re: LSU vs. OU in Cotton?

To clarify for the uninformed in here:

1. All BCS conference champions have a protected bid to the BCS. They cannot be unseated by anyone else and they must be selected at some point.
2. The highest-rated non-BCS-conference champ in the top 16 gets a similarly-protected at large bid if they're ranked higher than at least 1 BCS conference champion.

Both of these are the case, with the six champs and Kent State, assuming they win the MAC championship this weekend (as the OP explained). That leaves 3 bids. Notre Dame is #1 so there's one bid, Florida and Oregon are both going as 1-loss teams for the other 2.

Oklahoma is not going to the BCS. Thus, they could be picked by the Cotton.

However, the Cotton Bowl will almost certainly put together Texas A&M and Texas. There's nothing especially compelling about TAMU-Big 10. That doesn't mean they won't be selected, but it does mean that they're certainly no lock to be picked for the Cap One Bowl. Meanwhile, the two Big 10 candidates for the Cap One Bowl (Michigan and Nebraska) both have minor appeal as a matchup with LSU. LSU is also known to travel really well to the Cap One Bowl, where TAMU, though known to travel well, isn't known to travel well to the Cap One Bowl (they haven't been; they're an unknown). I'd think Cap One bid goes to LSU and that the Cotton Bowl is able to put together Texas-TAMU.