Texas in hunt for Big 12 title

While Oklahoma got to play in the Big 12 and BCS championship games last year, Texas and Texas Tech had the same regular season record as the Sooners.

All three were 11-1 overall with a 7-1 mark in the Big 12 South, and each loss was to another team in that trio. The Big 12's fifth tiebreaker -- BCS standings -- was needed to send the Sooners to the conference title game they won.

All that even though the Sooners lost by 10 points to Texas, which lost at Texas Tech with one second remaining -- before the Red Raiders lost by 44 points at Oklahoma.

The tiebreaker formula hasn't changed, yet Texas coach Mack Brown -- who didn't like the setup even before last season -- said there is an easy way around it for the Longhorns.

"If we had played better at Tech and won the game, we'd have been in the conference championship game," Brown said Wednesday at the Big 12 media days. "A lot of that comes from us. We need to learn from that and move on, quit talking about the system and just go play."

The Longhorns, with Heisman Trophy runner-up Colt McCoy back at quarterback, should be in the title mix again .

Texas and Oklahoma tied for the top spot in the Big 12 South preseason poll determined from a media vote. Texas got 17 first-place votes and Oklahoma got the other 15, but both had the same number of poll points.

What about the Red Raiders?

With quarterback Graham Harrell and receiver Michael Crabtree gone, it could be difficult for Texas Tech to match the Sooners and Longhorns again, though coach Mike Leach insists things might not be that much different.

"I don't think it's really that dramatic," Leach said. "A lot's been made out of it, but there was a time when nobody had heard of Harrell and Crabtree, too. ... The questions were a little more along the line of, 'How's this Harrell going to be any good? How's this Crabtree guy?' "

The Red Raiders were fourth in the preseason poll, behind Oklahoma State.