Sports > Columnists > Bob Lutz

Posted on Tue, Dec. 02, 2008

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BCS makes problems, it does not solve them

I guess WSU has to be unbeaten to host an NCAA volleyball first- and second-round regional:

Texas or Oklahoma? Oklahoma or Texas? Until further notice, it's the question that drives college football. Where it drives college football is a different matter; I'll let you be the judge of that.

Texas beat OU during the regular season and to many people, that's the beginning and end of the argument. It's black and white and something about that is appealing in the murky world of the BCS.

Yet Oklahoma finished the season with routs of Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. It's not how you play in early October, some will argue; it's how you play at the end of November that matters most.

The debate can never be settled because the BCS isn't about settling. It's about creating controversy, which is something it does well every year, including in Sunday's BCS standings that had OU above Texas and in the Big 12 championship game.

Sports thrives on controversy, of course. But it also thrives on conclusion, and in the BCS there rarely is one that satisfies all parties. Which makes the BCS unlike anything in sports.

Its proponents say that's the appeal of the BCS. Its opponents pull their hair out.

Oklahoma and Texas are outstanding football teams. I don't know which team is better today.

But when they played, on Oct. 11 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Longhorns were the best team. They won by 10 points.

Really, shouldn't that be all that matters?

I know OU can make a strong case for being the Big 12 South's representative in Saturday's conference championship game against Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium.

The question is: Why are cases necessary? Texas and Oklahoma both have one conference loss and Texas beat Oklahoma.

The Big 12 should be ashamed for allowing a BCS tie-breaker to anoint Oklahoma as its South champion.

Anyway, it looks as if Texas will be left out of the national championship picture, unless OU loses to Missouri or Florida and Alabama find a new way to muddy the waters in the SEC championship game this weekend.

You don't mess with Texas. Remember?

• I don't keep a list, but Kansas' comeback win over Missouri has to rank up there as one of the top college football games I've seen.

Top 10 for sure. Maybe top five.

The Jayhawks reached down for everything they had. Junior quarterback Todd Reesing gave another amazing performance. And is there a better story in college football then converted quarterback Kerry Meier, now one of the country's go-to receivers?

KU will have most of its offense back in 2009, but also a tough, tough schedule that includes road games at Texas and Texas Tech and a home game against Oklahoma.

The Jayhawks should be a Big 12 North contender, though.

And in beating Missouri to go to 7-5, they improved their bowl status for this year.

Still, most of the projections I've seen have KU meeting Minnesota -- yuck -- in the Insight Bowl. The Gophers, 7-1 at one point, have lost four straight, including a 55-0 defeat against Iowa in their final regular-season game.

• When is Oklahoma defensive coordinator and Salina native Brent Venables going to get a head-coaching job?

Shouldn't he have one by now?

• Officials from the Mid-American Conference and Western Athletic Conference, which represent unbeaten football teams Ball State and Boise State, are trying to work out a deal that would pit the teams against one another in either the Motor City, Humanitarian or Independence Bowl.

It sounds too good to be true. Which means it probably is.

I'd rather watch that game than the Orange Bowl, which could pit Boston College against Cincinnati.

• I can't pull the trigger on my Heisman vote just yet.

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford and his Texas counterpart, Colt McCoy, are 1-2 right now. If Bradford leads the Sooners to an impressive win over Missouri on Saturday, he'll get my first-place vote.

For now, though, I'm waiting it out.

Bradford's numbers are amazing: 4,080 yards, 46 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 190.97 quarterback rating.

McCoy isn't too far behind: 3,445 yards, 32 touchdowns, 7 interceptions and a 179.20 rating.

Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz co-hosts "Sports Daily" from 9-11 a.m. weekdays on KFH, 1240-AM and 98.7-FM. Reach him at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com.