3afan
10-12-2005, 05:52 AM
Perfect mess: How 12-0 UT could miss title game
10:54 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Now that Mack Brown has exacted some retribution, making it plausible to believe once more in the cycle of life and that all things must come to pass, even the Cowboys, you're tempted to think this must be Texas' time.
Big win over Oklahoma. Even bigger one on the road against Ohio State.
All that's between Texas and the Rose Bowl: only Colorado and Texas Tech and whoever gets served up in the Big 12 title game.
And what happens? The computers are still booting up, but it looks as if the Longhorns could be sixth in their third of the formula when the BCS rankings come out next week.
Who's in front with the geeks? Probably Penn State, USC, Florida State, Virginia Tech, maybe even Georgia.
But what about the so-called human polls? They count for two-thirds in the BCS formula. Can't Texas get some satisfaction there?
Probably. But even if the Longhorns are second or third, what if the human element proves all too human later on?
What if voters recall Brown's public appeals for his team late last season and Texas' subsequent surge in the polls, cutting out Cal and whipping up Brown's critics?
Could there be payback for Texas? "Absolutely," one prominent former head coach tells me. "Especially on the West Coast."
Or what if it comes down to Texas and Penn State for No. 2? Do you think sentimental voters might like to send Joe Pa into retirement with a national title shot?
Better question: Do you figure national voters want to do Mack Brown any favors?
Of course, that's one of the problems. He shouldn't need a favor. Even if his team never climbed above sixth in the final poll, he'd still have a chance to prove how good it was if we had sense enough for a playoff in Division 1-A football.
But we don't. Voters and computers decide. They'd determine a field if we had a playoff, too, but the candidates would be no fewer than six or eight. And that blanket would cover a scenario still possible this season.
Five teams could conceivably go undefeated. How do you pick just two?
Under the current system, you nitpick. Look for what you don't like instead of what you do. Make as much out of nothing as you can.
Do you go by strength of conference? If you do, Texas loses through no fault of its own. The Big 12 looks as puny as it's ever been. You know it's bad when we're reporting what Oklahoma has to do to salvage a winning season.
Bob Stoops, out of the bowl business? Hardly seems possible. Chances are the Sooners will make it, and Texas had better hope so.
All that's working in the Longhorns' favor now is the combined record of their opponents from here on out: a .733 winning percentage, best among the nine undefeated teams.
Let's say the Horns win out. They've still got to get through another Big 12 championship game.
USC, Penn State and UCLA? They don't have conference title games, meaning one fewer detail to go wrong.
Just another inequity in the BCS system, which has been tweaked more often than Nicollette Sheridan.
All these "improvements" and it still doesn't look any better than the old AP and UPI polls. We just didn't know any better back when we were young and naïve. The world's more demanding now, a world so efficient that you can type in "Mack Brown" and the good people at Google give you 4.2 million matches in .08 seconds, at least by their stopwatch.
OK, so some of the hits are Johnny Mack Brown, the old Western star. No computer's perfect, and maybe that's the point.
No matter what information you feed into these contraptions, how do you quantify one team over another if the schools never play each other?
Common opponents? Quality wins?
Personal dislike of the head coach?
No matter what you say about Mack Brown, and I've criticized him plenty, facts are undeniable: He's won at least nine games every year he's been at Texas, something Stoops will have a hard time matching this year at Oklahoma, and his team's on a roll.
Odds are he could put up Texas' first undefeated season in 36 years. And instead of a national champion, he could be this year's Auburn.
Question: How could we end up in the wrong place two years in a row?
E-mail ksherrington@dallasnews.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. 24 Colorado (4-1, 2-0) at No. 2 Texas (5-0, 2-0), 2:30 p.m. Saturday, (Ch. 8; KSKY-AM 660, KJON-AM 850, KFJZ-AM 870)
10:54 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Now that Mack Brown has exacted some retribution, making it plausible to believe once more in the cycle of life and that all things must come to pass, even the Cowboys, you're tempted to think this must be Texas' time.
Big win over Oklahoma. Even bigger one on the road against Ohio State.
All that's between Texas and the Rose Bowl: only Colorado and Texas Tech and whoever gets served up in the Big 12 title game.
And what happens? The computers are still booting up, but it looks as if the Longhorns could be sixth in their third of the formula when the BCS rankings come out next week.
Who's in front with the geeks? Probably Penn State, USC, Florida State, Virginia Tech, maybe even Georgia.
But what about the so-called human polls? They count for two-thirds in the BCS formula. Can't Texas get some satisfaction there?
Probably. But even if the Longhorns are second or third, what if the human element proves all too human later on?
What if voters recall Brown's public appeals for his team late last season and Texas' subsequent surge in the polls, cutting out Cal and whipping up Brown's critics?
Could there be payback for Texas? "Absolutely," one prominent former head coach tells me. "Especially on the West Coast."
Or what if it comes down to Texas and Penn State for No. 2? Do you think sentimental voters might like to send Joe Pa into retirement with a national title shot?
Better question: Do you figure national voters want to do Mack Brown any favors?
Of course, that's one of the problems. He shouldn't need a favor. Even if his team never climbed above sixth in the final poll, he'd still have a chance to prove how good it was if we had sense enough for a playoff in Division 1-A football.
But we don't. Voters and computers decide. They'd determine a field if we had a playoff, too, but the candidates would be no fewer than six or eight. And that blanket would cover a scenario still possible this season.
Five teams could conceivably go undefeated. How do you pick just two?
Under the current system, you nitpick. Look for what you don't like instead of what you do. Make as much out of nothing as you can.
Do you go by strength of conference? If you do, Texas loses through no fault of its own. The Big 12 looks as puny as it's ever been. You know it's bad when we're reporting what Oklahoma has to do to salvage a winning season.
Bob Stoops, out of the bowl business? Hardly seems possible. Chances are the Sooners will make it, and Texas had better hope so.
All that's working in the Longhorns' favor now is the combined record of their opponents from here on out: a .733 winning percentage, best among the nine undefeated teams.
Let's say the Horns win out. They've still got to get through another Big 12 championship game.
USC, Penn State and UCLA? They don't have conference title games, meaning one fewer detail to go wrong.
Just another inequity in the BCS system, which has been tweaked more often than Nicollette Sheridan.
All these "improvements" and it still doesn't look any better than the old AP and UPI polls. We just didn't know any better back when we were young and naïve. The world's more demanding now, a world so efficient that you can type in "Mack Brown" and the good people at Google give you 4.2 million matches in .08 seconds, at least by their stopwatch.
OK, so some of the hits are Johnny Mack Brown, the old Western star. No computer's perfect, and maybe that's the point.
No matter what information you feed into these contraptions, how do you quantify one team over another if the schools never play each other?
Common opponents? Quality wins?
Personal dislike of the head coach?
No matter what you say about Mack Brown, and I've criticized him plenty, facts are undeniable: He's won at least nine games every year he's been at Texas, something Stoops will have a hard time matching this year at Oklahoma, and his team's on a roll.
Odds are he could put up Texas' first undefeated season in 36 years. And instead of a national champion, he could be this year's Auburn.
Question: How could we end up in the wrong place two years in a row?
E-mail ksherrington@dallasnews.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. 24 Colorado (4-1, 2-0) at No. 2 Texas (5-0, 2-0), 2:30 p.m. Saturday, (Ch. 8; KSKY-AM 660, KJON-AM 850, KFJZ-AM 870)