DALLAS — Picking the top quarterback on the All-Big 12 team was about as difficult as figuring out the South Division champion. But the result was the same: Oklahoma.
Although Texas’ Colt McCoy was chosen offensive player of the year by the 20 voters in balloting conducted by The Associated Press, the same group picked Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford over McCoy for the first-team spot on the all-conference squad released Thursday.
Bradford won by a point.
Here’s how the voting played out, with the ground rules first:
• The AP uses a panel of writers who regularly cover the Big 12 for newspapers across the conference’s seven states. Each gets to pick one first-team quarterback and one second-teamer. The first-team vote is worth two points, the second-team vote is worth one.
• Bradford got nine first-team votes, 10 for second team and was left off one ballot. That’s 28 points.
• McCoy got 10 first-team votes, seven for second team and was left off three. That’s 27.
Like the Big 12 race, Texas Tech was the spoiler.
Red Raiders quarterback Graham Harrell was the only other quarterback to get a vote. He picked up four, one for first team and three for second team. Thus, the race swung on whether the Harrell supporters had McCoy or Bradford as their other choice.
Three went with Bradford and one with McCoy.
Bradford and McCoy both were named on 16 ballots. Nine favored McCoy over Bradford, seven went the other way.
