By Mark D. Smith,, US PresswireOklahoma State running back Jeremy Smith is tackled by Oklahoma's Tony Jefferson on Saturday night during his 119-yard effort in the Cowboys' 44-10 victory.STILLWATER, Okla. – Of course, Mike Gundy said, the fairest way to settle college football's latest who's-in, who's-out dustup is with a playoff.
The eternal debate has come to his doorstep at Oklahoma State. Only one of the two finalists for the Bowl Championship Series' Jan. 9 title game in New Orleans was unassailable. Top-ranked LSU emerged as the nation's lone unbeaten team, and sits atop every poll and power rating.
'Bama got the nod Sunday, nosing out Oklahoma State by the slimmest margin between the BCS' No. 2- and 3-ranked teams in the eight years that it has used its current mathematical formula. That it was that close - 86-thousandths of a point, folding in numbers from two polls and six computer rankings - spoke to the impact of the Cowboys' 44-10 dismantling of Oklahoma a night earlier, closing out a Big 12 Conference championship and the best regular season in the 110-year history of their program.
They were pointed to the Fiesta Bowl and a Jan. 2 meeting with No. 4 Stanford, another team with a single loss for whom the two-team, single-championship-game math didn't work.
"I just don't have an answer. I've seen a lot of different proposals. I just don't know that anybody's come up with a way for it to actually work yet."
He acknowledged the oft-used argument that it would be difficult to sync a full playoff with college academic calendars, to keep from infringing on many schools' final examination periods.
His recourse: Accept the way things are, that qualification for the championship game is part on-the-field merit and part beauty pageant.
Gundy was candid after the BCS' final rankings were released and bowl assignments were made Sunday. "There was some disappointment," he said, "from the standpoint that every team that feels like they've got some talent and some chemistry, their goal is to play for the national championship. And for me to say that our players didn't have that in mind when they left our facility last night would be coming out of left field."
But the fact is that the Cowboys still will make a BCS appearance, their first, and generate some buzz in an appetizing non-championship matchup. "We have a tremendous amount of respect for Stanford, and we're very excited about being in the Fiesta Bowl," Gundy said.
He, his players and his school made their best pitch for the big game, starting with their dominating performance Saturday night. Oklahoma State's offense was typically productive, getting 100-yard, two-touchdown rushing performances from Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith and 217 passing yards and no turnovers from quarterback Brandon Weeden. The defense, meanwhile, was a revelation, forcing five Oklahoma turnovers — two interceptions and two fumbles by quarterback Landry Jones— and holding the Sooners without a TD until the final 2½ minutes.
Not long after the game and celebration at Boone Pickens Stadium had ended, OSU put its pitch in writing. "VOTE Oklahoma State in your top two this week," it said. "Because no other team short of LSU has EARNED its way to New Orleans with more quality wins this season."
The Cowboys (11-1) beat four of the BCS' top 25-ranked teams, including three in the top 15. Alabama (11-1) beat three total, just one in the top 15.
OSU lost to Iowa State in double overtime on the road, but that was to a team that wound up 6-6. Alabama fell to LSU in an epic, 9-6 defensive struggle. Advantage, Crimson Tide.
Oklahoma State finished atop the Big 12, its first outright conference championship in 63 years — going back to 1948 and the Cowboys' membership in the Missouri Valley. Alabama didn't win its division in the Southeastern, the reason it was sitting Saturday while the Cowboys were winning large.
"We took care of what we had to take care of. We had to worry about us and control what we could control, and we were able to do that," Weeden said.
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