Why Texas Will Be the Next Team to Get Left Out of the BCS Title Game

There are few teams in the country with a resume like Texas, but odds are a good resume won't put place the Horns' in Miami on January 8.

Sure the Mack Brown's team is ranked No. 2 but it will take a slew of events to keep them in the driver's seat.  Sure in the past Texas has controlled their own destiny but this season is slightly different.  So let's get to the meat of this equation.

October 11:  Texas hangs around after being down early against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, puts the clamps on Sam Bradford in the second half and takes down the then No. 1 ranked Sooners. Horns' jump to the top spot.

October 18:  Texas puts the first 35 points on the board against Chase Daniel, blasting Mizzou 56-31.  (The game was not as close as the scores makes it seem.)  'Horns stay No. 1.

October 25:  Undefeated Oklahoma State rolls into Austin and plays tough, but still rolls out a loser 28-24. (This one was as close as the score makes it seem.)  Still No. 1.

November 1:  Texas goes to Lubbock to play the Red Raiders.  Brian Orakpo and Quan Cosby both go down with injuries.  The Longhorns play their worst game of the year, only to stage a comeback and take the lead with a little over a minute left on the clock.  Graham Harrell completes a pass to Michael Crabtree with three seconds remaining.  Crabtree shakes off an arm tackle and struts into the endzone with one second left.  Texas falls 33-39.  Drop to No. 4.

So Tech jumps to No. 2, Oklahoma quietly moves to No. 5, Texas drops to No. 4. 

Seemed like the whole thing would figured itself out.  Most of the nation assumed the Tech/Oklahoma matchup would be close.  If Tech were to barely edge out the Sooners then they would be on their way to the BCS Championship Game.  If OU squeaked by Tech, most of the country probably would still think Texas was the better team so there would be no argument.  But just to further prove the NCAA needs a playoff, Oklahoma smashes Tech 65-21 in Norman this past Saturday.  And now the fun begins.  Three teams with identical overall and conference records:

So it seems simple, Tech barely beats a wounded Texas team that played terrible in Lubbock.  The Sooners play well but still lose to Texas by 10 on a  neutral field.  OU bashes Tech at home.  Seems fairly simple, Texas won on a neutral and just scored too soon in their away game.  OU didn't play a tough away game this year and lost in Dallas.  Tech was dismantled in their only away test this year and were the beneficiary of bad tackling on a nearly un-tackle-able player. 

Texas moves to No. 2 in the BCS, OU hops to No. 3 and Tech falls to No. 7.

As of now Texas owns the BIG XII South tie-breaker due to their higher BCS ranking.  But...

OU goes to Stillwater this weekend for their Bedlam Series with Oklahoma State.  If the Sooners put the hammer down on Oklahoma State (who Texas was able to beat by just four points) in anywhere near the same fashion they did Tech then presumably Bob Stoops and his team will be on their way back to the Big XII Championship Game for the sixth time in 12 years.

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