No one likes to talk about them. We’re supposed to imagine they’re unimportant, non-existent and irrelevant.

Coaches act like they are unaware of their significance, but behind the scenes they know they can be their greatest ally.

They’re style points, and they may be more important over the next two weeks than they’ve ever been.

Ever since Texas Tech won back-to-back games against Texas and Oklahoma State, the talk among college football analysts has been about what will happen if the Big 12 South ends in a three-way tie.

As has been widely discussed over the past week, if that scenario occurs, the team with the highest BCS ranking will go to the Big 12 title game in Kansas City.

But the question is, who will end up with that highly regarded spot in the BCS? Logic says it could be the Sooners, despite the fact that they are currently behind both the Red Raiders and the Longhorns.

If the Sooners successfully finish the rest of the season undefeated, they will have won consecutive games on national television over the No. 2 and No. 12 teams in the country in the last two games of the year, with one of those victories on the road.

Meanwhile, in this scenario, Tech will have a loss and then will face Baylor while Texas has a bye before taking on Texas A&M. Neither of those opponents will do anything to help Texas or Tech’s strength of schedule.

Speaking of strength of schedule, the Sooners should have an advantage because they played a non-conference schedule that included two teams — Cincinnati and TCU — in the top 25 that could potentially win their conferences.

Neither Texas nor Tech played a top-25 team during their non-conference schedules.

However, the important thing to remember is that the computers make up 1/3 of the BCS rankings.

The other 2/3 belongs to human polls, and you never want to leave “logic” up to humans.

The fact is, OU should be able to get to the Big 12 title by just winning the next two games, but that’s not a sure thing. Many voters will say OU’s lone loss (by 10 points to Texas on a neutral field) is worse than Texas’ loss (on a last-second Texas Tech touchdown on the road).

The point is, every human out there has their own opinion and their own motivation to vote for one team or another.

The coaches’ poll counts for part of the BCS formula, and Mack Brown and Mike Leach will be voting (Bob Stoops does not participate in the coach’s poll).

Even more disturbing is that in the final two weeks the coaches can vote anonymously.

So what it comes down to is, even if the computers have OU ranked ahead of Texas and Texas Tech, it’s not a sure thing that OU will make it to Kansas City.

The only option is to keep winning, and if at all possible, win big.

Style points are what will impress voters. Most voters don’t have time to watch all college football games every Saturday; they just check box scores. So no matter how it happens, beating Texas Tech by double digits will look better than a one-point victory.

Beating Oklahoma State by 21, even if it all comes by throwing bombs in the fourth quarter, will look better than a one-touchdown win.

The only way for the Sooners to secure a spot in the Big 12 title game is to make sure most voters favor them in the Big 12 South. It’s so important that I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some different coaching out of Stoops in the next few weeks.

Sam Bradford has been pulled early in almost every game this season, but if OU somehow gets a big lead next Saturday, I don’t think the Sooners will roll out the second-teamers and run straight up the middle three times before punting.

OU can’t afford to let the score be any closer than it has to be. Trust me, I realize that above all else, winning is what’s important. If the Sooners drop either of the next two games they will lose their Big 12 and national title hopes entirely.

But whether you want to admit it or not, style points are going to rear their ugly head in the next few weeks. Because right now, they’re more important than ever.

— Steven Jones is a language arts education junior.