Your hatred for all things Texas has been noted time and time and time again. We get it. Your inferiority complex is showing. Instead of 45-35. I'm going to say...52-10
Leach doesn't fit a pressure-cooker school like Auburn. They will chew him up and spit him out as Saban dominates the recruiting. It's not a good time for anyone to be the Auburn head coach. Leach would fit better where the expectations and pressure aren't off the charts, like at Tech. But I don't blame him for wanting a change. He's taken Tech as far as he can.
The Cotton bowl was kind of a BCS bowl before the BCS. It was one of the "big 4" bowls along with the Orange, Rose and Sugar. Many of the cotton bowl winners were crowned national champions. They were replaced by the Fiesta Bowl bc the Fiesta bowl had no conference tie ins and thus could get better matchups while the Cotton Bowl had to have a SW conference team in every year. The cotton bowl is also a really ****ty stadium.
The theory is that bowls want two things: a TV audience and a full stadium. For the Fiesta, Texas or Utah would bring fans. Ohio State or Texas or Alabama would bring TV. So if they had Ohio State vs. Utah, you'd get both. The Sugar would also get both (even more so). And in both cases, you'd probably end up with better games, meaning the audience stays tuned in longer. The Sugar would probably have to give some kind of concession down the line, though. So overall, it's unlikely to happen, but it is a possibility. I believe they've done some kind of similar trading in the past to create better matchups. The best thing about it would be that you'd have the top 3 B12 teams vs the top 3 SEC teams in the NCG, Sugar Bowl, and Cotton Bowl. So you'd really get to see the two best conferences go head to head.
Here's how the coaches voted: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/graphics/coaches_fb_poll_2008/flash.htm Notice that Mack Brown put Florida at #1 knowing that would harm our chances while Urban Meyer put UT at #4. Other notables include Art Briles and Mike Leach putting UT at #5. EDIT: Even more notable about Briles' selections are that despite the fact that his team almost beat Tech, he ranked them only one spot below UT. As such, it's surprising he didn't rank UT even lower since Tech beat us head to head.
LOL Mack Brown provided Rice all three of their coaches poll votes when he voted them at #24 in the poll
Can't blame Leach for putting UT at #5. Art Briles is a Texas Tech Grad and a product of Mike Leach FYI. Though he did vote UT ahead of Tech still so not much there to it.
To Mike Leach a 44 point loss is worth one spot while a 6 point loss is worth 3. I'm also well aware of Briles' ties FYI. I didn't think they were relevant for the very reason you pointed out.
Again, head to head matters if two teams are identical and you need something to decide between the two. TT is not identical (in resume or performance) to UT. If it were close, TT would be ahead of UT on Mack's ballot. When you play two FCS teams and lose by 44 then barely beat Baylor you can't really argue you're identical.
