In early returns Sunday, OU leads Texas in BCS

Oklahoma has the early advantage in its Sunday BCS showdown with Texas. It is a significant one.

The Sooners moved past Texas in the Sagarin Rankings, one of six computers used to determine the BCS standings. Jeff Sagarin was the first of the computer masters to post their updated rankings. Oklahoma moved from No. 4 to No. 1 in Sagarin while Texas dropped from No. 1 to No. 2.

What does that mean? Plenty. OU has a .0150 of a point lead over Texas now in Jerry Palm's CollegeBCS.com BCS standings estimate posted early Sunday. Texas came into Saturday with a .0084 lead over Oklahoma in the official BCS standings. The highest ranked team of the two in Sunday's BCS standings will play in the Big 12 championship game against Missouri on Saturday.

Win that and either Oklahoma or Texas could play for the national championship against the Alabama/Florida winner in the SEC championship game.

There is still a long way to go Sunday but momentum seems to be building behind the Sooners who made their final regular-season statement in a 61-41 over No. 11 Oklahoma State. BCSguru.com, another website dedicated to BCS analysis but with no input into the system, projected Sunday that Oklahoma would finish ahead of Texas.

Still to weigh in, the five other computer indexes and the two human polls that comprise the BCS -- the Harris and coaches polls.

Here is a very preliminary look by Palm at the top five posted on his site Sunday morning.

1. Alabama, .9839
2. Oklahoma, .9325
3. Texas, .9175
4. Florida, .8988
5. USC, .8107

Breakdown of the Big 12 South three-way tie as of Sunday morning:

Texas (11-1, 7-1)

Why they're in this position: Blake Gideon, Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree.

Texas had Tech beat in Lubbock until it gave the ball back with 1:29 left in the Nov. 1 game. Harrell was able to drive the team down for the game-winning touchdown with one second left. But that was only after Gideon, a Texas defensive back, dropped a tipped pass that would have ended Tech's drive.

Crabtree made an amazing catch against double coverage and tight-roped the sidelines into the end zone for a 39-33 victory.

Ranked teams beaten (ranking at time of kickoff): No. 1 Oklahoma 45-35; No. 11 Missouri 56-31; No. 7 Oklahoma State 28-24.

Common opponent with other two teams: Defeated Kansas 35-7, defeated Texas A&M 49-9, defeated Oklahoma State 28-24, defeated Baylor 45-21.

Schedule strength (Sagarin): No. 12 (down from No. 5 last week)

BCS ranking: No. 2

Argument for: Defeated three teams ranked in the top 11, including No. 1 Oklahoma. Colt McCoy is this year's version of Tim Tebow leading the Horns in rushing and passing. Will Muschamp's defense might not be impressive statistically but it is a big play group and is coming off its best performance of the season against Kansas.

Oh, also beat Oklahoma head-to-head by 10 on a neutral field on Oct. 11.

Argument against: Not much of one except that it didn't play on Saturday while Oklahoma got all the national love. If Texas doesn't get to the Big 12 title game it will be because of a six-point loss on the road with one second left against Texas Tech.

Texas Tech (11-1, 7-1)

Why they're in this position: Worst game of the season came at the worst possible time. Technically, Tech is involved in the three-way tie but its 44-point loss at Oklahoma on Nov. 22 seems to have eliminated it from division title consideration.

Ranked teams beaten (ranking at time of kickoff): No. 19 Kansas 63-21; No. 1 Texas 39-33; No. 8 Oklahoma State 56-20.

Common opponent with other two teams: Defeated Kansas 63-21, defeated Oklahoma State, 56-20, defeated Texas A&M 43-25, defeated Baylor 35-28.

Schedule strength (Sagarin): No. 26 (down from No. 19 last week)

BCS ranking: No. 7

Argument for: Defeated No. 1 (Texas), sports a Heisman frontrunner (Harrell) and the nation's best receiver (Crabtree). But there's more than this high-flying offense. Texas Tech has been well -rounded most of the season with a serviceable running game and effective defense. Until Saturday.

Argument against: You can't lose by 44 on national television on Nov. 22 and expect to play for a national championship, much less a Big 12 title.

Oklahoma (11-1, 7-1)

Why they're in this position: Colt McCoy. Texas' quarterback had a career day on Oct. 11. The Sooners led by five with 12 minutes but were outscored 15-0 down the stretch the day in beating Oklahoma.

The result created a firestorm that isn't going to quiet down anytime soon.

Ranked teams beaten (ranked at the time of kickoff): No. 24 TCU, 35-10; No. 2 Texas Tech, 65-21.

Common opponent with other two teams: Defeated Kansas 45-31, defeated Baylor 49-17, defeated Texas A&M 66-28, defeated Oklahoma State 61-41.

Schedule strength (Sagarin): No. 17 (up from No. 26 last week)

BCS ranking: No. 3

Argument for: Playing the best right now. OU has laid waste to its opponents since losing to Texas. It has won successive games by 14, 23, 34, 38, 44 and 20 points.

Sam Bradford leads the country in touchdown passes (44) and seems to be the new Heisman leader.

Argument against: Beat Tech which beat Texas which beat Oklahoma. Oh no, here we go again.

digitalmamba Since: May 6, 2007	Posted on: November 30, 2008 10:10 am In early returns Sunday, OU leads Texas in BCS It's OSU's job to stop the run even the announcers said that. Stoops was not trying to run the score up at that point. Maybe YOU should have watched he game. If anything Texas should be penalized for all the grandstanding it's done trying to drop OU. The plane with the banner all the signs thursday. Also Mack Brown calling during the game to beg for people to vote for Texas was just downright pathetic. Bunch of beggars if ya ask me. [ Reply to Comment ]
twinpeaksgirls Since: Nov 30, 2008	Posted on: November 30, 2008 10:04 am In early returns Sunday, OU leads Texas in BCS the people that vote in these polls do not know a thing about football all they know is oklahoma won last night by 20 but watch the game it was alot closer than that ou scored with 25 sec left in the game and they were only winning by 13 so i guess 20 sounds better than 13 if that was texas with 25 sec left they would have takin a knee that is respect something these teams that run up the score for these people that vote that know nothing about football all they see is the final scorei think that is a bunch of bull i think head to head should be #1 factor and WHO WON head to head by 10 points on a neutral field so by that alone texas should play for the big12 championship plus ou didnot play the same teams as texas who has the strenght of schedule?TEXAS so you voters that know nothing about football need to start watching a game every once in a while and stopping ASSUMING who [ Reply to Comment ]
twinpeaksgirls Since: Nov 30, 2008	Posted on: November 30, 2008 10:04 am In early returns Sunday, OU leads Texas in BCS the people that vote in these polls do not know a thing about football all they know is oklahoma won last night by 20 but watch the game it was alot closer than that ou scored with 25 sec left in the game and they were only winning by 13 so i guess 20 sounds better than 13 if that was texas with 25 sec left they would have takin a knee that is respect something these teams that run up the score for these people that vote that know nothing about football all they see is the final scorei think that is a bunch of bull i think head to head should be #1 factor and WHO WON head to head by 10 points on a neutral field so by that alone texas should play for the big12 championship plus ou didnot play the same teams as texas who has the strenght of schedule?TEXAS so you voters that know nothing about football need to start watching a game every once in a while and stopping ASSUMINGwho [ Reply to Comment ]
cmurphy Since: Aug 10, 2006	Posted on: November 30, 2008 9:53 am It's all up tot he humans at this point... ... computers will like OU better, albeit not by much. Did OU do enough last night to maintain or even solidify their lead over Texas in the coaches and Harris polls? That is the question. Voters might take notice that the game was closer than the score would indicate. VOters may even penalize Stoops for that last TD. [ Reply to Comment ]
BAmaMAn5351 Since: Oct 16, 2008	Posted on: November 30, 2008 9:49 am In early returns Sunday, OU leads Texas in BCS Thanks for the heads-up, DD. I read so many posts saying the Big 12 has offence while the SEC has defence. Watching the OU/OSU game last night I tend to agree. Texas, though, appears to have a more balanced team (i.e. UT/T A&M). Does this factor in to the equation? I would think that Texas would get the nod if this were the case. Just curious. [ Reply to Comment ]

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