Pigskin Potpourri, Week 14

Hey, Big 12 bigwigs: Flip a coin next time.

This year's premier conference in college football couldn't figure out a way to break a three-way tie and crown a champion from its south division. Instead, the Big 12 punted and left the decision in the hands of the BCS, a system so ridiculous and unpopular that even our president-elect wants to eliminate it.

For a moment, let's set aside the obvious injustice that OU is headed to Kansas City despite a neutral-field loss to Texas at Fair Park. The Big 12's inability to handle its own affairs is downright embarrassing. Next time, fellas, you might as well take a page from the high school playbook: Get the three coaches together at a greasy-spoon cafe, borrow a quarter from the tip jar and ask Fate to settle what you can't.

Pigskin Potpourri, Week 9

As it turns out, the most compelling game of this entire wacky college football season may hinge on one critical factor: Michael Crabtree's ankle.

Crabtree, a product of Dallas' Carter High, is an otherworldly beast. Take it from a former wideout who knows greatness when he sees it: Crabtree is a Top Three NFL receiver right now. He won the Biletnikoff Award last year. When he wins it again this year, they should rename it the Michael Crabtree Award. He's that good. He had nine catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday. By Crabtree standards, that's an off-day.








I only saw about a quarter of Texas Tech's Jayhawk massacre on Saturday, but I continued listening to the game on Sirius while running a few errands. The Tech radio announcers -- perhaps the most obsequious pair of homers in the history of broadcasting -- kept fretting about Crabtree's ankle after every catch he made. "He got up kinda gingerly there, didn't he, Jimmy?" "He sure does seem to be favoring that ankle, Butch." That right there was enough to show me how nervous Red Raider Nation is about Crabtree's status against the Longhorns the day after Halloween.

In the Mack Brown and Mike Leach eras, UT-Tech showdowns in Lubbock always seem to be epic shootouts. So the Red Raiders urgently need a healthy, amped-up Crabtree to counter the potent attack of Colt McCoy, Chris Ogbonnaya and Jordan Shipley. For Crabtree, nine catches for 70 yards and two scores won't cut it in a game that will be a disappointment if both teams don't combine for at least 100 points.