You’ve really got to hate it for Texas safety Blake Gideon. A single dropped interception a few weeks ago is all that stands between Texas and the #1 spot in the polls, a spot in the Big 12 title game, and the inside track to the national title game. Instead, Texas is now on the outside looking in for not only the national title game but even the championship of half of a conference.

The bits and bytes will be burning up this week debating the subject, so here are a few more points to ponder.

First, understand that this is a Big 12 problem, not a BCS problem. The Big 12 chose to make the BCS part of its tiebreaker process. Blaming an undesirable outcome on the BCS in this situation makes as much sense as pointing out the flaws in rock-paper-scissors if the conference had chosen that method to break its ties. The conference will surely revisit its tiebreaker scenarios after this year, and it’s on them for not taking care of it earlier.

Second, the BCS got it right. As much as Texas wants to boil this down to a 45-35 45-35 45-35 45-35 45-35 argument, it’s not that simple. To begin with, it conveniently skips over the loss to Texas Tech and the fact that the #1 team in the nation couldn’t hold a lead with a minute to go. That’s not a fatal flaw for Texas by any stretch – all three Big 12 co-champs have their warts. But it is enough to step back and remember that the BCS evaluates not only individual results but also the entire season.

That’s where Oklahoma shines, and I’m glad to see that in this case schedule was rewarded. Oklahoma has wins over BCS-bound Cincinnati and #11 TCU. Texas’ best nonconference opponent was Arkansas – a middling SEC school. Texas Tech played no one from another BCS conference. Texas did have their tough gauntlet that culminated in the loss at Texas Tech, but among a group of three teams that played the conference season to a deadlock Oklahoma’s out of conference slate has to tilt things in their favor.