Welcome to the other side of the fence. The grass isn't greener. This year, the Big XII is what the Big East was. It's brutal and deep. The result is that teams like UT and OU, see their profiles propped up by wins over ranked teams. Since OU just beat Ok St., it's hard to argue their spot. People used to bitch about UConn's high ranking, despite a relatively higher number of losses than other schools in other conferences.
The simple reality is that without the strong schedule, you cannot lose to a Houston. It kills the perception. Our losses to PC over the years never hurt us, because we were beating good teams as well. Beating UCF and Temple doesn't make up for a Houston loss. Beating UL would have, and we failed. That's the real world now.
We need to crush Houston tonight, and should, and then beat Cinci. That is imperative. Of the remainging four games with UL, Cinci x2 and Memphis, we can only lose one to stay ranked. I'm not counting on beating UL on the road, since they are in our heads and take our guys out of our game so thoroughly.