DeMarco Murray will be out for the game against Oklahoma State, but there is no word on Bradford as of yet.

These injuries set up some pretty interesting scenarios to ponder.  I personally don't like to take pleasure in another team's injuries (particulary when we're talking about something serious like concussions).  Still, injuries are part of the game, and there is a delicious bit of irony in all this.

Don't underestimate the loss of Murray, whatever Bradford is capable of doing will be impacted by not having Murray is the backfield.  This guy is a gamebreaker and he's been OU's best player for most of the season.  Losing him alone makes OU a less dynamic running team.  Any smart defense would recognize that you take your chances with defending Patrick or Brown straight up, while a guy like Murray would force you to cheat the secondary up a bit for support.  Put simply, whatever Bradford's condition is, he won't be as good as he could be without Murray.

The bigger question to me is do we really want to play in the Big 12 championship?

When you think back to our goals at the start of the season, I thought a BCS bowl game would be the best case scenario.  If that is goal, then playing for the Big 12 doesn't necessarily help us get there.  

If we were to make it the the big 12 title game and lose, I doubt we are an at large team (3 losses).  However, I see several scenarios where being left out of the Big 12 title game would actually be beneficial.  For instance, suppose OU were to get in, but get smoked by KU.  This would definitely boost Texas over OU and the Fiesta bowl would have to choose between 2 loss Texas on a winning streak or 2 loss Missouri.

Still, I make the arguement that getting into the Big12 title game is ultimately the best thing that can happen to this team. Win or lose, to reach the goals that are attainable in '08 and '09 this team needs to see where it stacks up against against the highest ranked opponent it could face.  Most likely, this would be #2 Kansas.