SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Word leaked that a matchup of Virginia Tech and Oklahoma had been made for the Orange Bowl, complete with a blessing from Fiesta Bowl officials, only to be squashed in a majority "nay” vote of conference commissioners.
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Predictably, everybody went all Zapruder, conjuring up conspiracy theories built around some supposed overprotective desire to preserve the BCS Championship game as, well, the BCS Championship game.
If you're still looking for dirty Big Ten and Pac-10 fingerprints on the evidence from that backroom show of hands, give it up. There were no sinister forces at work.
Besides, the commish crew did us a favor.
Oklahoma-West Virginia in the Fiesta reigns as the bowl matchup of this season, Ohio State-LSU not excluded.
It may even preview a national championship run in '08 — for either team.
Let's be realistic. A Hokies vs. Sooners Orange Bowl, pairing the BCS No. 3 and 4 teams, was never going to sprout a split national title, not under any scenario.
Here's why: OU couldn't beat the Hokies any worse or any more convincingly than LSU did in a 48-7 shellacking back in September; Virginia Tech, even with a win over the Sooners, would require a mind eraser to legitimize a leap over the Tigers.
Something else to consider: While the Hokies may be No. 3 in the BCS rankings, they're No. 5 in the Associated Press poll and void of real respect among the voters. And the AP is where any split scenario would have to take place.
Yes, the Sooners are third in the AP, but again, the dominoes to national title No. 8 don't align.
Not this year.
So revel in a better matchup: OU-West Virginia, the BCS Championship that nearly was, if not for untimely injuries to quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Pat White.
Remember, the Mountaineers were on the verge of playing for it all, before White was hampered by a dislocated thumb in a loss to Pittsburgh in their final game. The Sooners were about to ascend to No. 2 when Bradford was knocked out early in a loss at Texas Tech Nov. 17.
Otherwise, the stakes might be higher Wednesday night.
"Right now, we're going to take this,” said Sooner running back Allen Patrick. "West Virginia could have been in the national championship, just like we could.
"So we're going to take this as our national championship game.”
Hey, this clash could be every bit as thrilling (or throbbing, if you prefer crimson) as OU-Boise State a year ago.
This Fiesta fling is speed on speed. It's OU's balanced big-play attack against the Mountaineers' gimmicky 3-3-5 defense.
It's West Virginia's Wishbone 2000 opposite the striking Sooners D.
More intriguing, it's a matchup we could be begging to see next January.
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