2008 Big 12 Conference football season
The 2008 Big 12 Conference football season saw ties is both northern and southern divisions, with tiebreakers used to select divisional representatives for the 2008 Big 12 Championship Game, in which Oklahoma won 62–21 against Missouri to qualify for the 2009 BCS National Championship Game.
Missouri tied with Nebraska for the Northern divisional championship, each having a 5–3 win–loss record in conference games.
It was the highest scoring event in the history of the rivalry, and it was seen by the most fans ever to attend the Red River Rivalry—a record 92,182.
[5] During his post-game press conference, Texas Tech's Mike Leach used most of his time to rail against the officiating crew for incompetence and bias.
[6][7] He speculated that the officials may have favored Texas because the head official lives in Austin, because they are incompetent, or possibly because the conference wants Texas to appear in a BCS bowl because of the increased appearance fees that such a bowl generates for the conference.
[8][9] Jim Vertuno of the Associated Press wrote "Leach was upset officials disallowed two Tech touchdowns in the third quarter.
The first was overruled when video replay clearly showed the receiver let the ball hit the ground.
"[9][10] The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported, "Big 12 policy prohibits coaches from commenting publicly about game officials, so Leach’s actions leave him open to reprimand, fine or worse.
[14] Students camped for a week to secure seating, and ESPN's College GameDay broadcast from Lubbock, Texas for the first time in the program's history.
After three failed attempts to pass the ball for a first down, the Sooners elected to make their first punt.
On the next Tech possession, Graham Harrell was sacked on two consecutive plays, once by Adrian Taylor and the other by Gerald McCoy.
Coming into the game, the Red Raiders ranked second in the nation in sacks allowed, with only 5.
Woods was unable to catch a pass by Harrell to convert and Tech turned the ball over on downs.
After two rushes by Brown, Gresham scored a touchdown on a 19-yard catch, and the subsequent extra point extended the Sooners lead to 21–0.
On the following possession, the Red Raiders reached the end zone, thanks to Harrell's 25-yard throw to Tramain Swindall.
On the second play, Harrell threw an interception to Travis Lewis, who returned the ball 47 yards.
Tech cranked up its passing game on its next possession, eventually scoring a touchdown and extra point with 5:39 remaining in the third quarter.
On the next possession, Tech was able to make three pass completions of at least 12 yards, though on the final play of the drive, Harrell lost the ball to the Sooners on a sack.
[23] Sports columnists have also stated that the quarterback of the winning team would be the front runner for the Heisman Trophy.
Since 2006, the Big 12 Conference regulations had included the following "Divisional Tiebreakers":[27] Since three teams were tied, part (b) was applied.
Texas fans objected to the outcome, and they and others made various arguments for considering it unfair: In 2010 the Big 12 changed Divisional Tiebreaker rule (b.5) so that, if the top two teams are within one ordinal place in the BCS ratings, then the winner of their head-to-head game will be the representative.
[36] Oklahoma won 62–21 against Missouri to qualify for the 2009 BCS National Championship Game, where it was beaten 14–24 by Florida.
