ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

A bracingly crisp October morning greets us across the heartland today. It's hard to remember when the Big 12's national reputation was as rosy as it currently is. 

"College GameDay" is in Austin this morning to start the hype for Texas-Missouri later this evening. Kansas-Oklahoma will be meeting before that in another crucial battle of two of the nation's top 16 clubs. Old rivals Texas A&M and Texas Tech will be hooking up to renew their bitter rivalry. A record crowd should be attending Oklahoma State's game against Baylor in Stillwater, Okla.

National writers are tripping over themselves writing superlatives about the conference.

Life is good for Dan Beebe, indeed.

Here are a few links to get you going before the games today.

• Beating Texas in Austin today would provide the first "really big win" of Gary Pinkel's tenure at Missouri, Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes.
• Another attendance record could come today at Boone Pickens Stadium as Oklahoma State's success is drawing in thousands of new "bandwagon fans" for the Cowboys, the Oklahoman's Scott Wright writes.
• Although Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne's BlackBerry has been buzzing about his team's recent struggles, he knows that coach Mike Sherman's rebuilding job will take time, according to the Dallas Morning News' Kate Hairopoulos.
• Considering the Big 12's glittering reputation as an offensive powerhouse, Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel writes that Bo Pelini must take a defensive path to rebuilding Nebraska.
• With a 7-1 edge in intra-division games, Blair Kerkhoff of the Kansas City Star writes that the Big 12 South Division again is emerging as more powerful than the North Division.
• Oklahoma defensive coordiantor Brent Venables is drawing criticism because the Sooners gave up one more touchdown and three more yards last week than Texas' defense, Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel writes.