OU’s BCS bowl hopes could be Flash dashed

Sports

Related Photos

Dave Ruthenberg..THE DEEP END..

Discussion

November 28, 2012

OU’s BCS bowl hopes could be Flash dashed

By Dave Ruthenberg, Sports Editor Enid News and Eagle The Enid News and Eagle Wed Nov 28, 2012, 11:11 PM CST

The wailing, moaning and crying that may be coming out of Norman could reach deafening levels before the Sooners play their regular season finale at TCU on Saturday. Why? Even with a win, OU could very well be shut out of a BCS bowl game ... by Kent State.

A good portion of the No. 11 Sooners’ postseason fate rests in Detroit on Friday night in the Mid-American Conference championship game between No. 17 Kent State (11-1) and No. 21 Northern Illinois (11-1).

A Golden Flashes win, and a move up in the polls to at least No. 16, would likely take a second BCS bowl away from the Big 12, which means the Sooners, who would have otherwise been projected to play in a BCS bowl if they and No. 6 Kansas State (which plays No. 18 Texas) both win Saturday, will be tuning into the MAC title game with a rooting interest in Northern Illinois.

Coupled with a loss by No. 16 UCLA to No. 8 Stanford in the Pac-12 title game Friday, a Kent State victory could, no make that should, propel the Golden Flashes into a BCS bowl.

Such a scenario also would mean the Flashes overcame a system designed to keep party crashers like them from intruding on the BCS’ annual private soiree.

The steps a school from a non-Automatic Qualifying (non-AQ) conference has to negotiate to reach a BCS bowl berth are more complex than determining a legitimate list of registered voters in the city of Chicago.

To reach a BCS bowl, Kent State, or for that matter any non-AQ team, must be ranked No. 16 or higher in the final BCS standings; ranked higher than a champion of a BCS conference (in this case that would be the Big East, which has unranked Louisville and unranked Rutgers battling it out for their conference title tonight) and ranked higher than all other non-AQ schools.

That’s a cozy little setup.

But if Kent State upsets Northern Illinois (the Huskies are a 4-point favorite) and Stanford defeats UCLA, the Golden Flashes, barring any Chicago-like voting chicanery in the polls, should be no lower than No. 16 and on their way to a BCS bowl at OU’s expense, likely either the Sugar Bowl or Orange Bowl.

Northern Illinois certainly deserves a shot as well, but may be too far down the rankings at No. 21 to make the jump to No. 16. The Huskies’ only setback was an opening-season 18-17 road loss to Iowa. And their quarterback, Jordan Lynch, has numbers that would make the top Heisman contenders jealous.

Meanwhile, Kent State — the school that gave OU head coach Bob Stoops his first collegiate assistant coaching gig — is going to its first bowl game since 1972.

These Flashes are for real and possess a top offensive threat of their own in Dri Archer, who is fifth in the nation with 197 all-purpose yards per game.

Of course, an OU win and a Kansas State loss would render moot any OU hand-wringing as the Sooners would claim the Big 12’s automatic BCS bid.

Meanwhile, the MAC, coming off its most successful regular-season ever, is likely to draw its best TV numbers for its conference title tilt as Sooner nation tunes in to see if its BCS hopes are dashed in a Motor City Golden Flash.

Perhaps the Sooners and the BCS should acquaint themselves with the phrase “hoisted on one’s own petard.”

Ruthenberg is sports editor at the News & Eagle. Contact him at daver@enidnews.com.쇓

Text Only

Sports

NJCAA schedule of games
World Series activities began Friday and extend through next week at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.

May 25, 2013 1 Photo
Kansas beats Cowboys
May 25, 2013
Madison's Barsness likes playing in Enid
May 24, 2013 1 Photo
Sooners zero in on Big 12
Oklahoma has made a complete turnaround in the last two days. The squad that looked dominant early in the season has re-emerged at the Big 12 tournament. The Sooners (38-19) rolled to their second straight tournament victory, thumping Texas Tech (25-30), 8-0, Friday, and improving to 2-0 in the event.
After three weeks of struggling, the team OU thought it would be surfaced. The mix of premier pitching and timely hitting was overwhelming to Baylor on Thursday and Texas Tech on Friday.
More importantly, the victories set up the Sooners’ meeting with Kansas State, which topped Baylor 13-9 Friday, at 12:30 p.m. today. The winner advances to Sunday’s championship game.

May 24, 2013 1 Photo
Ricketts, Sooners rout A&M
Keilani Ricketts beat Texas A&M with both her arm and bat Friday as No. 1-ranked Oklahoma moved to within one win of reaching the Women’s College Softball World Series by run-ruling the Aggies 10-2 at Marita Hynes Field Friday.
The Sooners (51-4) can punch their ticket to the Series by beating the Aggies at 11 a.m. today. The game can be seen on ESPN. If A&M wins, a second championship game will follow

May 24, 2013 1 Photo
Claborn pleased with WHS progress
The Deer Creek-Lamont team camp has given Waukomis football coach Jon Claborn an idea of how much his team has progressed over the past year.
A newly hired Claborn a year ago took his team to the DCLA camp with three days of spring football behind them.
“We’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year,’’ Claborn said. “We have looked really good ... we’re a year older, stronger, and hopefully, a year smarter.’’
The DCLA camp has offered the Chiefs good competition with teams such as defending Class B state runner-up Pond Creek-Hunter, Coyle and the host Eagles among the participants.

May 24, 2013
Travelers beat Majors in tournament opener
May 24, 2013
Sports briefs for 5-25-13
May 24, 2013
Radio-TV for 5-25-13
May 24, 2013
TCU rally beats OSU
May 24, 2013
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

OU’s BCS bowl hopes could be Flash dashed

Site Map

Contact Us