FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
Fiesta pairs Texas against Ohio State

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Mack Brown believes his third-ranked Texas Longhorns deserved a shot at the national title. Now that they'll get a shot at No. 10 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, Brown looked on the bright side.

"It's time for us to put the past week behind us with all the BCS stuff and move forward and look forward to a great game,'' Brown said on a teleconference.

The question is, will Texas-Ohio State be a great game?

In each of the last two seasons, the Buckeyes have been outclassed in the Bowl Championship Series title game, losing to Southeastern Conference powers Florida and Louisiana State.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel called the Longhorns (11-1) "every bit as good as those teams we played the last two years.''

The Longhorns finished in a three-way tie atop the rugged Big 12 South and thought their 10-point victory over Oklahoma should have earned them the nod over the Sooners. But Oklahoma was declared the division winner on a BCS standings tiebreaker, and the Sooners ripped Missouri in the Big 12 title game to earn a trip to Miami for the national title game.

Interestingly, Tressel and Brown both ranked the Longhorns second in their final ballots in the coaches poll. But Tressel had Oklahoma No. 1 and Brown ranked Florida first.

More here.

I'm afraid I don't have much more to say, other than to observe that this is how the chips have fallen. It's almost adding insult to injury. I mean, the Fiesta Bowl is bigtime BCS and all that, but the Buckeyes just ain't the team they've been in the last few years. I would have greatly preferred a Texas/Alabama match up, but what can you do?

Like I said last time, I'm now a one hundred percent supporter of a playoff system.

As for the so-called National Championship game, I'm rooting for Oklahoma. For starters, one should always have conference loyalty in these situations; if OU wins, it only makes the Big 12 look better. But I also want the Longhorns to be able to say that they beat the national champion. And what kind of national champion is it that lost to a great team with the same record?

Not a very good one if you ask me. Well, okay, OU's pretty fucking great right now, but that's not the point. 45-35 is the point. This all has a very bad taste.

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