Another Saturday, another top 12 opponent for Mack Brown’s Texas Longhorns.

No. 1 Texas will play a team ranked 12th or higher for the fourth week in a row when it travels to Lubbock to face No. 6 Texas Tech this weekend. The Longhorns are in their third week as the top-ranked team.

“The label of No. 1 is hard to get and it’s harder to keep,” Brown said.

Last week, Texas played then No. 6 Oklahoma State and narrowly escaped with a 28-24 victory. Now it goes on the road for what could be the most important game in Texas Tech history. Just don’t try to get coach Mike Leach to say that.

“I don’t rank ‘em, there’s no way to rank ‘em,” he said. “They’re all important and exciting to prepare for.”

College Gameday will be in Texas for the game and there are sure to be some fantastic features on the two quarterbacks. Longhorn quarterback Colt McCoy leads the country with an 81.8 completion percentage, while Red Raider passer Graham Harrell leads the nation in passing yards per game with 393.4.

Brown loves his signal-caller, but he also had nothing but praise for Leach’s guy.

“Graham is so accurate and smart and so competitive,” Brown said. “Graham is probably the best quarterback they’ve had there.

BCS: Broken and Confusing System

Think you’re the only one who doesn’t understand how the BCS rankings work? Turns out you’re in pretty good company.

The topic of computer rankings has come up a few times in the last two weeks, and a pair of high-profile coaches echoed the cries of many college football fans across the country.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, whose team is No. 9 in the BCS this week, said his sons figure out the Cowboys’ rank and call him each Sunday morning.

“I don’t understand how it works,” Gundy said. “I just know that if you win enough games, you stay up where you want to be ranked.”

Last week computer rankings were brought up to Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. The Red Raiders are ranked seventh in the BCS, but their computer average is lower than three teams ranked below them.

Asked if he thought the computers were underestimating his team, Leach responded the way only he can.

“I don’t know, I try to avoid computers as much as I can,” he said. “Obviously, you need somebody around that knows how to run a computer and your video is on computers, but to me anything involving computers is very frustrating so I ignore to every extent that I can.

“It’s not like I can send a repair man or somebody to fix them.”

Brad Smith, Part Deux

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel’s former do-everything quarterback Brad Smith is now a do-everything wide receiver for the New York Jets.

This week, Pinkel’s squad plays Baylor, which has its own über-talented quarterback in freshman Robert Griffin. Pinkel said he sees a lot of similarities between Griffin and Smith.

“Griffin is an exceptional athlete who carries himself well for a young player,” Pinkel said. “Watching film, it’s obvious this guy’s got a great future.”

Griffin won the 400-meter hurdle conference title on the Bears’ track team and in 175 pass attempts he has yet to throw an interception. During Monday’s Big 12 teleconference, Pinkel was asked how to slow Griffin down.

“That’s the right term, you try to slow him down,” Pinkel said. “You don’t stop a guy like him. You have to contain him, make sure he can’t get out and run. He can break a defense down.”

Freshman Phenom

Oklahoma middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds was a preseason Big 12 All-American, and his season-ending injury was supposed to ravage the Sooners’ linebacking corps.

Enter freshman Travis Lewis.

Lewis ranks second in the conference with 10.4 tackles per game, third in the conference with three interceptions and also has 3.5 sacks.

Last week he notched 15 total tackles, two tackles for loss and two interceptions. The performance earned him Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.

“He’s really come on and been a great player for us,” Oklahoma coach Stoops said. “He’s been very consistent.”

— - Edited by Scott Toland