Remember back in August when Oklahoma was crying about getting screwed by the refs in the third game of the season, a 34-33 loss at Oregon?

In that contest, Oregon recovered a kick, which they should have been penalized for because they touched the ball before it went the requisite 10 yards, yet it wasn’t overturned after being reviewed and got a pass interference call that clearly should not have been flagged.

As the month has turned to December, their complaints look more valid by the day.

The missed calls haven’t completely ruined the Sooner season, as they managed to win their last eight games to finish 11-2 and earn a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

But they could have been playing in a certain other bowl in Glendale, the BCS National Championship Game.

At 12-1 at the worst, they would have at least been in the conversation over which one-loss team should oppose No. 1 Ohio State in that contest. Although it appears unlikely they would have leapfrogged No. 2 Florida with its monster Southeastern Conference schedule, things certainly would have been more interesting in Norman.

Also, the No. 7 Sooners were clearly pretty down after the loss to the Ducks.

School president David Boren, athletic director Joe Castiglione and head coach Bob Stoops complained bitterly, going so far as to threaten to cancel the team’s scheduled contest at Pacific 10 Conference school Washington next year.

Even fans of Arizona, whose head coach Mike Stoops is Bob’s younger brother, chanted “”Ok-la-ho-ma!”” when they felt the refs jilted their Wildcats.

The talk of the nation centered on whether these complaints had gone too far, which couldn’t have made it too easy to prepare for then-No. 7 Texas.

Also, at that point Oklahoma knew that for the most part, any legitimate chance of playing for the national championship was likely over. If this weren’t the case, the Longhorn game may have had a little different outcome.

Obviously a win there would put Oklahoma at 13-0 and make them the opponent of Ohio State instead of No. 9 Boise State in Glendale in January.

At this point it’s too late for anything to happen on this issue, but Stoops and Co. had every reason to complain, if only so that this doesn’t happen to some other poor contender next year.

The NCAA needs to do something to improve the process of instant replay.

Sure, you’re still dealing with humans, and humans make errors, but when you get to see a play in slow motion from a number of different camera angles, you can’t let the refs decide a season, which often happens on one play in college football (like the interception thrown by then-No. 2 USC’s John David Booty Saturday against UCLA).

Maybe that means giving a league official authority to go against an official’s ruling if he sees that it’s egregiously wrong.

In any case, for the sake of college football, let’s hope the NCAA makes sure nobody gets “”Oklahoma’d”” next year.