Big-12 bound

By John Shinn

December 01, 2008 01:12 am

— Oklahoma lost its battle with Texas Oct. 11, but it won the war Sunday.
The Sooners rose to No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings and will represent the Big 12 South against Missouri in Saturday's Big 12 championship game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
"Obviously, we're excited to be representing the Big 12 South at the Big 12 championship this weekend against an excellent Missouri team," OU coach Bob Stoops said Sunday afternoon about 30 minutes after the BCS rankings were announced.
The announcement ended a very tense 14 hours from the time the Sooners finished off their 61-41 victory over Oklahoma State Saturday in Stillwater to finding out they would play in the Big 12 championship for the sixth time in seven years.
The victory locked OU, Texas and Texas Tech in a three-way tie in the south division with all having identical 11-1 records, 7-1 conference marks and 4-1 marks in the division. All three also beat each other during the regular season.
The BCS rankings, which serve as the fifth tie-breaker in a three-way tie scenario, were the decider.
The margin was incredibly close. The BCS rankings formula uses two human polls -- the USA Today coaches poll and the Harris Interactive poll -- and an average of six computer polls.
The Sooners were No. 2 in Sunday's coaches poll, edging the Longhorns by just one point. Texas was third in the Harris poll, just six points ahead of OU.
The computers were the difference and they came out big for the Sooners. They computer average had the Sooners at No. 1, ahead of undefeated and top-ranked Alabama. Texas was No. 3.