November 30, 2008 5:54 PM
Big 12 messes with Texas
Texas coach Mack Brown feared it would come to this -- and Sunday afternoon his worst fears were realized.
Oklahoma, the team Texas defeated 45-35 in October, will represent the South Division in Saturday's Big 12 Conference championship game. The Sooners will play North Division champ Missouri, also a Longhorns victim (56-31) during regular season play.
Where's the justice?
Not in the Big 12's tie-breaking system, which trickled to No. 5 -- using BCS rankings -- to break its three-way in the South involving Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech, all with 11-1 records.
The Big 12's system will be part of the league's annual review, commissioner Dan Beebe said in a statement Sunday afternoon.
After congratulating the three South teams, which produced the first three-way tie in league history, Beebe said, "The tiebreak process currently in place was carefully considered and voted upon by our athletics directors years ago, although I doubt they envisioned the scenario we have this year with a tie including the No. 2 and 3 teams in the country in one of our divisions.
"The use of the BCS Standings is one of multiple steps used and occurs when other steps in the process are unable to break the tie. As part of our season review, other tiebreak options will be assessed, and presented for consideration."
The Big 12 could study the tie-breaking methods used by the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conference, which view the top two league teams in the BCS standings and take into account a head-to-head game between them.
In that scenario, the Longhorns would have received the nod over the Sooners.
Meanwhile, Brown and his players are left as spectators for Saturday's conference championship game, which could send the Sooners to the BCS championship game against the SEC champion (Alabama and Florida also play Saturday for the SEC title).
At 9-3, Missouri is ranked No. 20 in the BCS standings and is not a championship contender if the Tigers defeat the Sooners.
"Going into the last couple of weeks, we knew that a good team was going to be left out of the Big 12 championship,'' Brown said in a statement. ``Unfortunately, in this situation, it was us. It is what it is. We don't like it, we don't agree with it or think it's fair, but, like anything else, we'll handle it and move forward.
"I'm really disappointed for our kids that two teams we beat this season will be playing for the Big 12 Championship. I'll try to explain it to them, but most importantly, my message will be that you've done enough to put yourself in position to play for the conference championship, you had a great season and there still is a lot out there for you to play for.
"We'll wait and see how everything plays out and where the system sends us, then be ready to play our best game of the year wherever that is. I do appreciate all of the respect many of the poll voters and fans gave to our season and the importance they placed on the head-to-head matchup in the end, but, unfortunately, it was not enough.
"Since this situation has never happened before in the Big 12, I think the conference should follow the lead of all of the other BCS leagues with championship games in how they settle three-way ties. I think their systems are fairer and give more credit to how t he two highest ranked teams performed against each other on the field."
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