Longhorns' Red River Upset Keeps Big XII Wacky

Maybe our priorities are screwed up.

On one hand, we've got the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Ohio State Buckeyes, running roughshod over their conferences with maybe two or three competitive games and the slight chance of an upset.

On the other, we've got the Big XII, when all hell breaks loose from a season's start to its finish.

Really, which one is more watchable?

 

The Big XII joins the Pac-12 as the conference most likely to have its large swath of mid-standings teams rise up in their nine-game league schedule and bite a favorite or, at the very least, exact a physical toll which can come back to haunt them later.

Not only that, but it levels the odds of the champion emerging with two losses.

 

Why is that such a bad thing? Other than the mess, of course.

Oklahoma rode into the Cotton Bowl as the Big XII's great crimson-&-cream hope of making the CFP's anointed four, but apparenly only if it runs the table.

The Texas Longhorns just put paid to that notion with a last-play, long-range field goal to nick a 48-45 shootout:

 

Sifting through the carnage, it's not hard to see the tatters of Sooner DC Mike Stoops' career in Norman.

Now, it appears the mantel of Big XII playoff hopefull falls to West Virginia. That's a crapshoot, at best.

 

Right.

Combined with Notre Dame's victory at Virginia Tech -- and keeping in mind it's still early -- the CFP's sordid past indicates there's now only one playoff spot left for either the Big XII, Pac-12, or ACC champ.

Clemson's gonna be a favorite for the rest of its schedule, so that's all down to who's getting shocked and when.

 

But hell, the Sooners and everyone else are gonna play out their season, anyway.

Sometimes, the journey actually is more enjoyable than the destination.