Sunday 11/23 (Not-So-Very) Quickie:Big 12 Gahhh!, BCS Jockeying, Rhodes Rolle

Well, what the hell do we do about the Big 12 now?

Granted, Oklahoma could lose to Oklahoma State. That would put Texas Tech -- the team Oklahoma just beat by 100 -- back in the Big 12 South driver's seat.

Or, if Oklahoma beats OK St, they could lose to Missouri in the Big 12 title game. That might actually put Texas back in the BCS driver's seat -- despite not winning its own conference division.

(I would imagine that Mack Brown is in full spin mode this morning.)

The thing we can all agree on is that the Big 12's Nth-stage tiebreaker system -- the three teams' BCS rankings -- is the most absurd thing ever.

Yes: Coaches from non-Big 12 conferences should be voting on the Big 12 South -- by far, the heavyweight of college football -- to determine its champ. Or the Harris Poll. Frankly, I trust the computers on this one WAY more than the humans.

At the very least, it would be nice if the Big 12 convened the coaches from the 3 teams to hammer out a more reasonable way to pick between them -- maybe let the Big 12 Coaches decide, or a combination of Big 12 coaches and computer polls.

The fact is: It is an intractable problem, even if Oklahoma loses next week -- and especially if the Big 12 South champ loses to Missouri in 2 weeks.

Here's one thought: What if we've all been wrong about the Big 12 -- that they are all great teams, but none of them are a Top 2 team? What if the NCG should be the Alabama-Florida winner versus... Utah?

I pride myself on clever ideas for solving weird sports problems; I'm willing to admit I'm at a loss here. Make your own suggestions through the Comments.

(Sort of makes you glad for the situation in the SEC, where -- as long as Bama and Florida win their rivalry games next week -- the winner of the SEC CG goes to the national title game. My nightmare is that for some reason, the BCS title game does not include this game's winner. And, as Bama has a lock on the NCG if they win the SEC CG, you know what I'm talking about here.)

Sneak-peek of my BlogPoll ballot: (1) Oklahoma; (2) Alabama; (3) Florida; (4) Texas; (5) Utah; (6) USC; (7) Texas Tech; (8) Boise St.; (9) Penn St.; (10) Ohio St.

(This is a little unfair to Texas; if the Longhorns got to play Texas Tech in Austin instead of Lubbock, they might have beaten them -- although not nearly the way Oklahoma beat them. And I'm sure Texas fans are frustrated into rage right now, saying: "BUT WE BEAT OKLAHOMA!!!")

Myron Rolle won that Rhodes Scholarship: Let's take a minute from the CFB craziness to celebrate that. What a wonderful story.

In all the Big 12 mayhem, one BCS thing we know for sure: Utah will be a part of it. This isn't just a non-BCS team riding a soft schedule to an unbeaten season (Ball St, even Boise St to a lesser extent); this is one of the best teams in the country, just like they were in 2004.

I feel bad for Boise St -- they are one of the Top 10 teams in the country, but have virtually no shot at a BCS bowl that they deserve. Right now, the 4 at-large teams look like:

(1) Utah;

(2) a 2nd team from the Big 12 (presuming one Big 12 team is in the BCS title game);

(3) the Alabama-Florida loser (presuming the winner is automatically included in the BCS title game, there is no way the Sugar Bowl doesn't take the SEC runner-up, presuming that a 1-loss Bama or 2-loss Florida are both still in the Top 10);

(4) USC (presuming Oregon St wins the Pac-10 next week). If Oregon St loses and USC sneaks into the Rose Bowl, Ohio State would be the 4th at-large BCS bid.

NBA Match-Up of the Day: Shaq destroyed Greg Oden. O'Neal had 19 and 17 -- you have to believe he was motivated to school the young kid -- and Oden had 5 points and 5 fouls and 1 rebound in 14 minutes.

CBB Star of the Day: Blake Griffin -- 35 pts, 21 reb... and Oklahoma had way more trouble with Gardner-Webb than they did with Texas Tech.

The BCS standings later today will be so intriguing.

-- D.S.