COTTRELL COLUMN: Things are getting weird agaiin

Welcome to the nightmare.

With two weeks to go to sort this whole thing out, it looks like we’re in for yet another BCS controversy.

After Oklahoma sent Texas Tech back to the world of the also-rans with its tail between its legs, we are most likely looking at a three-way tie for first place in the Big 12 South.

In a normal year that might not be such a big deal. But since we don’t see normal years anymore it’s a very big deal this year.

While Texas Tech is largely out of the national title picture at this point, Texas and Oklahoma are now ranked Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in the latest BCS standings.

Assuming the Longhorns beat Texas A&M on Thursday and the Sooners win the Bedlam game against Oklahoma State on Saturday, they and the Red Raiders will all be 7-1 in conference play and would have all beaten each other.

But the Big 12 rules dictate the BCS ratings would determine the conference champion in such a scenario.

So that’s where you have to ask yourself a question: Do you put more weight in Oklahoma appearing to be one of the two or three best teams in the country right now, or do you put more weight in the fact that Texas beat them by 10 points on a neutral field in October?

It’s not an easy question.

Regardless of who winds up winning that division, there’s also still a decent chance that they could wind up playing each other for the national championship.

Crazy?

Not so fast.

Florida trails Oklahoma in the latest BCS standings by .037 points. They’ll have ample opportunity to make up ground in the next two weeks if they beat Florida State (currently 20th in the BCS) and No. 1 Alabama in the SEC title game.

But what if that’s not enough?

I’d be lying to you if I said I knew enough about the way the standings work to say for sure that the Gators would make it.

So here we are, two weeks left in the season and the only team that will definitely make it to the national title game if they win out is Alabama. Raise your hand if that was your pick in August.

But, from top to bottom, there aren’t three better teams in football right now than Florida, Oklahoma and USC. And there’s a decent chance that not only will none of them be in the title game, but none of them might even win their conference.

And that’s both the beauty and the beast of our system.

Tim Cottrell is sports designer of the Opelika-Auburn News. He will write a weekly column on college football during the season. You can also read him on the O-A Sports Blog at oanow.com. He can be reached at 737-2511 or .