Everybody wants to be judged on a level playing field, unless the one doing the judging is the BCS.

The Southeastern Conference knows all about that.

In college football, whether they say it or not, all of the conferences strive to match the popularity and success that football has achieved in the SEC. The passionate fans, the tradition and the difficulty of the conference’s teams are all areas that the schools of the SEC take great pride in.

However, the Big 12 is doing its best to challenge the SEC as the strongest conference in football. The debate will most likely rage on for the majority of the season, but there is a side effect to increased success of the Big 12.

The SEC has witnessed it firsthand for a number of years. When a conference has six teams ranked in the top 16, as the Big 12 does and the SEC certainly has before, the teams tend to beat up on each other and hurt everyone’s chance at a national title.

With so many talented teams in the conference this season, even in the middle tier, it’s unlikely a national title contender will emerge from the Big 12.

Despite the SEC’s ability to bring home national championships with a two-loss LSU team last year and a one-loss Florida team two years ago, history doesn’t bode well for this year’s top conference squads.

In the 10 years since the inception of the BCS system of selecting a national champion, only three times has a team with a loss on its record won the national title. Last year, the only team with two losses to ever compete for a title in the BCS was the LSU Tigers.

After watching Saturday’s conference clashes, it’s hard to have any confidence that a team will go undefeated in the Big 12. A one-loss season even seems like an extremely daunting task because of highly talented teams within the conference.

Texas’ victory against Oklahoma, paired with Oklahoma State’s victory against Missouri, should have gotten Big 10, Pac-10 and even SEC executives excited about national title chances. In both games the lower ranked team emerged victorious, but both contests could have gone either way.

It seems as though only a turnover here or a first down there could have swung the momentum in the favor of the other team. The bad news for the Big 12 is that last week was just the beginning.

The three undefeated teams remaining — Texas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech — haven’t played each other yet. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech must both take on Oklahoma, and Texas Tech will also face the unenviable task of trying to break the 13-game home winning streak Kansas is riding at Memorial Stadium in two weeks.

Although Texas just knocked off No. 1 Oklahoma, its schedule doesn’t get easier anytime soon. The Longhorns will match up against the Big 12 North’s top two teams, Missouri and Kansas, as well as take on the two other undefeated teams in the south.

Another factor to consider is the unpredictable upset. It would be very naïve to assume that two or three of the mediocre Big 12 teams don’t knock off one of the conference’s top dogs before the end of the year — especially after watching Nebraska go to Texas Tech and force overtime last week. Dangerous quarterback Robert Griffin and his Baylor Bears will get a crack at all three undefeated teams before it’s all settled.

With all theses obstacles looming in the Big 12, other conferences have to like their chances. The road for the Penn State Nittany Lions and legendary coach Joe Paterno looks much easier. Having already knocked off Illinois when they were ranked No. 22, the Lions have their most difficult games at No. 12 Ohio State and at home against No. 20 Michigan State. If Penn State can sneak through those two games, a national title spot is theirs for the taking.

Another team always in the national title picture, USC, likes what it sees developing the Big 12. The Trojans were upset by Oregon State only a few weeks ago, but if the Big 12 beats up on itself enough, their odds to compete for another title are good.

No. 6 USC is already ranked above two of the Big 12’s undefeated squads, and its schedule looks promising. The Trojans have only one ranked team on their remaining schedule — a home showdown with No. 25 California.

However, this isn’t completely new to the Big 12. It has seen conference teams knock each other silly before. In 2002, the final BCS rankings had four teams ranked between No. 7 and No. 13. Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas State and Colorado all suffered from competing in a well-rounded conference.

Miami, the losing team in the 2002 national championship, was a good team. However, its road to the title was significantly easier. No. 14 Florida State was the only other ACC team ranked in BCS final standings as well as the only ranked team that Miami took on during the season.

Sometimes not everyone gets a fair shake of things. Just think about overtime in the NFL. In the end, the Big 12 will get the recognition of being one of the top two conferences in college football this season. Some might even truly recognize how difficult it is and proclaim it as the best in the land.

However, the conference won’t be able to claim that any Big 12 team is the nation’s best at the end of the year because of it.

— — Edited by Lauren Keith