Despite Miscues, Colt McCoy and the Texas Longhorns Deserve Title Shot

A last-second, one-point win in a low-scoring game might not have been the best sales pitch for the Texas Longhorns, but any good salesman knows that the outcome is more important than the presentation.

The 13-0 Longhorns were fortunate to escape with 13-12 victory over the fearless No. 21-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big 12 Championship game, but their body of work in 2009 should be enough to help No. 3 Texas avoid the heartbreak of last season and earn a spot in the Bowl Championship Series national title game.  

The Longhorns’ Heisman hopeful Colt McCoy, a four-year starter, had one of the toughest games of his college career, finishing with three interceptions and no passing touchdowns against an inspired Cornhuskers defense. Yet, McCoy manage to drive his team down the field—with the assistance of two costly Nebraska penalties—for Hunter Lawrence’s game-clinching, 46-yard field goal as time expired.

Texas held steady all year and in the end triumphed in their most challenging encounter of the season. Viewers discovered that the Big 12 can actually play defense and Texas’ schedule may have been validated against Nebraska’s defense which featured star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who finished with four sacks.

Texas scratched and clawed its way to a win against Nebraska it has scratched and clawed its way to the national championship game. They defeated most of their top rivals away from home and avenged last season’s only loss with a 34-24 win at home against Texas Tech.

Texas doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of statistical evidence to counter Boise State, Cincinnati and TCU. The Longhorns didn’t blow teams away or put up the same stats as last year. They made some mistakes but kept plugging away, winning every game and ultimately they earned the right to play for the national title.

Alabama (13-0, Southeastern Conference champion), Boise State (13-0, Western Athletic) Cincinnati (12-0 Big East), Texas Christian (12-0, Mountain West), and Texas are all undefeated and most college football pundits would agree that the undefeated Southeastern Conference champion, No. 2 Alabama, sealed its spot in the national title game with a 32-13 win over No. 1 Florida in the SEC Championship game.

There are other factors—like preseason rankings, television ratings, reputation, strength of schedule, computer rankings, pollsters—that will play a big part in choosing the competitors for the BCS title game, but conference membership in the SEC, Big 12, or Big Ten plus an undefeated record is most likely the winning combination that leads to a championship game appearance and Texas meets the criteria this season.  

The cries for a playoff will be at an all-time high with three undefeated teams from outside the Big Six conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC), but until there’s another system the BCS will continue to favor the traditional football powerhouses. Schools currently in the Big Six conferences have captured the last twenty national championships and there’s no reason to think that will change this year.

These conferences recruit top players, play in humongous stadiums, and spend tons of money on college football every year. That shouldn’t guarantee their teams anything, but undoubtedly it’s of more importance than sentimental value and the key to earning a shot at the national title.  

Maybe Texas should be sympathetic to the plight of Boise State, Cincinnati, and TCU, after all, Texas has been on the wrong side of a tiebreaker before. But don’t expect any apologies from the Longhorns now that they have overcome the sorrows of last year’s snub, emerging unbeaten and hungry for another championship.

TCU was ranked fourth in the BCS standings, AP poll, and Coaches' poll before Championship Weekend and theoretically has the best chance to overtake Texas in the polls, but despite victories against top Mountain West foes Utah and BYU, the Horned Frogs would be hard-pressed to prove to state residents that they have a better team than their peers in Austin.

The Big East was as good or better than the ACC, Pac-10, and Big Ten this season and Cincinnati presents the best argument for title game inclusion for the conference since the days of Hokies (Virginia Tech) and Hurricanes (Miami). The Bearcats beat several ranked opponents and beat No. 13 Oregon State on the road. No. 5 Cincy finished with a nail-biting, 45-44 win on the road against No. 14 Pittsburgh.

Sixth-ranked Boise State continued its dominance of the WAC and a season-opening win against Pac-10 champion Oregon should at least guarantee the Broncos a berth in a BCS bowl game. Still, Boise State didn’t face tougher opposition away from its field of blue.

Schools and teams cannot control polls or computers. They can control their schedules, conferences, and won-loss records.

Alabama and Texas did their part and deserve a chance to bring their faithful another national title.