The South that roared
The Bowl Championshp Series rules are plainer than the west Texas landscape: "No more than two teams from a conference may be selected."

Forget conference. What about division? Four of the top nine teams in this week’s BCS standings all reside in the Big 12 South: No. 1 Texas, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas Tech and No. 9 Oklahoma State. And there is an excellent chance that between now and the Big 12 Championship game on Dec. 6, the only losses this powerhouse quartet accrue will be to one another.

Imagine this: Texas Tech beats Texas this coming Saturday, then beats visiting Oklahoma State the following week. An undefeated, 10-0 Red Raider team that leads the nation in scoring offense and has two wins versus top ten opponents may just ascend to the top of the polls. That is, before Mike Leach's pirate crew heads to Norman on Nov. 22.

Now imagine that Oklahoma wins out (including a victory against Texas Tech that day) as does Texas, after a loss this weekend. That would give the Big 12 South a trio of 11-1 teams, all of whom at some point this season had been ranked No. 1 in the nation. And yet one of them would fail to garner one of the 10 BCS bowl invitations.

And that’s before we even consider the horror of Kansas or Missouri pulling off an upset in the Big 12 title game and earning an automatic berth. The forecast for tornado alley: High winds from furious fans in either Lubbock, Norman or Stillwater.

The game you didn't see
Tulsa, given a prime-time stage upon which to impress voters last Sunday night, nearly choked at home against Central Florida. The Golden Hurricane actually trailed 19-14 at halftime before scoring 35 unanswered points in the second half.

The victory preserved Tulsa’s perfect record and kept alive its slim hopes for a BCS berth as Todd Graham prepares to lead his team to Fayetteville this weekend to face Arkansas. The Razorbacks will be Tulsa’s only BCS opponent this season, but this was a last-minute pairing.

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The Golden Hurricane were originally scheduled to visit Texas Tech to open both schools' seasons on Aug. 30, a game that would have pitted the nation’s two most unabashedly potent passing teams. However, Tulsa opted to exercise its buyout clause last January.

Heisman Handicapping
We understand that “College Football Live” analysts and other pundits have a job to do, but it’s almost cruel seeing the likes of Javon Ringer, Shonn Greene and Tim Tebow in any montage of Heisman hopefuls.

Given the way the season has unfolded, there remains some doubt as to the name of the next Heisman Trophy winner. This much we are willing to guarantee, though: He will be a Big 12 quarterback.

In fact, at least two if not three (maybe even four) Big 12 passers should be invited to New York City come December. You know them well: McCoy of Texas, who is on course to shatter the existing record for completion percentage in a season; Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, who is third in the nation in passing efficiency; Harrell of Texas Tech; and Chase Daniel of Missouri.

We were tempted to guarantee that whoever is named first team All-Big 12 at the quarterback position will be this year’s Heisman winner. Such a proclamation, though, ignores the vagaries of balloting ... as well as the uniquely gifted stable of passers currently inhabiting the Big 12.

Consider this fact for a moment: Last season’s first- and second-team All Big 12 quarterbacks, Daniel and Todd Reesing, are still playing (Daniel finished third in Heisman balloting last year). And yet at the moment neither would be rated among the top three, perhaps even top four if you consider Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson, quarterbacks in the conference.