are ranked, the third highest team is thrown out. And if the top two are within five spots of each other, you use head-to-head results as the tiebreaker.

OK, so the BCS formula is OK to use to eliminate Texas Tech...but not Texas. Shatel doesn't say why, but it leads you to his desired result. Texas. Nevermind the inconsistency.

Even more inconsistent is the suggestion that if the teams are within five spots of each other, head to head trumps the BCS standings. OK. Let's see: #7 Texas Tech, #3 Texas. Hmm... Texas eliminated.

His colleague Lee Barfknect had a slightly better, yet still inconsistent take:

For me, a head-to-head result carries huge weight. Another key factor when it's this close is who had the "best" loss.

Texas Tech is ruled out by getting hammered 65-21 at OU. The Sooners lost by 10 to Texas on a neutral field. Texas lost at Texas Tech, with its wildest home atmosphere in history, 39-33 on a touchdown pass with one second left.

So Texas wins that competition, too. Yet Oklahoma advances.

Barfknect wants to give Texas credit for the "best loss" in losing to Tech. Point Texas. And he downgrades Tech for the "worst loss". But shouldn't you also give credit for the "best win" of the bunch, and that's Oklahoma taking Tech to the woodshed right from the opening kickoff?

You see, head to head is the first tie breaker...and it's 1-1 for all three teams. Everything else is just grasping at straws.

Shatel adds one final comment:

Big 12 games are great. Make them count.

They do count. But it seems that Shatel and Barfknect only want to count the game played in Dallas. They don't want to count the other games on the schedule. From my perspective, when you look at all of the games these teams played, Oklahoma looks a little stronger than Texas overall. Yes, Texas got 'em in Dallas in October in that single game, which is duly noted. But that game wasn't a one-game playoff; you have to consider ALL of the games, not just the Red River Shootout.

In fact, that's really the correct solution to this whole mess. Eight team playoff, and this debate goes away. Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, USC. Heck, bring Utah and Boise State into the mix, and there's no excuses anymore. I know it's not happening anytime soon, especially with ESPN locking up the BCS. But deep down, you know it's the right answer.