Coaches should not be allowed to vote in polls of the sport they coach.

For one thing, there is an inherent conflict of interest. For motivational reasons for his own team, a coach might vote a future opponent higher or lower than he otherwise would have voted that team. Even if that doesn’t go on, coaches evidently are too busy to take the responsibility of voting seriously. How else can Texas, which is overrated at No. 19 in the college football Associated Press poll, be ranked as high as No. 16 in the coach’s poll?

Compare Texas’ season to that of Steve Spurrier-coached South Carolina, which headed into Thursday night’s game against Kentucky having lost once, at LSU, 28-16. The Gamecocks won at Georgia, 16-2, which otherwise hasn’t lost and has won at Alabama and at home against Oklahoma State.

The most impressive victory for Texas came at home against Texas Christian University, which the next week lost at Air Force. The Longhorns also had a tough time with Arkansas State, and of course, were drubbed by Kansas State, 41-21, in Austin.

Yet, the coaches had South Carolina ranked No. 18, one spot behind undefeated Missouri (4-0), which also deserves to be ranked ahead of Texas.

And of course the most ridiculous evidence of all: Kansas State did not make the coaches’ top 25 after thoroughly humiliating the Longhorns.

Predictions for Saturday’s Big 12 games:

Kansas 31, Kansas State 24: When one team is coming off a bye and the other isn’t in this series, the bye team has gone 5-0.

Missouri 38, Nebraska 37: The Cornhuskers’ eight-game winning streak against North opponents, dating back to the loss at Kansas two seasons ago, ends. Love the Tigers or hate them, there is no denying they are among the most exciting teams in the country, thanks to quarterback Chase Daniel and his talented targets and to a defense too shaky to enable Mizzou to score blowouts against good teams.

Oklahoma 38, Texas 28: Will the coaches keep the Longhorns in their top 25 after the Sooners win the Red River Shootout?

Baylor 21, Colorado 20: The Buffs are a young team given to inconsistent play, which makes it surprising that the oddsmakers have made them eight-point favorites against a Baylor team that can move the ball in the air when daring, unpredictable quarterback Blake Szymanski is having a good day.

Texas Tech 42, Iowa State 17: Pity the poor Cyclones who after getting blown out here will get blown out by Texas and then Oklahoma. Don’t look for Iowa State’s average of three turnovers per game go down any time soon.

Texas A&M 28, Oklahoma State 24: This one’s a wild guess. I didn’t have a spare $1,200 to drop on Aggies coach Dennis Franchione’s insider newsletter jammed with injury updates (in violation of HIPAA law), academic updates (also in violation of federal law) and plenty of other delightful nuggets that undoubtedly helped wealthy gamblers pad their pockets.

Nobody could have guessed the winner of this game would emerge as sole holder of first place in the Big 12 South.