I’m having trouble putting my thoughts together on the World Series… I’ve decided it’s not the worst World Series I’ve ever seen, having been reprieved by Wednesday night’s mini-game.  By the time I ended up writing something, it’ll probably be irrelevant, so to be more topical, how about the Texas-Texas Tech game played this evening in Lubbock?

Game of the Year?  Uh, yeah.

I expected Texas to win, not because they were ranked #1, but because this was their last big test before hitting the home stretch on their schedule and they had to be aware of this.  They’d already knocked off Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Missouri, so all they needed to do was win at Texas Tech and the path was clear to the Big XII Championship.  I was also of the opinion that had Texas run the table and lost the Big XII title game, they still deserved a spot in the Mythical National Championship.

That all seemed to fly right out the window when Texas Tech downed a punt on the 1 and notched a safety on the Longhorns first play from scrimmage.  The Red Raiders opened up a 19-0 lead, dominating in all phases of the game, and the Longhorns managed a grand total of two impressive plays the entire first half – a 27-yard run by Colt McCoy, and a forced fumble that gave the Horns their best field position of the half (they settled for three points).

The second half was a wild affair, with momentum flipping back and forth on big plays.  Texas had a punt return for a touchdown.  Tech had an interception return for a touchdown.  Texas blocked a field goal, then cut the deficit to three when the Red Raiders defense inexplicably allowed Malcolm Williams to get ten yards behind them en route to a 91-yard score.  Tech was poised to put the game out of reach until a phantom offensive pass interference call turned the game on its ear, making a first-and-goal from the ten a first-and-goal from the twenty-five.  The Red Raiders could muster only a field goal, extending their lead to a fairly useless six points.  Texas, having trouble sustaining drives all night, then marched down the field with ease, taking a 33-32 lead with 1:29 on the clock.

Too much time left for Tech?  Yup.

After a near interception on a tipped pass, Graham Harrell hit Michael Crabtree at the five, who then wrestled free of two would-be tacklers and scored the go-ahead touchdown with one second left.  You’d think that would be the end of things.  But after two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties assessed on the crowd of borderline retards who stormed the field with time remaining on the clock not once, but twice, the Red Raiders were forced to kick off from their own seven-and-a-half yardline.  The Longhorns tried the ever-popular Multiple-Lateral-Prayer Play, but managed only one good lateral before a Tech defender jumped the second and secured the victory.

Go ahead and exhale now.  Then catch the replay on ESPN Classic later this week.

The problem for the still-undefeated Red Raiders is that they’re in the middle of their gauntlet.  Upcoming games against the Sooners and Cowboys are winnable, but it’s almost impossible to get through the Big XII undefeated.  The road is much harder for the Raiders than it would have been for the Longhorns.

The fact that Penn State and USC don’t have to play conference championship games gives them an edge in qualifying for the Mythical National Championship, because even if the computers hurt them for not playing that extra game, other teams are going to need to not only win their conference title game but in some cases hope that the voters springboard them over idle teams.