1. Texas 20, Nebraska 13 Alabama’s loss at South Carolina isn’t great, but it’s not bad. Oklahoma’s loss at Missouri is fine, as is LSU’s loss at Auburn, Stanford’s loss at Oregon, Michigan State’s loss at Iowa, Ohio State’s loss at Wisconsin and the Badgers’ loss at Michigan State. What do all those defeats have in common? They came to teams currently in the BCS top 20. No, Nebraska losing at home to Texas, with the offense getting stopped cold, isn’t allowed as an acceptable one-loss in the national title race. All the way up to seventh now in the BCS rankings, Nebraska is a great team with excellent wins like Oklahoma State on the road and Missouri at home, but the Texas loss has to be seen as more and more unforgivable as the year goes on.
After the loss to Baylor, Texas has now lost to UCLA, Iowa State, and the Bears at home, along with the loss to Oklahoma. Nowhere near the BCS top 25, the Longhorns aren’t the Longhorns, and the win over Nebraska has to be considered just like a home loss to Iowa State, Colorado, any other also-ran Big 12 team. Just because Texas has the brand name and the right uniforms, that doesn’t let the Huskers off the hook. And yes, this does matter.
At No. 7, Nebraska will likely keep moving up with four winnable games against Iowa State, Kansas, Texas A&M, and Colorado to close out the regular season. Considering Alabama could lose this week at LSU, or to Auburn, the Huskers are right there knocking on the door as the possible best of the one-loss teams. TCU or Utah will lose this week, which moves Nebraska up one spot. Alabama or Auburn will lose, and considering the timing at the end of the year, Nebraska could move ahead of the loser. If Oregon loses, it’ll certainly tumble at least five spots. In other words, the Huskers are in a fantastic position that’ll only get better if they can beat Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game and finish 12-1.
Texas 20, Nebraska 13.