Texas more deserving for Big 12 title game

It's not hard to make a case for Oklahoma deserving a spot in the Big 12 championship game. It's just easier to make one for Texas -- about as easy as it is for the BCS to mess things up.
Where there's a way -- either by human error, dumbfounding computer calculations or a combination of the two -- the BCS will find it. Which is why the Big 12's biggest mistake was leaving the fifth step in its three-way tiebreaker in the hands of the BCS.
Does anyone else think it's high time to trash those computers?
They rank the Sooners No. 1, a spot above Texas and amazingly two spots above unbeaten Alabama. They're the primary reason why Oklahoma jumped Texas in the BCS standings this week and nailed down a spot in the conference title game.
Perhaps best illustrating the fallacy of computer rankings are those of Richard Billingsley, Jeff Sagarin, Peter Wolfe and Kenneth Massey.
Unbelievably, Massey's system has Texas Tech ranked second and Alabama, the consensus No. 1 in all the polls, fifth. Sure makes you wonder what the heck he's feeding into his computer.
Sagarin and Wolfe aren't much better; they each have Tech third and Alabama fourth. Their top two? Oklahoma and Texas, in that order.
Billingsley at least got it right where Alabama is concerned, ranking the Tide No. 1. But he's got Oklahoma ranked second, two spots above Texas.
And go figure this: Billingsley's rankings have Ohio State (10-2) ranked ninth, a spot above Penn State (11-1). The Buckeyes lost to Penn State, 13-6, on Oct. 25 in Columbus. Maybe Billingsley inadvertently left that result out of his calculations. Otherwise, there's no logical explanation.
We know computers don't have eyes, but it's starting to become ever so apparent some also lack brains.
Course, whoever said logic and fairness had to be a part of the computer equation? They're sometimes not even a part of the human equation.
Take the two as yet anonymous coaches who gave Oklahoma their first-place votes in the USA Today poll and a third who gave his to Florida. The other 58 gave Alabama the nod, realizing there's no reason, indeed no justification, for ranking any team above the 12-0 Tide.
That, however, could change Saturday after Alabama and Florida -- Nos. 1 and 2 in the AP rankings -- meet in the SEC championship game. The Unbalanced Line's call: Florida secures a spot in the BCS title game with a 27-17 victory.
Idled by the computers, Texas has little to no chance of climbing from No. 3 in the BCS standings into one of the coveted top two spots. Florida -- fourth in the BCS -- would undoubtedly jump the Longhorns with a win over Alabama.
Either way, it's the SEC champ versus Oklahoma in the BCS title game.
It must be awfully difficult for Texas to stomach, having to sit back and watch two teams it beat -- Missouri and Oklahoma -- play for the conference title.
What makes it even more disheartening for Longhorn fans -- and others who think it stinks -- is that the BCS has effectively punched Oklahoma's ticket to Miami for its national title game.
Does anyone actually believe Missouri has a prayer of upsetting the Sooners Saturday?
Texas was as much a victim of its conference tiebreaker rules as it was a victim of the BCS computers. By tiebreaker rules of four other conferences, Texas would have advanced.
In the Unbalanced Line's view, the most sensible resolution to the tie between the three 11-1 teams -- Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech -- would have been to remove Tech from the equation.
Yes, the Red Raiders beat Texas, 39-33, on Nov. 1 in Lubbock. But, in the past two weeks, Tech was drubbed by Oklahoma, 65-21, in Norman and was nearly upset by Baylor, escaping with a 35-28 win at home. That's not even close to the kind of finish worthy of conference title game consideration.
Accordingly, all three of the major polls -- AP, USA Today and Harris -- rank Tech eighth, effectively removing them from the discussion of who belongs in the Big 12 title game and breaking the three-way tie.
So now it comes down to No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Texas, and that score was settled on Oct. 11 on a neutral field: Texas 45, Oklahoma 35.
That doesn't mean Oklahoma isn't worthy of the conference title game. Since losing to Texas, the Sooners demolished their next six opponents, piling up almost 60 points a game and outscoring them, 357-184. They also routed out-of-conference opponents No. 11 TCU, 35-10, and No. 13 Cincinnati, 52-26.
Impressive credentials aside, by virtue of their 45-35 loss to Texas Oct. 11, the Sooners just aren't as deserving as the Longhorns.
In a system where each and every game is supposed to matter, that game mattered most ... yet not at all.

(Contact John Tucker at jtucker@unionleader.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
ColumnUNBALANCED LINEMust credit New Hampshire Union Leader