Oklahoma State: Too Little, Too Late and Let's Define Style Points

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) For all the Oklahoma State fans that need a reason why the the BCS passed you over for the championship game, clear your mind for a moment from all the talking points you've been hearing your fans blurt out and try and soak in the following facts.

First of all you should know this, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and "style points" are the most misunderstood phrase in sports today.

To a great number of people, a 56-51 game is not stylish, it's two teams with lousy defenses who had one finally outscore the other.

A 38-6 win is much more "stylish". It shows a team has an offense AND a defensive unit.

Then there is that "dominating" factor that you conveniently leave out.

Alabama's margin of victory this season was 27.2 while Oklahoma State's was 22.5.

As for other measures of domination, Alabama's margin of offense vs. their opponents was +242.1 or double that of Oklahoma State's +109 yard total.

To me and a lot of other sportswriters and voters, that's much more "stylish".

And if you want to point to number of quality opponents, first of all you have to define quality. Last night for example, Oklahoma looked like a team that could have been beaten by the worst team in the SEC. That team looked like Keystone Cops tossing fumbles everywhere and giving away touchdowns like they were overdue Christmas presents.

But let's do look at opponents.

Alabama played five opponents that were ranked in the Top 20 this season and their opponents have a 84-61 record overall.

Oklahoma State has also played five opponents that have been ranked in the Top 20 but their overall opponents record has been 81-63.

In other words, the Cowboys' opponents have won three less games and lost two more overall.

That's why in strength of schedule, Alabama is rated ahead of Oklahoma State.

The only teams that were rated in the Top 10 at any point in the season were Texas A&M, who isn't even ranked now and has a 6-6 record and Oklahoma who may wind up outside the Top 15.

Alabama played the No. 1 team in LSU and Arkansas who made it to No. 3. Both of these teams are still in the Top 5 today. Neither of Oklahoma State's opponents are.

But the elephant in the room is the team that each school lost to and the manner in which it lost.

Alabama lost to the nation's No. 1 team after they came back to beat them in overtime. It was a game that Alabama dominated in all the stats, but missed four field goals.

Oklahoma State lost to a team that didn't even have a winning record, a team that was never ranked and not just beaten by a fluke play like a missed field goal, the Cowboys blew a 17-point lead and let the Iowa State team simply manhandle them late in the game.

You let an unranked team without a winning record beat you up in the forth quarter, take you to overtime and beat you rather convincingly with a national championship on the line.

That is the overriding reason that no win can take away. That's the stench that all the voters can still smell on the Oklahoma State program and that's the reason why you just don't qualify to be ranked ahead of Alabama.

For fans that say Alabama had their shot and blew it, so did Oklahoma State. They blew their shot against an unranked team without a winning record.