STILLWATER, Okla. -- Iowa came from behind, exploded in the fourth and got past Indiana early Saturday while Cincinnati was its usual steady self in a victory at Syracuse. Meantime, Boise State won again to remain undefeated, just like TCU. And so it must've been frustrating for fans of those schools to settle in and watch their hopes of sneaking into the BCS National Championship Game take a huge hit Saturday night here at the palace T. Boone Pickens created.
Because that's what happened.
Texas' 41-14 victory against Oklahoma State not only cemented the Longhorns' defense as the nation's best, it also served as an easy clearing of the last real hurdle on UT's schedule. Mack Brown's boys are now 8-0 overall, 5-0 in the Big 12 -- their final four regular season games are against Central Florida (4-3), Baylor (3-5), Kansas (5-3) and Texas A&M (5-3). Then they'll play another average-to-bad team in the Big 12 title game. So unless you think the Longhorns are losing to an unranked opponent for the first time since 2007 (and that's not happening), November will be spent trying to decide who gets to play Texas in Pasadena. And it'll absolutely be the SEC champion unless Florida and Alabama (combined record of 16-0) both somehow lose, meaning the 2009 regular season will spend its final month free of on-the-field drama, sad as that might seem.
Trick-or-Treat?
Obviously, it's a trick.
The suckers are Iowa, Cincinnati, Boise State and TCU, you know, the schools holding out hope that going undefeated might actually present a chance to play for the national championship in this shameful system. And can we stop with the "but the BCS makes the regular season so much more interesting" argument? Because it clearly doesn't. Again, unless Texas loses to an unranked opponent (not happening) and Florida and Alabama both lose before the BCS pairings are announced (also not happening), every college football game played the rest of this season that doesn't involve one of those three schools will have no bearing whatsoever on the national title.
That's what UT's dominating victory against OSU created.
And it really was a dominating victory.
The kind that deflated this campus.
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| Earl Thomas (12) and Curtis Brown should book a trip to Pasadena because no one's stopping them. (Getty Images) |
• Recap: Texas 41, Oklahoma State 14
Um, no.
"That was a bad feeling last year [when we lost to Texas Tech]," Heisman Trophy candidate Colt McCoy said after finishing 16 of 21 for 171 yards and one touchdown in limited opportunities thanks to the UT defense returning two interceptions for scores. "[Coach Mack Brown] kind of put it on the seniors' shoulders. He said, 'This is your team. You control your own destiny. Don't let it happen again.' "
Impressively, they did not.
The Longhorns took a 10-0 lead on Cody Johnson's 1-yard run early in the second quarter, then jumped ahead 17-0 when Curtis Brown returned one of Zac Robinson's four interceptions 77 yards for a touchdown. It was 24-7 at the half. Oklahoma State never threatened in the second half, and the stadium was mostly empty the entire fourth quarter save the UT fans who wanted to enjoy every second -- among them former Longhorn basketball star Kevin Durant, who spent much of the game on the sideline (with Oklahoma City Thunder teammate James Harden) watching Texas take advantage of five OSU turnovers.
"When you turn the ball over and make that many mistakes against a team that has got that much ability, it's very difficult to win the game," said Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, a man who is now 42 years old. "Getting behind by more than two scores makes it very difficult to execute on offense and defense. You become one-dimensional."
Not to mention ineffective.
And hopeless.
Either way, what's done is done, and the intrigue to this regular season is unfortunately among the things that are done. All that's left to decide is Texas' opponent in Pasadena, and it's not going to be an undefeated champ from the Big Ten, Big East, MWC or WAC. Those leagues were almost certainly eliminated from contention on this Halloween night, I'm sorry to report. So mark it down in pen, then put a sealer on it: Texas will play the SEC champion in January for the national championship, and it doesn't matter that the Longhorns, to a man, refused to acknowledge that reality late Saturday.
"We've got to take it one game at a time," Texas defensive end Sergio Kindle said. "There are teams out there every week that lose to a nobody. So we only want to think about Pasadena if we get to that time or if we're in a position to be there."
Trust me, Sergio, you've long been in a position to be there.
That's never been in question.
And you just pounded the last team capable of removing you from that position by 27 points.
