40 Acres Sports

Kelvin Sampson is still cheating, still making illegal phone calls. I guess he can’t kick the habit.

There’s a bit of confusion over the issue but it appears that Texas will win the Big 12 South if [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] falls to in-state rival Oklahoma State this Saturday. Even if the Longhorns lose to the Aggies on T+1 the three-way tiebreaker rules in the Big 12 seem to indicate that Texas would represent the south if the Horns, Sooners, and Cowboys all end conference play with identical records. Or at least that’s one interpretation.

Here’s the confusing explanation from the Statesman:

1. The records of the three teams will be compared against each other. (If Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are tied with 5-3 records, this tiebreaker would not decide things. The teams would all be 1-1 against each other.)

2. The records of the three teams will be compared within their division. (Again, no decision here. All three would be 3-2 in the division.)

3. The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish — 4, 5 and 6. (Now it gets confusing, because at this point Texas Tech and Texas A&M would be tied for fourth in the South with 4-4 records. Big 12 officials say that they won’t implement a tiebreaker at this point to decide who’s fourth (if they did, Tech would be considered fourth, and Oklahoma ultimately would be eliminated from the championship game mix). Instead, that fourth-place tie would mean that this criteria wouldn’t settle anything.)

4. The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents. (Again, this doesn’t settle anything.)

5. The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big 12 regular-season (intra-) conference play shall be the representative. (This, then, should settle it, but it’s up to the human voters and the BCS computers, which will produce new standings when all the dust has settled next Sunday.)

6. The team with the best overall winning percentage shall be the representative.

7. The representative will be chosen by draw.

Every explanation I’ve seen other than this one has Texas winning the thing because of the 4th tiebreaker. I’m not sure why you would ignore the other tiebreakers when calculating this one. If there’s a tie for fourth place it seems to be common sense that you would break that one before figuring out who wins the division. If that tiebreaker doesn’t fall Texas’ way I think OU wins the thing because they likely have the highest BCS ranking if both teams lose.

Of course all this is a moot point if the Longhorns win against the Aggies on Friday. With a win the only possible outcomes would be a two-way tie which favors the Sooners or with an OU loss Texas would win the South outright. The Horns need to take care of business on the field and let us dorks figure the rest of this out.

Oklahoma 27, Texas Tech 34.

Because of the Oklahoma loss the Horns are still in the hunt for the Big 12 crown and the Sooners are knocked out of the national title discussion. Not that the team needed it, but now the team has a little something extra to play for next Friday against the Aggies.

Go Raiders!!! (Your quarterback is still a punk and your coach is still whiny and wrong. And your fans suck too.)

Ross the Intern (Jay Leno) goes to the Red River Shootout. Not super funny but decent to see some video from around the game and State Fair.

Red River Rivalry and State Fair photos from the Wiz. I can’t believe I had to give up my tickets and work through the game

It’s never easy to lose to [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] but the Horns played their best game of the season and gave some hope that the all is not lost. ESPN’s highlights are below:

Tough loss to stomach made even tougher when USC and other top teams fell Saturday. Texas is clearly down this season but if they could have found a way to eek out a win against the Sooners they would have been right in the thick of things. Now with two Big 12 losses the Horns can’t afford to lose another game this year if they have any hopes of a conference title or major bowl appearance.

ESPN talks about Gut Check Saturday including the two young quarterbacks that will face off in Red River Rivalry.

Does Texas need to find a mean streak to beat Oklahoma? Definitely need to find some way to focus and find more consistency.

Oklahoma commit Herman Mitchell tragically murdered. Teammates learned of his death on way to scrimmage.

As if living in the state of Oklahoma wasn’t bad enough, you now have to wear protective undergarments if you want to go out at night wearing burnt orange.

Allen Michael Beckett of Oklahoma City grabbed on and wouldn’t let go of another man’s junk in a bar just because he was wearing a Texas shirt. Beckett held on long enough to tear Brian Thomas’ scrotum. He has been charged with felony assault over the incident.

Check out more on the story below from NewsOK:

Thomas said Beckett, whom he had never met, called him “everything under the sun” for wearing a Longhorns T-shirt into the bar. He said he and his friend sat at a table in the corner and tried to ignore the other man, but other man — who apparently is a University of [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] fan — kept screaming at him.

Thomas said he decided he’d had enough after about 20 minutes of Beckett’s abuse so he went to the bar to pay his tab. When he turned around, he said Beckett grabbed his crotch and refused to let go.

Thomas hit the other man several times before several bar patrons intervened, but Thomas said Beckett didn’t let go until Thomas heard his scrotum tear and blood ran down his leg. Thomas, who grew up a Texas fan, said it took more than 60 stitches to close his wound.

There may be more to come on this story but for now the only conclusion to come to is that people from Oklahoma are insane and like to grab other guys’ balls. At least Aggies keep their hands to themselves and only squeeze their own. This whole story is nuts.