ESPN College Football

It's going to be a long travel day today for me with more time spent in airports than I can remember.

But I wouldn't think of leaving for my travels without packing a tasty collection of Big 12 links for sampling later in the day.

Hopefully, these will make it through airport security -- unlike some of my other pack-for-the-trip snacks.

• Mark Mangino fired back at his critics on his weekly radio show last night. But the Kansas City Star’s Brady McCollough reports that some of the same charges that are being levied against the embattled Mangino also were heard at his first head coaching job -- 20 years ago.
• The Austin American-Statesman’s Kirk Bohls isn’t ready to place Colt McCoy at the top of the pantheon of Texas quarterbacks -- yet.
• The Kansas City Star’s Blair Kerkhoff looks at the type of candidates that a potential opening at Kansas might attract -- and where it might legitimately be placed on open jobs.
• Ivan Maisel’s "Three-point stance" mentions that Texas A&M’s switch from R.C. Slocum is indicative that change isn’t necessarily always good. The Aggies are 41-42 since Slocum was fired.
• Neill Woelk of the Boulder Camera writes that Colorado played valiantly against Oklahoma State Thursday night, but did not play or coach smart.
• What would happen if Kansas stuns Texas on Saturday, the Lawence Journal-World’s Tom Keegan wonders.
• Brace yourself. Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News reports that USC and Texas are talking about a home-and-home series for the 2017-18 season.
• Kansas State quarterback Grant Gregory tells the Omaha World-Herald’s Mitch Sherman that he can’t wait to check out Memorial Stadium in his passion for college football stadiums.
• Bo Pelini teles The Lincoln Journal Star’s Steve Sipple takes he expects “a crazy year” on the coaching carousel.
• Samuel McKewon of the Nebraska State Paper.com writes how tough words can get coaches in trouble.