Texas Jumps OU to #4 in Harris Poll

Pollsters finally remembered that October day in Dallas and put the Horns ahead of the Sooners. Two more wins and Texas will finish in the top 4 of the BCS and receive an at-large berth into the BCS automatically.

about 1 month ago awiggo Comment 14 comments 0 recs |

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how confident are you in that last statement?

even if OU runs the table the rest of the way out?

by Not Now Chief on Nov 9, 2008 3:02 PM CST reply reply 0 recs

Very

If OU runs the table, then Tech will have another loss and drop below Texas in the polls and therefore the BCS.

Alabama / Florida winner
OU
Texas
USC
Texas Tech or Bama / Florida loser

Texas controls its own destiny as it pertains to the BCS, in my opinion. We do not control our own destiny as far as the Big XII goes. I don’t think it is likely as all that Texas goes to Kansas City. If Texas wins their next two games, they will definitely go to a BCS game.

--AW--

by awiggo on Nov 9, 2008 3:05 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

Florida is the key

Staying ahead of Florida is critical as they are acting now as a buffer between us and OU. I’m not as pessimistic as AW (but by no means optimistic) as it pertains to being behind OU, although I’m also not as smart…

by 40AS on Nov 9, 2008 3:30 PM CST reply reply 0 recs

I don't think that's true...

Are you talking about the Big 12 championship game or the national championship game? If it’s the NC game, either Bama or Florida is going to the Miami unless one of them loses before the SEC championship game and then wins that game, which is unlikely. In that case, Either Florida or Alabama will be ahead of UT and OU, so it won’t matter.

In the matter of getting into the Big12 championship game, for the BCS to matter, all 3 of us have to finish with 1 loss, so OU has to beat both Tech and Okie State, which I believe happens before the SEC championship game (thus neither UF nor Bama will have lost yet). So I guess what you’re saying is that we need Florida to stay in between Texas and OU in the BCS, but I don’t think that’s true. If say UT was 3, UF 4 and OU 5 in any of the BCS component polls, then yes we would need Florida to stay there to prevent OU from moving up relative to UT, but that’s not the case, except (sort of) in the computer polls. But if we assume Florida wins out the regular season and OU does too, OU is going to pick up computer points relative to florida (they’re tied in the computers right now). The questions isn’t what happens with florida, the question is whether OU moves ahead of Texas in enough off the computer rankings to move ahead in the BCS (assuming the human rankings stay about the same).

Texas needs a big win this week against Kansas while OU is idle to increase its lead in the Harris and jump OU in the coaches so that it will be hard for OU to overtake us in the last 2 weeks. We also need Mizzou to keep winning and hope for TCU to lose.

by billyzane on Nov 9, 2008 3:58 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

This would also help

Big win against A&M (by no means a sure thing) and sloppy, close wins by OU over TT and OSU.

Also, for the teams that we have beaten to keep winning and the teams that OU has beaten to lose.

by Horncasting on Nov 9, 2008 5:56 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

OU..

Listen I want Texas in a BCS game, but the idea of OU being involved in this discussion is the reason this feels like the greatest form of torture. I want more than anything for Texas to be in the Big 12 champ, but I don’t trust the BCS to have us ranked higher in the event there was a 3 way tie. That is why I will not be fazed one bit if OU loses 1 of the next 2 games and we miss out on the Big 12 champ.

by Hookem4life84 on Nov 9, 2008 3:36 PM CST reply reply 0 recs

I'm with you

I can’t root for OU either.

That said, I don’t think it matters regarding a Texas BCS bid. If Tech wins out, OU will fall out of the top four, and, as long as we win out, we will be in the top four. If OU wins out, Tech should fall behind Texas, and, as long as we win out, we will be in the top four.

--AW--

by awiggo on Nov 9, 2008 3:42 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

Rematch

In all this talk about possible NC matchups, is there any chance of UT playing Tech or OU for the title? Or is there some rule that two teams from the same conference can’t play each other in a bowl game?

I know there are a lot of people who never want a team who doesn’t win their conference playing for the national title again (after Nebraska in ‘01), but I think the Big XII South’s strength should trump that thinking if Bama and Florida were to lose in November.

I'm no doctor.

by Johngo on Nov 9, 2008 3:48 PM CST reply reply 0 recs

No Rule

forbidding two teams from the same conference from playing for the title. Many things would have to happen for two Big XII South teams to play again but it could happen.

--AW--

by awiggo on Nov 9, 2008 3:54 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

Most likely shot of that

Would be Florida to lose before the SEC champ. game and then for them to beat Alabama handily, meanwhile both Texas and Tech run the table.

That would really just leave USC and a recently beaten Alabama team as our main competition. It would take a pretty strong sentiment by the voters not wanting us there to keep us out at that point.

by Horncasting on Nov 9, 2008 6:00 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

Another Scenario

Tech loses to OU, then OU loses to OSU. Tech goes to Kansas City to play missouri. But after the loss, theyve likely dropped below us in the human polls, and for sure in the computer polls. Now, I think the human voters would likely vote them ahead of us if they were to beat Missouri, but I dont think its a foregone conclusion.

In that scenario, it would be a one loss UT, a one loss USC, a possible one loss Bama, and a one loss Tech with a win in the championship game vying for the second BCS spot to play Florida.

Now, having said that, I would fully expect the voters to send Tech to the national champ game to play florida. What is interesting, however, would be our position in the AP poll. With a one loss Tech playing a one loss Florida in the national championship game, if Tech were to win, there would be a good chance we would move into the top spot of the AP poll if we were to win our bowl game.

All of these scenarios are frickin nuts. There are 3 teams in the Big 12 that are worthy of playing for the title, and one of them isnt even going to play in a BCS bowl. How screwy is that.

by 6th street on Nov 9, 2008 7:49 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

In addition

if tech wins out
florida state beats florida
and florida beats alabama

theres a possibility we would be in position to play tech in a rematch in the title game. it would be 1 loss USC, 1 loss Bama, and us vying for that 2nd spot.

crazy, and i dont think FSU has the guns to pull it off, but stranger things have happened.

by 6th street on Nov 9, 2008 8:10 PM CST up reply reply 0 recs

Does this prove to anyone else...

… that the Harris poll is made up of people who have no business deciding who gets a chance to play for the national championship?

Last Week:
“Well, let’s see here, what to do about the Longhorns loss in Lubbock… hmm, #7 sounds good, they usually beat Tech, who is never very good on defense, and defense wins championships.”

This Week:
“Holy crap Texas beat the crap out of Baylor! 45-21! What a beating! I’m jumping them three spots! OU’s 66-28 win over the Aggies looked a little shaky to me.”

Actually, we know what happened, Harris voters watched ESPN play that last second touchdown catch by Crabtree over and over, read all the articles calling them out for dropping us so low, then maybe DVR’d the game and saw that, hey, Texas and Tech are pretty good. +3!

This is absolute nonsense.

by Horn Brain on Nov 10, 2008 12:32 AM CST reply reply 0 recs

Wait...

Are you saying that it’s better to make an initial terrible decision and then stick by it blindly (i.e. the Coaches poll) rather than make an initial terrible decision and then correct it (i.e. the Harris Poll)? Sure, the Harris Poll is largely full of people who probably have no business being a part of this system, but give credit where credit is due. They made a mistake and corrected it.

by billyzane on Nov 10, 2008 8:46 AM CST up reply reply 0 recs