Oklahoma players Calvin Thibodeaux, left, and Reggie Smith (3) try to recover a fumble by Colorado quarterback Bernard Jackson in a game the Sooners won, 24-3, Saturday in Norman, Okla.

This may be new: While Colorado University’s football team is eliminated from bowl eligibility, the possibility still exists for a Big 12 Conference championship – and a subsequent BCS berth.

How, you ask?

At 1-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play, the Buffaloes won’t get to .500 in the regular season.

But if they win out and get some help, they can still finish 5-3 in the league, win the Big 12 North and play in the Big 12 championship game Dec. 2 in Kansas City, Mo.

To take it one step further, if Colorado wins that, the Big 12 would have a league champion with a 6-7 overall record.

OK, so it’s not likely. But Colorado isn’t an ordinary 1-7 football team, either. Those kind of squads don’t beat Texas Tech, 30-6, like the Buffs did Oct. 14.

“They’re kind of like us,” KU linebacker Arist Wright said. “They’re losing tight ones like us. They’re a good team. We can’t say that just because of their record, they’re not a good team.”

It’s what coaches and players are supposed to say, sure, but there’s a touch of truth to it. Colorado has struggled to score points on offense, but it also has stopped the run quite effectively – better than all but 14 teams in Division I-A.

The key for KU, then, is to get some scores and clamp down on a CU offense that has scored more than 14 points in a game only twice in eight tries.

One way to do that is by flustering CU quarterback Bernard Jackson.

In last week’s 24-3 victory, Oklahoma often blitzed to rattle Jackson. Agile as he is, Jackson avoided getting sacked by the Sooners. But his pass numbers were terrible, too: 3-of-14 passing for 39 yards and an interception.

Both Jackson and CU coach Dan Hawkins admitted that Oklahoma’s effectiveness at bewildering Jackson might be copied by other teams, including KU today.

“I hope so, because there was some pressure they did that left a whole bunch of guys wide-open that I didn’t get to,” Jackson told the Boulder Daily Camera. “If they do it this week, I’ll be well prepared for it. I’m sure if they do it, we’ll keep throwing the ball and be successful.”

The Buffalos haven’t had success through the air yet – their 107.9 passing yards per game is ranked 115th out of 119 Division I-A teams. But the intriguing thing is that KU’s pass defense is just as bad, ranked 118th in I-A.

Whichever unit can stop the massive leak might have the most success today in Lawrence – and, subsequently, earn an elusive victory in what seems like two doomed seasons.

“They have talented players,” KU coach Mark Mangino said of Colorado. “You can see that they’re progressing and getting better.”