Osler's Razor

That's a pretty normal looking arm. And UT was treated fairly-- they lost to a team OU beat.
 

UUT was not treated fairly, but it's nothing new. The system is not fair and is barely based on anything resembling objectivity. Throughout any given season the tides of the BCS ebb and flow and it is inevitable that there will be a new flavor of the week. At the beginning of the season the "best" team in the Big 12 was Missouri, then it was Texas, then it was Tech, and now apparently it is Oklahoma.

The amazing part about this inherently flawed system is that the "flavor of the week" early in the season can have a significant impact on the teams that ultimately prove their worth at the end of the season.

For example, (and there are more than one this season) Tech is a good team, with a great quarterback. When they played Texas, Texas played the worst game I had seen them play in years (the last game of a greuling four-game schedule played in Lubbock) and Tech had the best. Still, Texas was routed by a last-second touchdown for a ultimate 6 point win.

This game vaulted tech to the number 2 spot in the BCS. The turning point in the season was Oklahoma's clobbering of Tech AT OKLAHOMA. The point is, the BCS seems to have a short memory when it comes to the actual strength of consistently good teams. Pollsters were so willing to hand out style points to Oklahoma after their win against Tech, that they forgot that Tech is not as well-rounded or consistent as they may dream.

Lets remember earlier in the season when Tech WENT INTO OVERTIME against Nebraska (a team that is 5-3 in the Big 12 North and 8-4 overall). Let's not forget recent history where Tech was down by 14 at the end of the fourth quarter against Baylor ( 4-8 overall, but with an up and coming QB). The lesson from the beginning of the season (not just after the Oklahoma game) was that Tech is not a consistent team. When they win, they win big, but when they suck, they really suck.

Why then, I ask, does clobbering Tech on a bad day vault you over a Team that you lost to by 10 points on a neutral field. I think that BCS pollsters have selective amnesia and (if you look over multiple seasons) Oklahoma-USC infatuation.

This is one fan who will watch the big 12 championship knowing that there is a team out there who can (and has) beat both teams on the field. I feel bad for the Texas players. How do you maintain the notion that hard work and success pays off, when two teams you have defeated are playing each other because pollsters (not working or fighting on the field) feel that your wins didn't have as much "style." It's sickening.

Love but slightly annoyed,

Matt
 

Addendum for nit-picks. When I said Tech was down by 14 at the end of the 4th quarter, I naturally meant 1st half. Sorry for the confusion.


Matt
 

If only Baylor had been up at the end of four quarters! That would have been a great day for UT and for Baylor.
 

Anon 9:20 --

OU beat Tech in Norman. UT beat OU in a neutral spot. Tech beat UT in Lubbock.
 

My opinion: Who cares? These are supposed to be "student athletes." I know at most of them are not really students in the sense that they go to class on a regular basis or do any "heavy lifting" academically.

But in my mind, the thing that makes College Football interesting is that there isn't a conclusion -- it gives us something to argue about and discuss.

Great books rarely wrap up all the details at the end, and neither does the College Football season.

Who's to say which conference is really better. Maybe both UT and OU are better than Alabama or anyone else. Maybe Boise State (or Ball State) really should be in the discussion.
 

Ball State is creepy.
 

Hey, hey, hey!
I will have you know that I was surrounded by a group of UT's finest in my Japanese History class while at UT, and that lot never tried cheating off my exams...not after I deliberately planted some false answers, that is...heh heh.
 

The question is - why is Osler smiling? I think, because secretly he is happy that UT got the shaft.
Also, did he attempt to dance while dressed as a penguin?
 

He was hitting on random pandas, I hear, until the other penguins pulled him back.

Besides, all the lady Pandas were waiting for the Baylor Bear to show up.
 

Oklahoma sux! Longhorns Rool!
 

I do feel bad for Texas...but all this really means is that Texas probably won't get to lose the BCS title game to the SEC Champ...that honor will most likely go to Oklahoma...again...
 

"The long arm of a cruel fate..." I'll have to ponder that and hope there is no hidden double meaning;)
---Mr. CL
 

I have no idea about the football teams, but that's a hilarious picture.
 

Ok, now I have an arm complex. Long sleeves only from now on.

Mrs. CL
 

OK, I changed it! Crikeys, Mrs. CL, they really are very normal arms. And you also have the right number of arms, which is also good.
 

Do not make fun of her arms. This one time, at band camp, I lost my id and it was down this really long drainpipe. Even though there were two or three curves in the pipe and my id was about twenty-seven feet down there, she was able to get it back for me.

She has also used these super-powers to fight crime on many occasions.
 

Ok thanks.

I DO have super powers, Gary. Thanks for the shout out. That was a great year at Band Camp.

Mrs. CL
 

Oh, and I meant that I lost my I.D., not my id (in the Freudian sense). If my id was down that drainpipe, I never did find it.
 

UT got screwed. I watched every moment of the OU v OSU game that put OU in the #2 place and OU made some appallingly bad plays. And they got lucky with at least two TDs where flukes just put the ball in OU's hands.

I agree with Matt - the voters have short memories.

Of course, it doesn't really matter. OU has a terrible record of choking during the important games (OU v USC, anyone?), so it's entirely possible UT will go to the championship game despite not winning the Big 12 title. I don't think that UT would win - I'm afraid not much can compare with my cherished memories of the Rose Bowl and Vince Young in my senior year at UT - but it'd be a nice present after this.

(Note - I deleted most of my bitter, snarky comments from this. This is about as nice as I can get concerning OU!)
 

I think the photo is relevant. Is that Judge Manske? He's a known Longhorn fan, right?