Snubbed Texas to face Ohio State in Fiesta Bowl

Dec 8, 2008 - 5:04 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Texas clearly feels it was cheated out of a chance to compete for a national championship.

Mack Brown and the Longhorns will have to settle for a ticket to the Fiesta Bowl, where they will take on Ohio State on January 5.

Texas (11-1) enjoyed an outstanding season highlighted by a 45-35 victory over Oklahoma in the annual Red River Rivalry game on October 11.

But three weeks later, the Longhorns dropped a heartbreaking 39-33 decision at Texas Tech, creating an eventual logjam in the Big 12 Conference's South Division.

By virtue of their higher ranking in last week's BCS standings, the Sooners won a three-way tiebreaker with the Longhorns and the Red Raiders to claim the South Division crown and earn a berth in the Big 12 title game.

Oklahoma crushed Missouri, 62-21, to win its third straight Big 12 title and secure a spot in the BCS championship game.

Brown, who has openly campaigned for the Longhorns in recent weeks, reflected on Texas' misfortune following Sunday's BCS bowl announcements.

"This team has been a team that, regardless of the circumstances, they've played hard every week," Brown said. "You go back and look and the BCS hasn't satisfied everybody, and we've been on the positive side of it a few times and we've been on the negative side of it a few times."

Texas certainly has put together an impressive resume this season - the Longhorns posted wins over ranked opponents in Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks.

Led by junior quarterback Colt McCoy, a Heisman Trophy candidate, Texas averaged 43.9 points per game this year, the fifth-best mark in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Now McCoy and the Longhorns will have to shift their focus on the Buckeyes (10-2), who finished with the No. 10 ranking in the BCS.

It marks the fourth straight BCS bowl appearance and seventh overall for the Buckeyes, who finished second in the Big Ten Conference behind Penn State.

Ohio State won eight of its last nine games and figures to be a dangerous opponent with freshman sensation Terrelle Pryor at quarterback.

However, the Buckeyes will look to end their recent postseason slump after getting routed in each of the last two national title games. McCoy, for one, knows that he will have a tough time against Ohio State's veteran defense.

"They've got a great defense, so we know it is going to be tough to score," McCoy said. "We just have to practice and prepare like we have all season and, hopefully, we can come out with the win."

Since dropping a 35-3 decision at Southern California on September 13, the Buckeyes have yielded an average of just 12 points per game.

Ohio State is led by senior linebacker James Laurinaitis, a Butkus Award semifinalist, junior running back Chris "Beanie" Wells, who ran for 1,091 yards in just nine games, and Pryor, who has emerged as one of the top young players in the country.

This year's top incoming recruit, Pryor completed 62.5 percent of his passes, threw 12 touchdowns and also ran for 553 yards and six TDs.