Texas still feeling effects from loss to Texas Tech

Dec 1, 2008 - 7:03 PM By Jim Ralabate PA SportsTicker College Football Editor

Texas lost its chance to compete for the Big 12 championship - and possibly the national title - because of mere percentage points in the BCS standings.

In reality, the Longhorns were the victims of two unfortunate plays on a fateful night in Lubbock that ultimately has determined the ending of their outstanding but unfulfilled season.

The BCS, as expected, dropped the hammer on the Longhorns (11-1) by placing them third in its latest rankings - exactly .0128 points behind second-ranked Oklahoma (11-1).

By virtue of their higher BCS ranking, the Sooners have won the Big 12 South Division and will play in next weekend's conference championship game - with a ticket to the national title game essentially on the line.

Texas fans and BCS bashers inevitably have complained about the inherent injustice in the Big 12's tiebreaker system. They have pointed out the fact that the Longhorns beat the Sooners, 45-35, on a neutral site in this year's only head-to-head matchup between the rivals.

But the bottom line is that the Longhorns could have avoided this entire mess if not for those two pivotal plays in the final seconds of their 39-33 loss to Texas Tech on November 1.

Clinging to a perfect record and holding the No. 1 ranking, Texas had erased a 19-point deficit to take a 33-32 lead thanks to all-everything quarterback Colt McCoy, who orchestrated an 11-play drive to put the Longhorns in front with less than two minutes remaining.

Graham Harrell and the Red Raiders desperately drove the ball to Texas' 28-yard line on the following drive. But the Longhorns had a chance to end the game when Harrell's pass with 15 seconds remaining was deflected toward a host of Texas defenders.

And that was when Texas' season took a turn for the worse.

Harrell's batted pass helicoptered directly into the arms of freshman safety Blake Gideon, who dropped what would have been the game-sealing interception.

Gideon's disastrous drop breathed new life into Harrell, who delivered the signature moment of college football's regular season on the following play.

Given plenty of room in the pocket, Harrell fired a pass toward the right sideline to All-American wideout Michael Crabtree, who was double-covered and could have scampered out of bounds with time remaining to set up a potential game-winning field goal.

But Crabtree sent a dagger through Texas' heart when he evaded freshman safety Earl Thomas, shook off a tackle from sophomore Curtis Brown and tip-toed into the end zone.

If any one of those inexperienced defensive backs - Gideon, Thomas or Brown - had simply made a play in the waning seconds that night, Texas probably would be boasting a perfect record and a top-two BCS ranking right now.

Instead, the Longhorns will agonize in front of their TV sets this upcoming weekend when Oklahoma and Missouri - two teams they defeated by double digits this season - will compete for the Big 12 crown.

"I'm really disappointed for our kids that two teams we beat this season will be playing for the Big 12 championship," Texas coach Mack Brown said Sunday, just hours after receiving the bad news from the BCS.

"Today was a really tough day, waiting around to find out we didn't make the Big 12 championship game," McCoy added. "That was very disappointing because we had finished the season so strong and done so well against the two teams that are playing in the game."

The Longhorns certainly have reasons to gripe about the way the Big 12 broke down. But they are saying all the right things in the wake of Sunday's BCS announcement.

"We're going to let this go," wide receiver Quan Cosby said. "One of our goals was the Big 12 title, but we slipped up in the process. Now we have to overcome it, come closer as a family and play as a family in our bowl game."

"There is a lot left out there to play for and crazy things happen all the time in college football," McCoy said. "So who knows where we'll end up?"

The Longhorns likely will not end up in Miami for the BCS title game.

And Brown knew his team was headed toward that disappointing conclusion after their last-second loss in Lubbock.

"Going into the last couple of weeks, we knew that a good team was going to be left out of the Big 12 championship," the Longhorns' longtime coach said. "Unfortunately, in this situation, it was us."