Big 12 heavyweights Texas and Oklahoma square off

• Texas coach Mack Brown calls annual game against Oklahoma "the most important game of the year"
• Longhorns and Sooners both find themselves in unfamiliar position of playing catch-up in Big 12
• Loser of Red River Rivalry will likely be eliminated from contention for the Big 12 title

DALLAS — Unlike so many coaches, Mack Brown does not mind admitting the obvious: Some games have an extra edge, and added importance, no matter the external implications.

Texas vs. Oklahoma certainly qualifies.

"Both teams will play it like it is the most important game of the year," the Longhorns' coach said during his weekly news conference.

Most years — at least in the Big 12 — it is. Not Saturday, though.

Though both teams are ranked (Oklahoma is No. 10, Texas No. 15), they're also blemished. The national spotlight is mostly focused elsewhere.

The Red River Rivalry is probably an elimination for the loser — not in the BCS, but in the Big 12.

Since Brown and Bob Stoops began squaring off during the State Fair of Texas, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas has usually been a battle between the conference's best teams and often a de facto playoff round in the BCS championship race.

In nine of the last 13 years — dating to Stoops' arrival at Oklahoma; Brown started at Texas a year earlier — either Oklahoma (seven times) or Texas (twice) has won the Big 12 title. Four times, it has matched Top 5 teams. Five times, the winner has played in the BCS championship game — and once, the loser (Oklahoma in 2008).

But Oklahoma (3-1, 1-1 Big 12) lost Sept. 22 to Kansas State. Texas (4-1,1-1) lost last week to West Virginia. Not coincidentally, those are the Big 12's leaders and current contenders in the BCS title chase.

Meanwhile, the conference's traditional heavyweights find themselves in an unfamiliar position: playing catch-up.

Although you could make a case for the Sooners or 'Horns to find their way back into the race for the crystal football — both are brand names, which is big in a system predicated in large part on cosmetic appeal — at this point, there's plenty enough ground to make up in the conference race.

"In my estimation we could see a conference champion with one or maybe two losses this year, the way this league is," Brown said, "because there's so much parity in the league. So this game is really important."

A Big 12 champ with two losses? Probably not.

Which in a way, makes Brown even more correct: This game remains really important.

"It doesn't have any different feel," Stoops said during his weekly news conference. "Not in my eyes."