Via TB of Bring On the Cats, we start our morning with this:
"A two-loss team compared to a one-loss team was probably the most pressing thing that we looked at," Orange Bowl CEO Eric Poms said.
Never mind that both of Missouri's losses were to Oklahoma, that the Tigers were two slots ahead of Kansas in the final BCS standings and beat the Jayhawks head-to-head on Nov. 24 to doom Kansas' national-title hopes.
The Orange Bowl simply didn't like what it saw Saturday night, and Kansas reaped the benefits.
Sigh. As Blair Kerkhoff said this morning, "In other words, Missouri would have profited from declining a spot in the Big 12 title game. Kansas, like Ohio State, gained by not extending its season, and that’s a serious flaw in the process. Risks should be rewarded, not penalized."
As I suggested last night, our problem isn't the BCS. It's that the BCS doesn't have enough clout. If it did, our higher BCS ranking would have gotten us the at-large bid. Instead, one moron who most likely didn't even watch Mizzou beat Kansas last week, decided that KU must be better because MU got beat by OU. Power to Lee Corso for summarizing thusly: "It sucks."
You knew Bryan Burwell would have something to say about all this.
Someone asked if this obvious slight was further proof of how badly college football's top division needs a playoff system to decide its national champions and perhaps prevent a situation like this where Mizzou was unjustly left on the outside looking in.
"I don't know if you need a playoff game to see that it doesn't make sense that one team (Illinois) lost three games and lost to you!! and you only lost two games, and they're going to a BCS game and you're not," said Rucker with a resigned shrug of his shoulders. "I don't think we need a playoff system to understand that, do we?"
You could see the disappointment in their faces as the players got the official word and most of them quietly left the alumni center without saying a word. "I have a bunch of players who have a bunch of frowns," Pinkel said.
Sunday Morning QB pipes up too.
Arizona State and Missouri = screwed, I guess, though neither is surprising. The Devils and Tigers are in front of Illinois and Kansas, respectively, in every poll, but the Rose Bowl was obviously intent on securing the traditional Pac Ten-Big Ten matchup with the Illini and the Orange Bowl, well, I suppose the Orange Bowl figured one loss is better than two. The Jayhawks make no sense over Missouri otherwise, having lost to Mizzou, obviously, and ranking below MU in both human polls and four of the six computers. The computers like Arizona State, but with Hawaii qualifying automatically, Georgia and Kansas/Missouri locks for two of the last three at-large spots, and no chance of a rematch with SC in the Rose, ASU was doomed to be snubbed for the Illini, who with this bid might pass their Big 12 North competition as the outrageous surprise of the season.
Nevertheless, the Cotton Bowl is our best bowl since, uhh, 1969? And despite the disappointment, everybody's trying to say the right things. PowerMizzou, KC Star, and Post-Dispatch have more, and the Missourian article is particularly good.
In recruiting news, Inside Mizzou catches up with Nebraska soft-commit Josh Williams.
Dave Matter empties the OU notebook and offers his initial thoughts about the Cotton Bowl.
Starting with The Beef's Monday Musings, we'll try to flip our attention to other sports to avoid a month of "We were screwed" whining, but I think that's all I've got for now. Dallas really will be a good time, but...ugh...