the tindog coffeehouse

It’s only the end of first round of the NCAA tournament, and my bracket is already pretty bruised. Out of the 32 first-round games, I missed 9, giving me a percentage of 72%. Ouch.

Biggest upset: Murray State’s win over Vanderbilt, who I’d picked to make it to the Final Four. Seriously, did anyone in America pick No. 13 Murray State to pick off No. 4 Vandy? No, of course not! Not even the mother of the Murray State coach. Other big upsets: No. 14 Ohio over No. 3 Georgetown, No. 12 Cornell over No. 5 Temple, and No. 11 Old Dominion over No. 6 Notre Dame.

Upsets I actually got right: No. 11 Washington beating No. 6 Marquette and No. 9 Northern Iowa beating No. 8 UNLV.

Closest call: No. 2 Villanova’s 3-point overtime victory over No. 15 Robert Morris. Others: BYU’s double-overtime win vs. Florida, Tennessee’s 3-point win vs. San Diego State, and Michigan State’s 3-point win vs. New Mexico State.

Not even close: Kentucky’s beatdown of East Tennessee State, 100-71.

Biggest disappointment: The Longhorns’ 1-point loss in overtime to Wake Forest. Not that Texas would’ve made it past Kentucky, but it would’ve been nice to win at least one game. It was, though, a fitting end to what has been a miserable season. As one sports commentator put it, “From No. 1 to one-and-done.”

Prognostications: No. 1 seeds Kentucky, Kansas, and Duke looked pretty solid, but Syracuse was a little shaky. As a result, I’m thinking Kansas State may be the Final Four choice for the West region. And if Villanova makes it to the Elite Eight, I’ll be shocked.

Alright, bring on Round 2!

Previously:
March Madness 2010: My picks

Last year, I posted my picks to win the NCAA men’s tournament while admittedly not knowing enough about the teams to make even a reasonable guess. And of course, I completely blew it. (Thank you, Pitt.)

But I’m trying again this year, a little more educated and a lot more hopeful. OK, so I really don’t know how hopeful I am, but who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.

Breaking it down by region:

Midwest. aka “The Group of Death.” The Midwest is tricky because there are a lot of wildcards, teams that are probably seeded too high (Ohio State), and others that are probably too low (Tennessee). I think the Buckeyes will make it past Oklahoma State, but the Vols will knock them off to make it to the Elite Eight. No. 1 Kansas should survive, though, and win the region.

East. As a huge Texas fan, I would love to pick the Horns here, but they’ve completely blown it this season. And a result, they have a horrible spot on the bracket. They can probably make it past Wake Forest, but they won’t survive Kentucky. As for most of the rest of the region, there will probably be a few upsets, but it’s still going to come down between the Wildcats and West Virginia. Look for Kentucky to go to the Final Four.

West. The West seems like a weird region to me, chock full of great teams, any of which could be spoilers but none of which strike me as national champions. Pitt let me down last year, and though they should make it to the Elite Eight, I’m not confident they can go any further. I’m calling an upset of No. 1 seed Syracuse by Vanderbilt, who’ll go on to win the region and make it the Final Four.

South. I’m really rooting for Baylor, and I think they can hold their own for a couple of games. But I think Villanova will probably beat them to face Duke in the Elite Eight. But I’m gonna have to play it safe and pick Duke to win the region.

Final Four. Will three of the four top-seeded teams make it to the Final Four? Yeah, that’s me hedging my bets to some degree. Last year, I predicted some bigger upsets and got burned pretty bad. The Jayhawks will beat Vandy, and Kentucky will hold out to beat Duke.

Championship. I’m not really a Kansas fan, but they’ve been one of the most consistent and dominant teams in college basketball all year. And even if I get my other Final Four picks wrong, I still think the Jayhawks can and will win the national title.

Here is my full bracket. Click to enlarge.

Previously:
March Madness: My picks
More March Madness is, well, madness

In the final moments of the Big 12 Championship game before kicker Hunter Lawrence kicked the game-winning field goal with 1 second left on the clock, Texas Longhorns wide receiver Jordan Shipley gave him a word of encouragement from Jeremiah 17:7: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.”

A month later Lawrence returned the favor before the BCS National Championship game, giving Shipley a verse from 2 Corinthians 12:9: “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Those words, ironically, seem to have even more meaning in the wake of the Longhorns’ disappointing loss to Alabama.  But the final score is only part of the story.

When asked how he felt after the game, quarterback Colt McCoy — whose incredible college football career ended rather suddenly in the first quarter with a nerve injury to the right shoulder — responded, “I always give God the glory.  I never question why things happen the way they do.  God is in control of my life.  And I know that if nothing else, I’m standing on the Rock.”

And it’s not just McCoy, Shipley, and Lawrence.  Or even center Chris Hall, who opted out of the NFL draft in favor of attending seminary.  As Rivals.com writer Jason King points out:

What makes the Longhorns unique is the quantity of players who are so open and passionate about their relationship with Christ. …

Attendance at Wednesday night FCA meetings can often be overwhelming, players said. And each Friday before home games, a group of Longhorns visit children at a local hospital.

Offensive lineman Adam Ulatoski spent time last summer building a house for a less fortunate family through Habitats for Humanity while McCoy went on a mission trip to Peru for the second straight year.

As often as he can, Shipley speaks to various high school groups and church youth groups in and around Austin. Shipley said his faith went to a new level during his first two years at Texas, when injuries kept him off the field.

“It was tough,” Shipley said, “but it allowed me to figure out who I was away from football. I did a lot of soul searching and developed my faith. Now that’s my motivation for every game. I try to use the pedestal I’ve been given to glorify God.”

Indeed, the record books will show an Alabama victory — and deservedly so — but ultimately that doesn’t matter.  These players understand that they are part of a bigger plan and that their faith will have a far greater impact than football championships ever will.

And that’s the best legacy anyone could ever hope to leave.

Hook ‘Em, Horns!

Previously:
We need more Tebows, McCoys, and Bradfords

I’ve been pretty vocal about my dislike of college football’s BCS nonsense.  And of course, I’m not alone.  There are many, many fans begging and pleading for some kind of playoff system, arguing it’s the only way to truly determine a national champion.

U.S. Representative Joe Barton agrees.  Barton, whose district borders TCU’s hometown of Fort Worth, has even gone so far as to compare the Bowl Championship Series to communism.  And nothing gets a Republican congressman more worked up than the threat of communism.  Hence his anti-BCS bill, which has now passed in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, is not the BCS-destroying solution envisioned by millions of college football fans. But if it were to eventually become law, it would turn up the pressure on the BCS by preventing the group from calling its title game a “national championship game” unless it was the result of a playoff system. …

“What our friends and fans need to know about the Bowl Championship Series is that it is not about choosing the champion or competition on the gridiron,” Barton said. “It is about revenue sharing for the schools that are in the BCS conferences.”

In other words, instead of keeping all that revenue within the BCS conferences, we’re supposed to force them by law to give some of it Robin-Hood-style to the poor non-BCS conferences.  Because that’s the American way, I suppose.

No, regardless of how you feel about the BCS, Barton’s bill is not the answer.  Congress needs to stay out of it.  Whatever changes come about need to happen because of pressure from coaches, universities, and the NCAA.  And of course from the fans, since they are what the corporate sponsors (you know, the companies that provide the millions of dollars in payouts to the schools?) really care about.

Not that I’m expecting anything to change.  But we don’t need Congress screwing it up any more than it already is.

As a sidenote, notice that Nebraska Congressman Lee Terry only supported the bill after the Cornhuskers lost the Big 12 title game against Texas.  So is this about correcting a moral injustice or pouting because your team didn’t win?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Previously:
‘Fairness Index’ doesn’t prove the BCS is fair
The BCS: ‘Communistic’ or not?
Yes, the BCS is flawed. What’s your point?

At the beginning of this year’s college football season, I looked ahead at the impending Texas Longhorns schedule and wrote that “it comes down to this: The Horns have to win.  Period.”

Forget the National Championship.  If the Horns want to win the Big 12 South, they have to win all three of those games [Tech, OU, and OSU].  Any misstep there, and the Big 12 tie-breaker rule that bit ‘em in the butt last year could do the same again.

Also, the schedule allows no room for error since the last four games will essentially be givens against weaker non-ranked (or lower-ranked) teams.  In other words, if they fall early to OU or get tripped up in Stillwater, a blowout victory against Central Florida isn’t going to help them; there’s nowhere to go but down. …

The only way Texas can ensure they will end the regular season with a higher BCS ranking than OU is to go undefeated.  And even if they do win the Big 12 with one loss, that single loss will probably be enough to keep them out of the National Championship.  So it really comes down to winning every game, not just the biggest three.  As Yoda says, “Do or do not… there is no try.”

Well, thanks to the Brigham Young defense, which took Sam Bradford out of commission in Game 1, OU was never a huge threat to overtake the Horns in the polls.  And who would’ve guessed the most difficult regular season game would come against the Aggies, a team which barely squeaked into bowl eligibility with a whopping six wins all year?  Unbelievable.

But Texas did win.  Against OU, against A&M, and miraculously against Nebraska to claim the Big 12 Championship.  Now we’ll see if they can win a National Championship against Alabama, a team which is certainly as dangerous as the Horns and at least as inconsistent.

Of course, Colt McCoy and the Longhorns weren’t the only success story this year.  The TCU Horned Frogs also ended the season undefeated and will be facing off against Boise State in their very first BCS bowl.

As a fan of both Texas and TCU, this has been the most exciting college football season I can remember.  In fact, I think for most of the season I was more excited for the Frogs than I was for the Horns.

I know a lot of TCU fans aren’t happy with the outcome, though.  They’ve hoped for a shot at the National Championship all season, and thanks to Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh and Texas’ poor clock management in the final minute of the Big 12 game, they almost got their wish.  Nevertheless, many have said TCU should face off against Florida, Cincinnati, or another BCS team instead of Boise State in order to prove they can run with the big dogs.  I don’t think they have anything to prove.

TCU is a 12-0 team who beat a lot of really good opponents (many on the road) and finished the season ranked 3rd in the polls and 4th in the BCS.  And they’re one of only eight teams playing in a BCS bowl game.  They’ve proved themselves enough as far as I’m concerned.

Besides, Boise State (who is also undefeated) isn’t an easy team to beat.  Just ask OU, who lost to them in the Fiesta Bowl two years ago.  The Broncos will also be looking for payback since losing to the Frogs last year in the Poinsettia Bowl (and seriously, when was the last time the Poinsettia Bowl came up during a discussion of the BCS?).

The regular season is over, and the good guys won.  Now, bring on the bowl games!

Hook ‘Em Horns and Go Frogs!

Previously:
For Longhorns, 2009 is all or nothing

Fort Myers, Florida, columnist and self-identified Lutheran Sam Cook has taken Gators quarterback Tim Tebow to task for openly displaying his Christian faith on and off the field:

Religion – except for the “Hail Mary” pass – has no place in sports.

In Tebow’s case, he should play football and forget about us sinners for 31/2 hours every Saturday.

Somehow, we’ll survive without him displaying a “John 3:16″ Bible verse under his eyes. We separate church and state. Why not church and sports?

Actually, I think we need more athletes like Tebow and Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and OU quarterback Sam Bradford: men and women who not only live out their faith off the field and out of the spotlight but who display it in the public eye as well.

Listen, I’m not a big Florida fan, and the Tebow hype is beyond ridiculous.  But greatly I admire him for standing up for what he believes, even if it’s not always the popular thing to do.

Previously:
What number are you?

First, a quick rant.  Thanks to the Louisiana-Monroe game being on pay-per-view and the Wyoming game being on the Versus network (which was just dropped by DirecTV over a financial dispute), it looks like I’m going to miss the first two Texas football games of the season, which really blows.  I mean, I’ve been jonesing since January for some college football, and now that it’s finally here, I’ve gotta wait two more weeks?  Argh!  It’s killing me!

OK, rant over.  Deep breath.  Serenity now!  Ah, much better.

So last year I tried a season-long experiment in which I played NCAA College Football on the Wii every week, pitting the Longhorns against that week’s opponent to see if the video game score was any indication of the real score.  The answer was that, well, no, it wasn’t too accurate.  So while I had fun playing video games every week, I won’t be repeating the experiment this year.  Sorry to disappoint you.

However, I did want to weigh in with my thoughts about the upcoming season.  Basically, it comes down to this: The Horns have to win.  Period.

Here’s their schedule:

• 9/5: Louisiana-Monroe
• 9/12: at Wyoming
• 9/19: Texas Tech
• 9/26: UT El Paso
• 10/10: Colorado
• 10/17: OU
• 10/24: at Mizzou
• 10/31: at Oklahoma State
• 11/7: Central Florida
• 11/14: at Baylor
• 11/21: Kansas
• 11/26: at Texas A&M

Of those games, the big three are Tech, OU, and OSU.  Forget the National Championship.  If the Horns want to win the Big 12 South, they have to win all three of those games.  Any misstep there, and the Big 12 tie-breaker rule that bit ‘em in the butt last year could do the same again.

Also, the schedule allows no room for error since the last four games will essentially be givens against weaker non-ranked (or lower-ranked) teams.  In other words, if they fall early to OU or get tripped up in Stillwater, a blowout victory against Central Florida isn’t going to help them; there’s nowhere to go but down.

Contrast this with OU’s schedule:

• 9/5: BYU
• 9/12: Idaho State
• 9/19: Tulsa
• 10/3: at Miami
• 10/17: Texas
• 10/24: at Kansas
• 10/31: Kansas State
• 11/7: at Nebraska
• 11/14: Texas A&M
• 11/21: at Texas Tech
• 11/28: Oklahoma State

Not only does OU play tougher non-conference games, they play tough, high-ranked opponents late in the season.  So even if OU falls to Texas at the Cotton Bowl, they have a chance to at least partially redeem themselves over time.

The only way Texas can ensure they will end the regular season with a higher BCS ranking than OU is to go undefeated.  And even if they do win the Big 12 with one loss, that single loss will probably be enough to keep them out of the National Championship.  So it really comes down to winning every game, not just the biggest three.  As Yoda says, “Do or do not… there is no try.”

Now the big question: Can they do it?  In my opinion, yes.  They have all the right ingredients to go all the way, just as they did in 2005.

It should be an exciting year for Longhorn fans.  Even if we won’t be able to witness all of it.

Hook ‘Em Horns!

The cover of the September issue of Texas Monthly proclaims of Texas Tech coach Mike Leach: “This crazy pirate may be the best college football coach in the country.”  They got the “crazy” part right, but I definitely wouldn’t say he’s the best coach in the country.

Granted, he’s very good at what he does, and he deserves a certain amount of recognition for that.  If nothing else, his ability to recruit virtually unknown players and turn them into one of the most dominant passing offenses in the nation is worthy of admiration.

But NCAA records are one thing; results are quite another.  At some point, those billions of passing yards have to translate to meaningful wins, and that’s where Leach has so far come up short.  Sure, they beat Texas last year in what was arguably one of the biggest games in the country, but at the end of the season, all they had to show for it was a shared Big 12 South title and a loss to Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl.  In fact, in the nine seasons Leach has coached at Tech, they’ve never outright won the Big 12 South division or played in a BCS bowl game.

So how does that qualify him as “the best college football coach in the country”?  The fact is, it doesn’t.

But if Leach isn’t the best, then who is?

Well, of course that’s pretty subjective, but popular choices among the experts include:

• Urban Meyer, Florida
• Nick Saban, Alabama
• Pete Carroll, USC
• Bob Stoops, OU
• Mack Brown, Texas
• Jim Tressel, Ohio State
• Les Miles, LSU

There are others, of course, but you’d be hard-pressed to find Leach’s name anywhere on the list.

I’m sure the Pirate of the Panhandle is just fine with that.  He certainly isn’t worried about anyone’s opinion of him, that’s pretty obvious.  But to earn the hyperbole bestowed upon him by the Texas Monthly editors, he’ll have to do more than just beat Texas at home; he’ll have to win national championships.

A lot of them.

Previously:
At least he’ll always have his spiffy visor
Longhorns should root for Tech and Bama to win out

When comparing Texas and California, this cartoon from The Economist tells you everything you need to know:

Never mind the Economist’s statement that they are the “nation’s two biggest states” (I think Alaska might have something to say about that) or that the Dallas-Fort Worth area is made up of “flat, ugly countryside” (OK, that might not be too far off).  The fact remains that CAHL-EE-FOR-NEE-A is old and busted, while the Lone Star State is the new hotness.

These days California’s unemployment rate is running at 11.5%, two points ahead of the national average. In such Californian cities as Fresno, Merced and El Centro, jobless rates are higher than in Detroit. Its roads and schools are crumbling. Every year, over 100,000 more Americans leave the state than enter it.

The second worry has to do with dysfunctional government. No state has quite so many overlapping systems of accountability or such a gerrymandered legislature. Ballot initiatives, the crack cocaine of democracy, have left only around a quarter of its budget within the power of its representative politicians. (One reason budget cuts are inevitable is that voters rejected tax increases in a package of ballot measures in May.) Not that Californian government comes cheap: it has the second-highest top level of state income tax in America (after Hawaii, of all places). Indeed, high taxes, coupled with intrusive regulation of business and greenery taken to silly extremes, have gradually strangled what was once America’s most dynamic state economy. Chief Executive magazine, to take just one example, has ranked California the very worst state to do business in for each of the past four years.

By contrast, Texas was the best state in that poll. It has coped well with the recession, with an unemployment rate two points below the national average and one of the lowest rates of housing repossession. In part this is because Texan banks, hard hit in the last property bust, did not overexpand this time. But as our special report this week explains, Texas also clearly offers a different model, based on small government. It has no state capital-gains or income tax, and a business-friendly and immigrant-tolerant attitude. It is home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other state—64 compared with California’s 51 and New York’s 56.

(Emphasis mine.)

The article goes on to point out Texas’ weaknesses (education, immigration) and says that we can learn a lot from the “inventive” Golden State.  Sounds like the only thing they’ve “invented”, however, is big government with excessive taxation and regulation.  Thanks, but no thanks.  I think I’ll stick with the state where the inventions come from the private sector.

Oh, and one other thing:

Previously:
Chuck Norris for President of Texas

What a sweet, sweet ending to the 2008 college football season.  After a first half marred by interceptions, penalties, and defective play clocks, the Florida Gators emerged victorious over the Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS National Championship game last night.  For the Sooners, it’s their fifth straight BCS bowl game loss and their third national championship loss under head coach “Big Game Bob” Stoops and his dandy white visor.

OU’s loss dropped them to No. 6 in the final AP poll behind No. 5 Texas and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Gators were playing the wrong Big 12 team for the national title.

While the BCS system is still broken and will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future, however, at least undefeated Utah ended up in the No. 2 spot in the AP poll (although they still finished behind USC and Texas in the USA Today poll).  I guess that’s as close to justice as anyone can expect in this day and age.

So now officially the season is done and the long drought begins before the next collegiate kickoff.  Thanks to a returning Colt McCoy, Jordan Shipley, and a host of extraordinarily talented younger players, Texas is well-positioned to make another run for the championship in 2009.

I can’t wait.

I wondered at the beginning of this year’s college football season how accurate EA Sports’ NCAA College Football 09 for the Wii was at predicting the outcomes of the real games.  Each week, I played the game as the University of Texas versus their scheduled opponent for the week and then compared that score to the real score.

A few of the Wii scores were fairly close to the actual ones (Florida Atlantic, Rice, Texas A&M) while others were way off (Arkansas, Missouri, Baylor), margins of error probably not too different than what you’d get from ESPN and other “expert” prognosticators.

Which brings us to the final Texas game of the season, the Fiesta Bowl.  It’s been yet another wacky season thanks to the BCS computers, biased voters, and controversial Big 12 tie-breaking rules.  Heck, it even involved competing fleets of airplanes over Austin and Norman as the Red River rivals taunted each other by air.

But while Florida and OU are busy trying to justify why each of their 1-loss teams are more deserving of the National Championship than undefeated Utah, the Longhorns are happy to settle the score with the Ohio State Buckeyes.  UT and OSU have met twice before, in 2005 and 2006.  The Horns won the first with Vince Young on their way to a National Championship, then lost the second with Colt McCoy — that game only being Colt’s second game of his college career.

A lot has changed since 2006, however.  Colt is now a Heisman runner-up, and the Horns are a dropped pass and missed tackle away from a perfect season.  Ohio State, meanwhile, has two losses for the season, both to teams who squared off against each other in the Rose Bowl.  Texas had one of the toughest schedules in the nation, while the highest ranked opponent beaten by Ohio State was No. 18 Wisconsin, and even that was only a 3-point victory.  (It should also be noted that Wisconsin went on to get thumped by Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl.)

Now some might argue that a team’s regular season schedule isn’t always an indicator of how well they’ll do in the bowl game, and that’s true (just ask Alabama).  So how well have Texas and Ohio State fared in recent bowls?  Well, the Buckeyes have been to the National Championship game the last two years, but they lost both times.  Texas, on the other hand, has won its last four consecutive bowl games, two of which have been against Big 10 teams.

And this year should make it number five, with Texas beating the Buckeyes 20 to 7, according to the Wii.

As always, I’ll update the blog after the game with the real score.

And as always, Hook ‘Em, Horns!

Real Score: 24-21.

Wow, what an incredible game!  Frustrating, of course, for most of the game, but the final two minutes made up for it.  It was very fitting that the final touchdown was made by Quan Cosby, who, like Vince Young, can say the final play of his college football career was a game-winning touchdown made in the final moments of a BCS game.  Coupled with Brian Orakpo’s sack seconds later, you couldn’t have asked for a more fitting ending to the season.

The Longhorns finish the season 12-1, and while they likely won’t end up as national champions, they have nothing to feel bad about.  Keep in mind that most people looked at their schedule this year and expected them to finish the regular season 9-3 or 8-4, maybe 10-2 if they were lucky.  Yet, they were nearly flawless.

I just want to say I’ve had a lot of fun this season doing these prediction posts.  If anything, it’s given me an excuse to play video games once a week.  Maybe, I’ll do it again next season just for grins.

Of course, right now that seems like an eternity away.

Texas coach Mack Brown wasn’t happy.  Because of an odd tiebreaker rule in the Big 12 Conference, OU will play Missouri for the Big 12 Championship with a shot at the National Title game should they beat the Tigers.  The Longhorns, meanwhile, finish behind OU even though the Sooners lost to the Horns in October and will likely end up in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State.

That, apparently, isn’t a good enough consolation prize for Mack:

I’m really disappointed for our kids that two teams we beat this season will be playing for the Big 12 Championship. I’ll try to explain it to them, but most importantly, my message will be that you’ve done enough to put yourself in position to play for the conference championship, you had a great season and there still is a lot out there for you to play for. …

Since this situation has never happened before in the Big 12, I think the conference should follow the lead of all of the other BCS leagues with championship games (ACC/Conference USA/Mid-American/SEC) in how they settle three-way ties. I think their systems are fairer and give more credit to how the two highest ranked teams performed against each other on the field.

I have to wonder, though: Would Mack and all the other angry Longhorn fans feel the same way if they had come out on top?

It seems like this same argument comes up every year about how flawed the BCS system is and why a playoff system is necessary.  Maybe it is flawed, and maybe playoffs would be a better alternative.  But so what?

Anyone who thinks for a minute that the BCS is about determining the best college football team in the country is kidding themselves.  If it were, then why would a 9-3 Missouri team ranked No. 20 have more of a shot at a BCS bowl than undefeated Boise State who’s ranked No. 9?  Why would a 3-loss Boston College team ranked No. 17 have a shot when 1-loss Texas Tech (No. 7) will probably have to settle for the Cotton Bowl?

No, the BCS is about making money.  That’s it.  That’s why some conferences such as the Big 12 and SEC get automatic berths while others, such as the Mountain West, do not.

Hey, Frito-Lay paid good money to put their Tostitos brand on the Fiesta Bowl.  They expect to get their money’s worth.  FedEx has a vested interest in how many viewers tune in for the Orange Bowl.  The cities that host the BCS bowls (Glendale, New Orleans, Pasadena, and Miami Gardens), have a vested interest in how many tickets they can sell and how much money the spectators spend while they’re there.

Teams also have a vested interest.  Just for playing in a BCS bowl, a school stands to earn about $17.5 million, and many coaches’ contracts provide for extra bonuses for making to and winning a BCS bowl.

Meanwhile, non-BCS bowls, because they’re not as lucrative, end up getting a bad rap.  From Texas Monthly:

Last season, teams that would have otherwise accepted invitations to the Cotton (SEC runner-up Georgia) and the blue-turf Humanitarian (WAC champ Hawaii) earned a lucrative promotion to the Sugar Bowl. As part of the resulting lineup shuffle, 6-6 Alabama played 6-6 Colorado in the “Who Cares?” Independence Bowl—except that the Crimson Tide’s 30-24 win over the Buffs made for better viewing than the Bulldogs’ 41-10 blowout of the Warriors. One year before that, the Fiesta Bowl gave us Oklahoma-Boise State, an all-time classic. But that same season the Sun (Oregon State beat Missouri 39-38 by going for 2 points at the end of the fourth quarter) and the Alamo (Texas overcame a 14-0 hole to hold off Iowa 26-24) bowls were just as entertaining.

Do Texas fans have a legitimate argument that they deserve to be ranked higher than OU based on the head-to-head matchup?  Sure.  But it didn’t work out that way.  Not this year.

Instead, Texas ended up ranked No. 3 in the nation at the end of the regular season with only a single loss (which came in the final seconds of the game).  Their quarterback broke a string of school records and is a finalist for the Heisman.  They beat both OU and A&M.  And they will likely play in a BCS bowl against Ohio State (a game I, for one, am looking forward to).  They even still have a slight (albeit unlikely) chance at playing for the National Title if OU loses to Missouri.

So tell me, how is it that Mack Brown is disappointed?

The BCS isn’t fair sometimes, just like life isn’t fair.  But as long as the money keeps rolling in, that’s the system we have to deal with in college football.

Like it or not.