By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big 12 Sports.com Correspondent
NORMAN, Okla. - Bowl Season is preceded by Speculation Season. And Speculation Season can make for strange alliances with many of those alliances based on … speculation.
Mix in a final weekend of the regular season with Rivalry Games and you've got a (foot)ball of confusion.
Case in point: Oklahoma's jinxed season was somewhat redeemed when it boosted its Bedlam dominance with a 27-0 victory over No. 12 Oklahoma State. The loss probably knocked the Cowboys out of the Fiesta Bowl.
If that's the case, the beneficiaries will probably be Boise State and the Cotton Bowl. Boise State, which gained national fame for its 2007 Fiesta Bowl victory over the Sooners, were waving crimson and cream pompons Saturday. Iowa and Penn State (both 10-2) are each ready to bring hordes of fans should the Fiesta Bowl send an invitation to Big Ten Country. And the Cotton Bowl is now in position to invite the 9-3 Cowboys, who haven't played in the Cotton since the 2003 season.
But that's more speculation. As Derrick Fox, executive director of the Alamo Bowl, said Saturday, "Everybody wants to know who we're inviting but you've got to wait for the games to play out."
What has been clearly evident over the past few days that Rivalry Games can be dangerous to the records of visiting ranked teams. No. 25 Ole Miss lost at Mississippi State; No. 24 North Carolina lost at North Carolina State; No. 16 Clemson lost at South Carolina. No. 12 Oklahoma State fell victim in Bedlam as the Sooners extended their home-field winning streak to 30.
National title contenders Texas and Alabama are giving thanks they avoided being a main course at Texas A&M and Auburn.
Oklahoma figured to be in the mix with Texas and Alabama for the national title. Instead, the Sooners are waiting to find out if they're headed to Alamo … or Sun … or Insight bowls.
OU senior offensive tackle Trent Williams missed Saturday's game with a concussion sustained in practice Tuesday. Junior Eric Mensik, a former tight end, found out about 20 minutes before the game he was starting. It was the Sooners' seventh different starting line combination and Williams was the 11th starter to miss a game this season.
Sooners running back DeMarco Murray, who had touchdown runs of 13 and 12 yards, said he got the bad news from Williams during pre-game warm ups. "I kind of panicked a little bit … I definitely felt a little edgy," he said.
"I had to do my darnedest this week to stay positive," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "Eric Mensik had so little time to get ready, Brian Lepak was making his first start. Everybody just had to keep the faith."
Stoops was asked how many offensive linemen his team has. "I don't know … five, I guess."
With the offense relying on a patchwork offensive line, the defense came up with what Stoops described as "one of our better defensive performances. They knew the circumstances of the offensive line."
A week after being torched by Texas Tech for 41 points and 541 yards, Oklahoma's defense proved reports of its demise were premature. The Cowboys were shutout for the first time since 2005 and had just 109 yards in total offense. Oklahoma State punted 14 times for 656 yards.
Oklahoma State fans, though, will put an asterisk on the Sooners' defensive effort. Cowboys quarterback Zac Robinson, who missed the last game with a bruised right shoulder, started but it appeared he was far from healthy.
Before being relieved with 8:29 to play, Robinson was 9-of-21 for 44. His floater down the middle - with a 20 mph breeze at his back - was illustrative of a quarterback with a subpar arm. OU's Jonathan Nelson bagged the duck to set up a 12-yard DeMarco Murray touchdown run that gave the Sooners a 20-0 lead with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter.
"Zac wasn't 100 percent but that's not an excuse we're going to use," Gundy said. "I'm disappointed with our game plan offensively. Zac's injury didn't change how we called the game."
Oklahoma's defense stuffed Oklahoma State's running game (62 yards on 29 attempts) and with a sore-armed quarterback, the Cowboys never sniffed the scoreboard. They reached OU territory twice - the 47 on their third possession and the 25 with 45 seconds remaining. OSU linebacker Justin Gent recovered a fumble and returned it 55 yards - only to be stripped of possession by hustling OU tight end Trent Ratterree.
"The first game ball went to Trent from the defense for keeping the shutout," Stoops said.
Oklahoma State will be shut out of its first BCS bowl but Gundy wants to make it clear that losing Saturday didn't ruin the season.
"Our players are hurting and disappointed but I told them the good thing is this just counts as one loss," he said. "We're going to be playing in a very good bowl. We're just not sure where."
Those who follow the money will say Bedlam Version 104 was all about the Benjamins. A victory by Oklahoma State would have given the Cowboys a 10-2 record and a probable invitation to the Fiesta Bowl. That would have been worth an extra $4.5 million to the Big 12 Conference.
But it's Speculation Season, remember. The Big 12 can still collect cash but only at the expense of a place in the BCS Championship game. If Nebraska upsets Texas in Saturday's Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship game, the Cornhuskers will earn the automatic BCS bid and a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. With a 12-1 record, the Longhorns would be a lock for an at-large invite (and the $4.5 million).
In that scenario, Boise State might again be locked out. Conjecture … alliances … financial windfalls … just all part of Speculation Season.