The Big 12 is college football's premiere conference

The last two weekends were tough games for Ohio State, but it is finally official: the Buckeyes can buy plane tickets and book hotel rooms for a trip to Tempe, AZ because they will be playing in the National Championship game. I was a bit skeptical, but will finally admit the Buckeyes deserve to go to the big dance. Whether or not they can win all the marbles is a completely different discussion. Miami still controls its own destiny. Two wins and they play Ohio State, but a slip could make second place in the BCS a rat race.

Inside college football brought you the BCS shakedown last week, but instead of hitting you with another elaborate scheme that will fall apart this weekend, this week's focus will be on the Big 12. Arguably the best football conference in the country, the teams in this Midwest conference beat each other up every week, denying their conference from producing any truly dominant squad.

The structure of the conference breaks the twelve teams into two divisions and has the winners of each play one another in a championship game. This has both positive and negative aspects in that the winner gets an automatic bid to the BCS, but the loser of the bowl contest gets an extraneous loss tacked onto its record. In most cases this extra loss can be debilitating, in terms of nabbing a BCS bid, to a team that is the second best in an excellent conference, making this championship game wack. Occasionally a fluke takes place, like when Nebraska lost the championship game yet still earned a bid to go to the National Championship. But do not look for that to happen again.

Just when you think you have a National Championship contender like Oklahoma, a fairytale team such as Texas A&M, which has no shot at the title, comes through and picks up a victory. This has been the story of the Big 12 all season: a juggernaut is on fire and some young upstart team gets big for one game and ruins a contender's season.

Nine of the conference's 12 teams are bowl-eligible with over .500 records, but only six at most will get a bid. This competitive nature has last year's national runner-up Nebraska playing average ball. Oklahoma was supposed to be undefeated this season with Texas not far behind, but the Big 12 won't allow it. Oklahoma's loss to A&M and Texas' losses to Oklahoma and Texas Tech have the conference big guns fighting for a BCS bid and most likely losing the battle.

Colorado and Kansas State lead the Big 12 north, with a 6-1 and 6-2 conference record respectively. Colorado beat Kansas State, so they have clinched the championship game, but the Jayhawks might be the best team that will not get a crack at the BCS. They have pummeled teams in recent games and deserve to be mentioned with the nation's elite. Colorado has bounced back from another slow start and behind running back Chris Brown, returns to its second consecutive Big 12 championship. While the Buffalo will not see Tempe, a victory against Okalahoma assures them a spot in a BCS game.

Iowa State was a ferocious competitor at the beginning of the season, barely getting edged by Florida State in the first game of the season and beating Rose Bowl-bound Iowa. But since then, the Cyclones have struggled to a 4-4 conference record, culminating the lackluster season last week with a loss against U. Conn, a team that has only been in Division I for three years.

Texas Tech has one of the country's best quarterbacks, Kliff Kingsbury, but lacks the championship punch on the defensive end. Kingsbury kills defenses, tossing for 42 touchdowns in 13 games; the defense has equally surrendered scores, making the Red Raiders a touch above average.

It is a shame that only two of these teams at most will get a BCS bid because Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas State, and Texas that have all played at a level worthy of greatness. From top to bottom, the Big 12 is the toughest conference of the year; if you have not checked out a conference battle, do so because the season is almost complete.