Dirk Chatelain: Sooners or Texas? Bo says he goes with Oklahoma

Defensive guru, yes. Fiery motivator, sure. But first and foremost, Bo Pelini is a football fan.

And there isn't a college football fan in America who doesn't have an opinion on the Bowl Championship Series. The hottest debate going these days? Oklahoma or Texas.

The BCS has sparked nasty squabbles between rivals Miami and Florida State, Nebraska and Colorado. But OU-UT has all the elements of the juiciest tussle since the BCS inception in 1998, especially when you consider the adversaries' heartfelt disdain for each other.

Oklahoma, in one corner, boasts Saturday's slaughter of No. 2 Texas Tech, which followed drubbings of Kansas State, Nebraska and Texas A&M. If there's a better offense in college football, we haven't seen it.

Meanwhile, the Longhorns took down OU, Missouri and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks. No one in the country has three wins of that quality all season, let alone in a span of 15 days.

So Bo, what do you think?

"Right now, I have Oklahoma ahead of Texas," Pelini said. "Only because I've played Oklahoma. They earned my respect that night in how they beat us."

Pelini is a voter in the USA Today coaches' poll. His vote counts in the BCS formula. It counts in determining which Big 12 South team advances to Kansas City and then, perhaps, the national title game.

Yet the coach, like most of his peers, doesn't watch much college football unless it has bearing on the team he coaches. And thus, because Nebraska played Oklahoma and not Texas, Pelini leans toward OU.

"It's pretty hard (to vote)," Pelini said. "That's why you kind of go with the teams you've seen."

Pelini knows that the Longhorns beat the Sooners on a neutral field - NU was taking Texas Tech to the wire that afternoon - but he didn't see the game.

In preparation for Nebraska's trip to Norman on Nov. 1, Pelini did watch on tape the OU offense against Texas' defense. He did not, however, see the other side of the ball, where Colt McCoy tore apart Oklahoma for four straight scoring drives in the second half.

Still, Pelini says he sees enough to make an informed decision. And he sides with childhood friend Bob Stoops.

Pelini has been at the center of BCS controversy twice in five years. In 2004, he was defensive coordinator under Stoops when the numbers said 12-0 OU was better than 12-0 Auburn. The Sooners went to the title game and fell hard to USC.

Last year, Pelini and LSU lost on Thanksgiving weekend to Arkansas, apparently knocking the Tigers out of contention. But Oklahoma's win over Missouri in the Big 12 Championship, coupled with Pittsburgh's upset of West Virginia and LSU's SEC Championship victory, launched Pelini back into the title game. LSU beat Ohio State.

So he's come out ahead in the computers twice. Still, he'd eliminate them if he could.

"If you're not going to go to a playoff system, I don't know that it's not the right thing to go back to the old bowl system, have conference tie-ins to bowl games and bring back the New Year's Day what it used to be when we grew up," Pelini said. "Take all that out of it, take the computers out of it. Have bowl tie-ins and at the end of the year, let the argument happen and then vote."

Minutes later, he offered only one prediction:

"It's going to be interesting in a couple of weeks," Pelini said.