ESPN.com: Big 12

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Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

It's summertime and the stories are supposed to be drying up across college football.

That might be true everywhere except the Big 12, where we have all kinds of stories popping up these days. Here are some of the most notable after the weekend.

• Texas Monthly's Paul Burka wonders if Texas Gov. Rick Perry could end up in Texas A&M's academic administration after Elsa Murano resigned as Texas A&M's on Sunday. And the San Antonio Express-News/Houston Chronicle's Brent Zwerneman relates an interesting anecdote involving Perry and Texas A&M football coach Mike Sherman.
• An analysis conducted by the Birmingham News indicates that the Big 12 was last among the six BCS-affiliated conferences with only 26 percent of its games played from 2006 through 2008 coming against opponents from the BCS-affiliated conferences.
• The Tulsa World has a great series of stories on Barry Switzer's departure from Oklahoma 20 seasons ago. Bill Haisten profiles Switzer and his thoughts about the Oklahoma program. John Hoover has an extensive Q&A session with Charles Thompson, the once-vilified former Oklahoma quarterback who now is a family man and a motivational speaker. And columnist Dave Sittler writes that Switzer was a pioneer in fostering race relations.
• Paul Myerburg of the New York Times' great blog "The Quad" ranks Baylor as the 79th best team in college football and predicts a 5-7 season for the Bears this season. Sound familiar?
• Ryan Faller of Examiner.com wonders if expanding Faurot Field is a necessity as the Missouri program attempts to keep pace with other Big 12 powers.
• The Oklahoman's John Rohde details the extensive renovations at Boone Pickens Stadium at Oklahoma State.
• The 2005 Texas national championship team and the 2000 Oklahoma team rank among the bottom feeders in a reader's poll commissioned by the Orlando Sentinel to pick the best team of the last decade.
• The Tulsa World's Dave Sittler writes that Bob Stoops will test his "Riverboat Gambler" reputation by allowing Justin Chaisson to enroll at Oklahoma.
• Stephen Montemayor of the University Daily Kansan tempers some of his preseason excitement about Kansas by looking at several past trends.
• New Kansas State athletic director John Currie is taking an active role in communicating with Wildcat fans in a variety of forms, Manhattan Mercury sports editor Joshua Kinder reports.
• Why stop at "10 wins and no excuses" for the upcoming season? Colorado coach Dan Hawkins details some of his upcoming plans to the Denver Post's Chris Dempsey.
• The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Sherrington writes about the late Joe Boyd, a former All-Southwest Conference player at Texas A&M who later became a celebrated evangelist for six decades.