State of Oklahoma Jobs

The great thing about the BCS and all of its arguments and controversies isthat is provides excellent subplots to some of the other games, and in no otheris there a “well we beat such and such” angle as there is to this year’s CottonBowl.

The Texas Longhorns, by most accounts, have a pretty good argument for beingin the title game. And, of course, Florida is in the national title game. So,how does that affect this match-up in the Cotton Bowl? Any good fan could tellyou that the only team to beat #3 Texas was Texas Tech, and the only team tobeat #1 Florida was Ole Miss.

And, of course, Texas looms large in this match-up already, with Ole Miss’squarterback being former Texas backup Jevan Snead, who tired of sitting behindHeisman-snubbed Colt McCoy.

While Snead will be out to prove to Texans, and the nation, that he was theman for the job at Texas, the Red Raiders will be out to avenge what they sawas a serious snub by the chatterati. While Mike Leach’s team may have been theonly ones to beat Texas this year, they got the smack laid down on them byOklahoma, preempting any consideration for the title game. Beyond being leftout of the title game, thanks to the arcane BCS rules, the Red Raiders now findthemselves on the outside of all the BCS games looking in from Dallas.

Further snubbing was given to Red Raider quarterback Graham Harrell, who,despite eye-popping, record-setting numbers, was not even invited to attend theHeisman ceremonies in New York City in December.

The Red Raiders and Leach, who has been the subject of constant coachingrumors since the last week of the season, will be out to put an exclamationpoint on what would be their winningest season ever.

It won’t come as easy as people think, and leaping into the top five in thefinal standings may prove harder than many assume. While Harrell and all-worldreceiver Michael Crabtree come into the game with a polished and fluidoffensive scheme under the tutelage of Leach, they will be facing a coach thatis no stranger to the bright lights of the Cotton Bowl.

After leading Arkansas to the Cotton in 1999, 2001 and 2008, coach HoustonNutt is back prowling the Dallas sidelines with a bit of redemption to begained himself. Nutt resigned before last season’s Cotton Bowl to go take thehelm at Ole Miss. Many felt the time had come for Nutt to move on fromArkansas, but few expected him to have the success he has had in his first yearat Ole Miss. Nutt took a team that won only one game in the SEC last year to avery respectable 8-4 finish this year, with victories over SEC  powersand  the last two national champions, LSU and Florida.

While the Rebels were not able to play well under the newfound attentionthey received after beating the Gators, they have come on strong in November,winning five in a row. And despite their stumbles following the big win at TheSwamp, the Rebels are better than their record shows. Their four losses thisseason were all close, with none being by more than a touchdown, and each lossbeing by an average of only five points.

Looking back to the beginning of the season, the Rebels beat a ranked WakeForest team in non-conference, while the Red Raiders took on such lightweightsat Massachusetts before taking down Texas and Oklahoma State in conference.

While Harrell’s numbers have been astounding, the Raiders were exposed as afairly one dimensional team against Oklahoma. The Rebels may not have the speedand talent as the Sooners, they will provide as tough a challenge as theRaiders have faced outside of Oklahoma and Texas. While some poo-poo’d the ideathat the Big 12 was a defenseless conference, the early bowl games are startingto bear that out to be true.

The Rebels rely on a veteran defensive line, linebacking core and defensivesecondary that will throw all sorts of problems at Leach’s offense. If they canget pressure on Harrell early and get him to commit some turnovers they cantake Tech out of their game and force them to try and make big plays against adefense that doesn’t give up many.

The Rebels challenge will be to try and establish a running game against thesmall but feisty Tech defensive line. If the Red Raiders line can come with theenergy they displayed against Texas, they can shut the Rebels attack down, butit seems as if the Raiders shot their defensive wad in an emotion-chargedvictory over Texas.

If the Rebels establish the run and allow Snead to start picking apart theirsuspect secondary, they could pull off one of the bigger upsets of the bowlseason, running the Raiders’ cries of inequity in the BCS.