A Simple Question for Big 12 Fans

I don’t ask this impudently. My favorite conference, the Big 10, has its problems. I’m willing, in fact, to admit that the Big 10 is down this year.

But really, how do fans Big 12 teams expect their favorites to do in the post-season BCS bowl games? This weekend’s five matchups in the Big 12 saw a total of 371 points scored, 102 of those in what was supposedly the elite game of the day, Oklahoma at Oklahoma State. What do you make of a conference where the average total points per game was 74? Or how do you explain that one Big 12 team, Oklahoma’s Sooners, supposedly the third best in the country, gave up 41 points to the 12th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys in a winning match with no overtimes?

I tell you what I made of it as I watched about a quarter of the Sooners and the Cowboys. “Where are their defenses?” I wondered. The two teams’ offensive squads moved up and down the field for scores, with the Cowboys showing greater talent on offense. But watching them, I was reminded of nothing so much as one of those unrealistic football video games.

Can teams from the vaunted Big 12 South win against elite competition from other conferences?

I don’t know. But based on the points that teams like Oklahoma State and Oklahoma give up, if I were a betting person—and I’m not—I wouldn’t be inclined to bet more than a couple of bucks on them.

I’m probably missing something.

Someone show me what it is.

[This has been cross-posted at my personal blog.]