One of the many lessons Your Humble Correspondent has learned in covering the Bowl Championship Series for the past 11 seasons is take nothing for granted.

The much cussed/discussed flap over the Big 12 South Division tiebreaker using the BCS standings? A week ago, most of us were writing about the difference that the votes in the two human polls would make. Turns out that the 175 voters basically needed their own tiebreaker. The six computers in the BCS formula beeped and whirred and decided Oklahoma would finish ahead of Texas and thus play in Saturday's Dr Pepper Football Championship game in Kansas City.

The next assumption YHC has made is that the winner of Saturday's Southeastern Conference championship game matching No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Florida will earn a spot in the BCS national championship game. If the Crimson Tide win to go 13-0, that's an assumption you can take to the bank (assuming you can find one that's solvent).

However, there's a scenario - and there's no such thing as a college football season without hundreds of scenarios - where Oklahoma wins the Big 12 championship game, advances to the BCS title game where it would face ...

Texas.

Keep in mind that the BCS system is designed to match the nation's two best teams in a national title game. Conference ties don't matter.

So how could there be a Red River Rivalry rematch?

Florida beats Alabama Saturday but isn't impressive doing so. Those voters who have listed the Tide No. 1 would have to decide to shift their votes either to Oklahoma ... or to Texas, the team that gave the Sooners their only loss.

The Gators trail No. 3 Texas, .9223 to .8851 in the BCS standings and .940 to .820 in the current computer averages (the computers have Texas No. 2 overall, with Florida No. 6). In the two human polls, Florida has a significant lead in the Harris poll while Texas is just 11 points ahead in the coaches' poll.

Jerry Palm, who runs collegebcs.com and knows as much about the BCS as anyone, says Florida will gain significant ground in the computers but he doesn't say that Florida will pass Texas in the computers. That would (apparently) leave the decision to the voters. Palm says there's "no way" for Texas to remain ahead of Florida if the Gators beat 'Bama.

Maybe so. But after spending the week hearing and reading how the Longhorns were gored unfairly in the Big 12 tiebreaker, might the voters decide to give Texas a break and another shot at Oklahoma? Or is this just another Texas Tease, a week of waiting for disappointment?

In 2006, No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Michigan in the season finale. Florida coach Urban Meyer lobbied for his third-ranked team to move ahead of the Wolverines in the BCS rankings. Voters, who apparently didn't want a BCS title game replay between two teams that had just played, drank the Gatorade.

This is a different season, different situation. Ohio State was undefeated and Michigan's only loss came against the Buckeyes. If Oklahoma beats Missouri Saturday, the Sooners will be 12-1 and Texas will be 11-1. If the voters want to parse losses, the Gators' only loss has come at home to Ole Miss, an 8-4 team. The Longhorns' only loss came on the road at Texas Tech, an 11-1 team.

If Florida beats Alabama, don't assume the Gators get an instant free pass to the BCS title game. Waiting for the final BCS standings could be another Sunday of drama and trauma.

CSI: Austin and Columbia
Capt. Tom Dresner, interim police chief of the Columbia (Mo.) Police Department, said he planned to issue arrest warrants for Kansas' football team. Something about a robbery involving the Jayhawks stealing a victory from Missouri in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium.

Dresner sent a news release to Lawrence (Kans.) police chief Ron Olin stating that Columbia's Major Crimes Unit plans to send the warrants.

There's also a legal sense of humor in Austin, Texas, but there's some bitterness between the (laugh) lines.

University of Texas campus police listed the following "incident" as the eighth item in Monday's crime blotter:

"Robbery: Several UT staff members, faculty, students, and Texas Ex's discovered a fraction of a percentage point had been taken and was transported across state lines. The percentage point was discovered north of the Red River at the campus of another Big 12 South University."

Injury updates
* The career of Missouri senior cornerback Castine Bridges is over. He tore the meniscus in his right knee in Saturday's loss to Kansas and will have surgery that will requires at least four months of recovery time. Bridges considered a surgery that might have allowed him to play in the Tigers' bowl game. His loss is another blow to a Missouri secondary that will be severely tested by Oklahoma Saturday.

* It appears that Oklahoma sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford will have surgery after Saturday's game to repair ligament damage in his left hand. The surgery will not keep Bradford from playing in a bowl game. Bradford was injured on the third series of Saturday's game with Oklahoma State. OU operated out of the shotgun formation after that but the injury contributed to two fumbles when Bradford was under center.

* Oklahoma redshirt freshman linebacker Austin Box suffered a sprained knee against Oklahoma State and won't play Saturday against Missouri. Box has been playing in place of Ryan Reynolds, who was lost for the season after hurting his knee in the Texas game.

* Sophomore defensive end Auston English, who has missed the Sooners' last three games with a sprained knee, might play against Missouri Saturday.

Awards watch
* More trophy talk for Big 12 quarterbacks. Five of the 10 finalists for the Manning Award, presented to college football's top quarterbacks, are from the Big 12: Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, Chase Daniel of Missouri, Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, Colt McCoy of Texas, and Zac Robinson of Oklahoma State. The Manning Award is the only major trophy that takes into account bowl games; the winner will be announced in January.

* Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson is one of five finalists for the Broyles Award that is given annually to the top assistant coach in Division I-A football. The winner will be announced on Dec. 9. Wilson was a finalist for the award in 2000 when he was an assistant coach at Northwestern.

* Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo, who was named the Big 12's defensive player of the year, is one of four finalists for the Lott Trophy, given to a defensive player who excels on and off the field. Other finalists include Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry, Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis and Florida State safety Myron Rolle. The winner will be announced Dec. 14.

Short yardage
* Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel told reporters Monday that he had an hour-long phone conversation with Texas quarterback Colt McCoy after the announcement that Oklahoma had won the tiebreaker and would play the Tigers in the Big 12 Championship Game. "He was crushed," Daniel said of his friend. "Obviously he's pulling for us to win." A Missouri victory could put Texas in the BCS national championship game.

* Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford set the NCAA Division I-A record for touchdown passes by a freshman with 36 last season. His 46 TD passes in 2008 is an Oklahoma single-season record and gives him another I-A record. Bradford's 82 touchdown passes in his first two seasons shatters the previous record of 55 held by Florida's Rex Grossman.

* Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell underwent surgery Sunday to repair nine breaks in two fingers of his left (non-throwing) hand. He is not expected to miss the Red Raiders' bowl games. , but he won't miss any playing time. The surgery involved placing 17 pins and two plates into the pinkie and ring finger.

* Iowa State football coach Gene Chizik demoted defensive coordinator Wayne Bolt and offensive coordinator Robert McFarland; both assistants will remain on staff. He also dismissed quarterback coach Tony Petersen and secondary coach Shawn Raney. Chizik said a national search to replace both coordinators.

* USC coach Pete Carroll on Oklahoma winning the tiebreaker to advance to the Big 12 championship game despite the fact the Sooners lost to Texas, 45-35, on Oct. 11: "That doesn't make any sense at all. That's wrong in my book."