ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Here are some of the e-mails and correspondence I received this week.

Joe from Dallas writes: I'd be interested in your take on the B12 tie-breaker rules. If you compare the other FBS conferences with a conference championship game, most use the FBS to eliminate one team out of a three-way tie (assuming the second place team is within five spots of the leading conference BCS team). Should that happen, it always goes to head-to-head. Basically, in every other conference it reverts back (in some way) to eliminating one of the three and then going head-to-head. The Big 12 tries to do the same in every other scenario until the BCS standings are used. In essence, Oklahoma would be have to hope for an Aggie upset in every other conference but this one in order to get to the Big 12 championship game.

My question is, why is the media not making this point or even discussing this?

Tim Griffin: Joe, I have mentioned it in a couple of previous blog items. And I think you raise an interesting point. I would be in favor of using the BCS as an eliminator in a three-team tie and then having the top two teams determine who advances on head-to-head, if applicable. I think what it does is provide a little more incentive and bearing to head-to-head games.

And it wouldn't be surprising to me to see conference officials and member institutions more interested in talking about a rules change next spring at their annual meetings. All they need to do is get bitten once and it usually convinces them to make a rules change.

Chris from St. Louis writes: Tim, it looks as if the big 12 in the BCS will have an opportunity to either make a statement or turn into the Big 10 once the bowls begin. With Oregon State winning last week, it's looking like the two Big 12 teams in the BCS will be playing USC and Florida, the teams that most people consider to be the best in the country. How do you think that Texas and Oklahoma match up?

Tim Griffin: I think you are right about the potential opponents. And I think that Texas and Oklahoma both stack up well against any opponent in the country. Both opposing teams have the kind of firepower that could give both Texas and Oklahoma problems. But I also think that the Longhorns and Sooners have offenses that could return the favor. I would think that those four teams -- or if you want to throw Alabama in there for argument -- would all stage competitive games.

One X-factor has been Mack Brown's success in BCS games (2-0 with a national championship) and Bob Stoops' recent BCS struggles with four-straight losses in BCS games. I think it will make Brown's team a formidable opponent for any school in a bowl game and also make Oklahoma hungrier than it might normally be for a bowl game because of its recent lack of BCS success.

Blaine Brady from Frisco, Texas, writes: Tim, first of all I really enjoy your blog and read it all the time. I'm an Oklahoma State grad and excited about this weekend's game in Stillwater. However, my question is about OSU's current bowl projection. The Cowboys are picked to lose and finish with a respectable 9-3 record. Everybody seems to think they'll be in the Alamo Bowl. Now even if there are no upsets in the final week could you explain to me why a four-loss, unranked Nebraska or will be three-loss Missouri that OSU beat in Columbia would get a better bowl bid to the Gator Bowl or Holiday Bowl. I do understand Nebraska has history but this is a 'what have you done for me lately' sport and not what these teams did back when the starting quarterback was in diapers? Why is OSU going to get snubbed by two lesser North teams?

Tim Griffin: There's no question that Nebraska has a richer football history than Oklahoma State and that Missouri has star power that might be missing from the Cowboys, despite OSU's victory head-to-head. But I'm hearing that the Cowboys or Missouri could end up in either the Holiday or the Alamo Bowl. And Oklahoma State's reputation for traveling could give it a nod over the Tigers. Even in a far-off locale like San Diego, the numbers that the Cowboys have brought to other bowls will be important. It still has to shake out this week, but I wouldn't worry yet.

And trust me -- the Alamo Bowl is a good trip. Given a choice of San Antonio or Jacksonville, it would be a very easy choice for me. And not just because I live in the Alamo City.

Carolyn from Houston writes: In light of how difficult it is to win on the road in the Big 12, as evidenced by Tech's embarrassing loss in Norman last week, is it really fair that both Oklahoma and Texas will never play four 'pure' away games like all of the other schools? The Red River Rivalry was created when the schools were in opposing conferences - now, that they are in the same conference (and same division, for that matter), shouldn't they be forced to compete at each other's home stadium? Do you think that this year's Longhorns could win in Norman where Stoops is now 60-2? Has this argument about dissolving the neutral field between OU and UT ever been broached? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Tim Griffin: You bring up an interesting point. I don't expect to see Texas-Oklahoma, or Oklahoma-Texas depending on which side of the Red River you lean toward, to be moving anytime soon. It's too much of a classic game and it is too important for the State Fair of Texas to let go. But it does provide an advantage for both Texas and Oklahoma over a two-year period in that neither ever has to face the supreme challenge of traveling to the other's home stadium like the rest of the conference.

Oklahoma's home-field advantage is the most pronounced in the conference with Bob Stoops' 60-2 record and Texas isn't far behind. It would be interesting to see what would happen if those teams had to travel to the rival's stadium like every other team in the league.

It might happen one of these years as Oklahoma and Texas are both adding seats to their stadiums and making more money at home than they could ever imagine by keeping the game in Dallas. But after talking with Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione over the years, I see neither of them wanting to consider moving to a home-and-home matchup at this point.

Jeff from San Antonio writes: What's up with those sportswriters and pollsters who have pushed Oklahoma ahead of Texas in the polls. Didn't they see with their own eyes that Texas thoroughly spanked Oklahoma in Dallas last month? Doesn't that account for something?

Also, I'm curious what your philosophy is on ranking teams and how you think those two teams would fare if they played again. Don't you think that the 'Horns would smoke them one more time?

Tim Griffin: I've talked to many pollsters over the years and everybody seems to have a different idea. I tend to think many pollsters do take head-to-head results into account, but not necessarily as much as games played later in the season. That was always my philosophy during my seven years of voting for the AP football poll and 10 years I voted on the basketball poll. And I use the same criteria today.

And I'm not quite so sure that Texas would be as effective against Oklahoma in a rematch. For one, I'm betting that Bob Stoops is squib-kicking rather than chancing a return with Jordan Shipley. I think the addition of Austin Box at middle linebacker has firmed up Oklahoma's defense. And Travis Lewis is playing like a beast at outside linebacker.

Texas has a great team this season. They came one second from accomplishing something that no team had done in recent memory with four consecutive victories over top-12 teams. But
I'm betting it would be hard for them to beat Oklahoma in a rematch game -- much like it would be for Texas Tech to beat the Longhorns again in the same scenario. It's just very difficult to be able to beat a team twice in college football.

Judd from Wichita writes: Tim, first of all, I want to say that I think you are one of the best writers in the region. After the 2006 season, I believe you wrote an article where you ranked the Big 12 coaches and you ranked Ron Prince #11 behind coaches he beat, such as Mike Gundy, Dan Hawkins, and Mack Brown, and even behind Mark Mangino, who had at the time had a career losing record and had failed to make a bowl the year before. You even had Gene Chizik ahead of Prince, even though he never coached. The next year, I believe you ranked Prince dead last. Some reporters have complained that Prince wasn't given a fair chance at KSU, considering he had received a contract extension only a few months before. My question is was Kansas State's timing bad and do you feel they did the right thing?

Tim Griffin: I did rank Prince that lowly, although I thought he did some good things with the Wildcats. I was always impressed by how hard his teams played and the big things he was able to get his special teams to do.

But I was also a little dubious about the improvement that Josh Freeman had made when he was at KSU. I know he worked with several offensive coordinators. And he always played Texas like he was the second coming of Johnny Unitas. But Freeman couldn't duplicate those games very often.

And Prince had to struggle with a giant rebuilding job, chancing his future on the heaviest influx of junior college transfers in the league's history. It didn't work as we saw this season.
I would have liked to have seen him receive one more year to turn things around. It's hard to change the culture in three seasons, particularly considering that Prince was following a legendary figure like Bill Snyder. It will be interesting to see how Snyder fares as he tries to return the Wildcats back to prominence in the Big 12 North. I don't think it will be an easy task, but Snyder is the master of football reclamation projects. We'll see if he still has the fire in his belly at the age of 69 to do it again.

Steve from Memphis writes: Tim, I'm a former resident of Kansas City and Austin earlier in my life and find you give as true a picture about the Big 12 as anywhere I've seen.

My question is, what are you thankful for this week in Thanksgiving and what are your weekend plans?

Tim Griffin: Thanks for the compliment. I'm thankful this week that my wife and son are willing to let me devote the time to try and cover the Big 12 in the best fashion I can. Sometimes I wish I had 28 hours in the day to get to everything I'd like to have finished. And it's still not enough at times.

My weekend plans will be consisting of football and more football. I'll start in Austin on Thursday and finish up with the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Saturday night. And the really fun stuff might start Sunday afternoon when the BCS standings are released.

I can't wait.

I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy all of the great football games this weekend and have an extra piece of pumpkin pie for me.