Oklahoma arrived in Arizona Wednesday and will spend the next seven days preparing to face West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
But just what would a victory over the 11th-ranked Mountaineers bring to the third-ranked Sooners?
Some — many if you count the vast contingency of OU fans that will be making the trip to the Phoenix area — are hoping a convincing win could possibly vault the Sooners into contention for a split national championship.
It’s not beyond the realm of possibility.
No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 LSU will meet in the Bowl Championship Series’ national championship game Jan. 7 in New Orleans. There’s no doubt the winner will claim the BCS crown and be voted No. 1 in the USA Today coaches poll, per contractual agreement.
However, the Associated Press media poll has no such obligation. That poll’s voters are free to choose whichever team they deem fit to hold the national title.
The Sooners (11-2) could create a case for themselves with an impressive showing against West Virginia (11-2) Jan. 2 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
OU coach Bob Stoops did his part to keep the Sooners in the national title race. He voted OU No. 1 in the final coaches poll, but it wasn’t enough to get his team to New Orleans.
“You have to stick up for your team,” Stoops said. That’s what your fans and everybody expects and wants you to do. So you do and say what you feel you need to, but in the end that’s just the way it is. You stick up for your school or your conference and you do the best you can.”
OU athletic director Joe Castiglione tried his best to bolster the Sooners’ position. On Dec. 2, the day the final BCS standings (prior to the bowl games) came out, he spent the morning lobbying for the Sooners to play No. 4 Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
The point wasn’t to avoid spending another New Year’s in the desert. It was to have OU play the highest-ranked team possible.
It didn’t work.
According to an account on Sports Illustrated’s Web site, the commissioners of the SEC and Big Ten Conferences shot the proposal down.
There’s always a chance the Sooners could be impressive enough to warrant national title consideration. After all, OU entered the Big 12 championship game ranked No. 9 and left San Antonio with its fifth conference in eight seasons and climbed six spots in the polls.
Leaping two more spots wouldn’t appear to be impossible.
But few in the Sooner camp expect playing in Arizona to mean anything more than a Fiesta Bowl title.
“I don’t read into the BCS that much. It is a system and it works. We may not like it, but it is a system,” OU linebacker Curtis Lofton said. “I think we should definitely be considered as one of the top teams, but we controlled our destiny a few weeks ago when we didn’t take care of business.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Room to hope?
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