This week the fabulous (Tim Gunn voice) Texas Longhorns blog Barking Carnival is hosting the BlogPoll Roundtable. We’re not worthy.

1. Mack Brown has won three out of the last four games in Dallas against OU. Meanwhile, Bob Stoops continues to pile up Big 12 trophies like NCAA inquiries. With the presumption that Mack will hang up his concho belt in the next two years in deference to the undeniable coaching force that is Will Muschamp, how does this year’s Texas/OU game define Mack Brown’s legacy? Texas wins and it’s likely Pasadena bound. A loss would likely cement this depressing statistic: a 7th conference championships for OU vs one in 12 years under Mack Brown, which was delivered by some guy named Vince Young.

If you had asked me this before the 13-0 Vince Young championship season I would have defined Mack Brown’s legacy as whiny underachiever. However, since 2004 he has put Texas’ surplus of talent to work. The Horns are 56-8 (second only to USC 59-6) with a BCS Championship and three wins over Oklahoma. A win against the Sooners this year would most likely yield a second Big 12 Championship and BCS Championship Game appearance. If Texas can accomplish all of that this year then I believe he’ll be remembered as a slow starter that turned Texas back into an elite program. Otherwise he may go down as a one-hit-wonder.

Example One-Hit-Wonder

2. Flipping the lens, does another OU loss — 4/5 to Texas, 0/5 in the last five BCS bowls — permanently establish Big Game Bob as an overrated, overpaid coach disguised as an asshole? At least sweater vest is an all around nice guy. I just feel sorry for Tressel when he comes up short in big games. When Stoops does it I cackle in a spasmatic fit of primeval laughter. So the natives are getting restless in Norman, and by natives I mean the people that stole the land from the natives that actually lived there. Who neeeds to win a big game more: Bob Stoops, Jim Tressel, or Mark Richt?

I disagree on the Sweater Vest. He gets so deep under my skin no ointment or balm can quell how irritated and aggravated I get. No one is that perfect and it’s as if he’s over compensating for something. I’ll digress, the answer to your question is Mark Richt and it’s not even close. Both Stoops and Tressel have get out out jail free cards crystal balls. Furthermore, Oklahoma and Ohio State are the premier teams in their conferences, routinely winning their respective championships and more often than not getting back to the BCS Championship Game. Meanwhile in Athens Richt and Georgia haven’t been to the SEC Championship Game since 2005 and they’ve taken a backseat to rivals Florida and Georgia Tech. After losses to LSU and Tennessee Georgia is hemorrhaging blood and Richt needs that big win Band-Aid.

3. Pick the game that glistens like no other on your remaining schedule. Why does it shine for thee? What portent does it hold at the seat of your BCS or Brut Sun Bowl altar?

The lights will be shining bright this Saturday night in Hotlanta. With a win over Georgia Tech the Hokies’ sleeper hold on the ACC Coastal draws a TKO. A loss doesn’t shit-can a return the ACC Championship Game, but it creates a three way (messier than the last Jenna Haze film) tie between Miami Georgia Tech and VT that ultimately could be broken by the BCS.

4. NC State lost to Duke. Okie State lost to Houston who lost to UTEP who scored more points against the Cougars (55) than it gained in yards against Texas (51). Virginia lost to William & Mary. Not the school but to two motivated kids named William and Mary. USC lost to Washington. I only bring this up as a reminder because USC losses tend to fade from the voting conscious faster than a fresh set of downs for an LSU quarterback. (Which leads to another riddle: Does one become concussed in the mere presence of Tebow?) Vandy just lost to Army. The point is: Big upsets are hard to predict. Riddle us yours for the month of October.

I’m going to go balls to the wall, because a failure with respectability is still a success: Arkansas over Florida behind Ryan Mallet’s howitzer.

5. In a top-heavy year where many of the favorites immolated themselves from national title contention early on, two teams now loom larger than the rest: Florida and Alabama. Assuming they face off in the SEC Championship game and the supremacy of their defenses continues to shroud their offenses in a cloak of 13-10 wizardry, and no other team seems quite as worthy by comparison (this is the SEC after all), should they get a chance to play again in January for a national championship? If not, what undefeated or 1-loss team would have the best positioning?

Whether or not they deserve a rematch would be a lengthy debate, regardless they won’t get the opportunity because the precedent has been set via 2006 #1 Ohio State #2 Michigan.

And would the Sooners really be out of it with three losses?

NEVER! Yes.