The Big 12 South Winner Should Be....

After finishing the regular season, the Big 12 South has 3 teams tied at 11-1: Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. The fifth tiebreaker, whoever is ranked highest in the BCS Standings, will be used to determine the winner. Lets compare the 3 teams:

- Texas beat Oklahoma by 10 points on a neutral field.
- Oklahoma beat Texas Tech by 45 points at home
- Texas Tech beat Texas by 6 at home

Due to Texas Tech's loss by 45 points, they aren't going to be ranked high enough in the BCS standings to win the division. They also played 2 1-AA teams in the non-conference schedule and that will hurt their computer ranking. So it is going to come down to Texas and Oklahoma. Texas conveniently wants to just shout that they beat Oklahoma, thus they should be the winner. Well, it is a 3 way tie, not 2. So that argument doesn't work. How can we judge these teams without using head-to-head. The easiest way is to look at 3 factors:

1. Non-Conference Schedule
Texas played Florida Atlantic, at UTEP, Rice, and Arkansas. No ranked teams, nothing to take note of. Oklahoma played Chattanooga, Cincinnati (Big East winner and BCS Bound), at Washington, and TCU (currently ranked 14th in BCS and most likely higher later this afternoon). Advantage: Oklahoma by a long shot.

2. Point Differential in Big 12 Games against Common Opponents
These teams shared 5 common opponents in the Big 12 this year: Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Kansas. Oklahoma outscored these 5 teams by 148 points. Texas outscored them by 90. Advantage: Oklahoma.

3. Road Wins of Note
Texas went 3-1 in road games beating UTEP, Colorado, and Kansas on the road (lost to Texas Tech). Oklahoma went 5-0 in road games beating Washington, Baylor, Kansas State, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State by far is the best road win of any team in the Big 12. Advantage: Oklahoma.

Using these 3 factors (can't use head-to-head because of a 3 way tie) Oklahoma is clearly the team that should represent the Big 12 South next weekend in Kansas City. Sorry Texas. Sorry Texas Tech. Oklahoma moves on.