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Despite a slow start against SMU, the TCU Horned Frogs still managed to move up a spot and into the top 10 of the AP poll, which was released today. The Horned Frogs still have to play No. 18 BYU later this month. One non-BCS contender fell out of contention as Houston's loss to UTEP dropped the Cougars from No. 12 to out of the top 25.

TCU's move up the rankings coincides with a one-spot drop for Boise State, with Virginia Tech moving past them and into fifth. So TCU is four spots behind Boise State in the battle for the top non-BCS spot.

Oklahoma, which lost at Miami on Saturday, is the only two-loss team still in the top 25. The Sooners are No. 19, one spot behind BYU, which beat Oklahoma earlier in the season.

Texas remains No. 2, earning one first-place vote. Other Big 12 teams: Oklahoma State is No. 15, Kansas No. 16, Nebraska No. 21 and Missouri No. 24.

Now that it's the morning after all the Big 12 South and local action, here a few random thoughts (I welcome yours):

-- We all wondered how Texas A&M would handle the spotlight for the first time this season. What we found out is that while the Aggies have improved, there's work to do. Arkansas was simply more tested in the early going, with both of its losses coming to quality SEC opponents in Georgia and Alabama. Razorbacks quarterback Ryan Mallett was better than Jerrod Johnson. But I bet the Aggies learn from this and keep getting better. Dallas Morning News columnist Kevin Sherrington
has more on that here.

-- Texas is the only hope the Big 12 has of a national title contender now. I still think the Sooners made the right call in not starting Sam Bradford. Do you think Oklahoma wins that game with Bradford in? Maybe the better question is if Oklahoma would have won had Jermaine Gresham and Ryan Broyles were in the game? Give Oklahoma credit for this: They aren't afraid to play tough non-conference games despite a tough Big 12 South schedule with BYU at Cowboys Stadium and at The U, which is clearly a program on the rise again. Bradford will return and Oklahoma is still capable of winning the Big 12 and ruining Texas' hopes. But the loss certainly does take a little something away -- at least from a national perspective -- for the showdown with Texas on Oct. 17.

-- Let's hope Texas Tech's Taylor Potts is OK. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported
that he had a concussion. Potts has a chance to be really special, if you ask me, and I'd sure like to see him play opposite underrated QB Grant Gregory of Kansas State next week. But w'ell see on that.

-- Baylor started freshman Nick Florence on Saturday (with Robert Griffin out with what could be a season-ending knee injury and Blake Szymanski out with a bruised shoulder) and by all accounts, Florence played well. The stats certainly back him up. he threw for 216 yards and ran in two TDs to lead Baylor to a 31-15 victory. So that gives Baylor coach Art Briles some options as the season goes forward.

-- It took TCU some time to get going on Saturday night, as SMU held a 7-0 and then a 7-6 lead in the second quarter. But the Horned Frogs blew it open with special teams and the running game. TCU finished with 229 yards rushing on 53 carries in the rain. They Horned Frogs defense held SMU to -16 yards rushing as well. The Mustangs defense did play well at time, though, forcing tunovers (something they've done a good job of all season) and keeping SMU in it, down 12-7 at the half. So TCU avoided one stumbling block on the way toward its goal of a BCS bowl berth. Other potential hazards await, like Colorado State and BYU this month.

A quick look at where you might find some games regionally that may be of interest to you (all times are central and feature Big 12 South and local teams):

2:30 p.m.: New Mexico at Texas Tech, FSSW
6 p.m., Kent State at Baylor, FSSW+
6:30 p.m.: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (Cowboys Stadium), ESPN2 / ESPN360 »
6:30 p.m.: Tulsa at Rice, CBSCS
7 p.m.: Oklahoma at Miami, ABC / ESPN360 »
7 p.m.: SMU at TCU, Mtn ./ ESPN Radio 103.3 »

Other national games worth taking a look at (if you ask me):

2:30 p.m.: LSU at Georgia, CBS
2:30 p.m.: Washington at Notre Dame, NBC
2:30 p.m.: Penn State at Illinois, ABC / ESPN360 »
6:45 p.m.: Auburn at Tennessee, ESPN / ESPN360 »

Texas Tech's home game with Kansas State will be broadcast on FSN at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 10.

It will be the 11th time the two schools have met, with Texas Tech leading the overall series 7-3. Kansas State's last win in Lubbock was 1997, when the 13th-ranked Wildcats won 13-2.

Every Friday, we'll take a quick look at the weekend games that involve the Big 12 South teams and some of the local Dallas-Fort Worth teams and make some predictions. Please chime in with your picks as well.

Oklahoma at Miami: If you ask me, Bob Stoops made the right call on Sam Bradford. If he's not 100 percent, don't play him in Miami. Freshman Landry Jones can certainly play, as evidenced by the school-record six TD passes against Tulsa. But he's never played against an opponent this good on the road. It will be a good test. I think he's mature enough to handle it and lead his team to a win. Prediction: Oklahoma 21, Miami 13

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas: The Aggies are getting a nice yell practice in at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington tonight and fans should be ready for tomorrow. I think the players will be too, making this a very good football game at Cowboys Stadium. A&M's offense has put up solid numbers, but hasn't gone up against a tough SEC opponent like this one. Don't let Arkansas' 1-2 mark fool you. They lost to Georgia and Alabama. I think the Aggies will hang around, but won't have enough for Arkansas. Prediction: Arkansas 35, Texas A&M 27

SMU at TCU: Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson wasted little time reminding his team of the crushing 2005 loss to SMU. I'm sure the players listened. June Jones' team is much improved and should have won at Washington State. But TCU has too much talent right now and they will be focused. Look for TCU QB Andy Dalton to have another solid performance. Prediction: TCU 41, SMU 14

New Mexico at Texas Tech: Here's a tweet for you: Tech will be ready to put this past week behind them. New Mexico is winless and dealing with its own distractions with the head coach getting a reprimand after an altercation with one of his assistants. Texas Tech should have no trouble. Prediction: Texas Tech 49, New Mexico 13

Kent State at Baylor: QB Blake Szymanski will start for the Bears and gets a chance to ease in before conference play begins at Oklahoma on Oct. 10. The Bears roll in this one. Let's just hope for their sake that everyone stays healthy. Prediction: Baylor 35, Kent State 6

Note: North Texas, Texas and Oklahoma State are off this week.

Give us your predictions on the games above. I'll announce the person that got the most right (tiebreaker is how close you are on the scores) next Friday.

Bob Stoops announced today that freshman Landry Jones will start over Sam Bradford against Miami on Saturday night. Stoops said he felt Bradford wasn't quite ready. Bradford had been taking some snaps and practicing this week and indications seemed to lean toward Bradford playing in the game.

But the Oklahoma staff must have decided that the benefit to another week of not playing was greater than having him on the field as a player that wasn't 100 percent. If Bradford can't go all out, it could impact how well he plays, but also could lead to further injury. I'm sure Stoops thought it wasn't worth the risk to Bradford or his team.

Remember, conference play starts a week from Saturday for the Sooners. That also may have played a part in the decision. Sure, Oklahoma is trying to win national titles. But Big 12 titles matter too. If the Sooners' get past Miami, they are still very much in the national championship race. And Jones is capable of going on the road and winning that game. If they don't win, the Big 12 title becomes the sole goal and you'd have Bradford ready to go for conference play.

What do you think of the decision. Is this the right call?

You never quite know what you might see at a college football practice.

Two Kenyans sat in the seats at Gerald J. Ford Stadium early Thursday morning and got their first experience of American football. The experience was part of a National Geographic show slated for the spring of 2010, titled "Two Kenyan Guys" that features Lemarti and Boni, two Kenyans from neighboring tribes who are taking in various cultures around the world.

Lemarti, from the Samburu tribe and Boni, from Massai, were startled to see players actually tackling each other. They came on the field to talk to coach June Jones and asked him if they needed to take their sandles off. Jones said no and explained that the field was actually artificial turf, something the two Kenyans had never seen before.

SMU provided helmets and pads, and Lemarti and Boni tackled each other and learned how to carry the ball. Several SMU players stayed around to help, including Youri Yenga, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and didn't start playing football until 2003.

Jones was quite complimentary of Yenga, telling the two Kenyans that Yenga would play in the NFL some day.

The show's producers said they are also slated to go to New York as well. But this was part of an episode shot only in Texas.

The matchup of rival schools about 40 miles apart is just days away. It's at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday.

-- TCU coach Gary Patterson continues to remind the team and media about the 2005 game, which SMU won 21-10 a week after TCU defeated No. 5 Oklahoma. Patterson wants to make sure his team has no letdown. He even talked about it right after the win against Clemson. Patterson said he expects his team "to be circled the rest of the way."

"Whether it's SMU, Air Force, Colorado State, BYU or Utah - as long as you stay where you are at, it's going to be that way," Patterson said. "We don't have any control over them. We just have to be able to handle what we do and play the best football game that we can. The type of work ethic this group had in the spring and summer, on the field and in the weight room, has really paid off because we haven't had many players get banged up. If you can get the same guys to play on Saturday that practiced together for the last five or six weeks, you're going to have a chance to be successful. With no off weeks, staying healthy is a big deal."

-- SMU had an off week before Saturday's game and took time to rest, but also stay ready. Coach June Jones said Thursday that he was happy with his team's preparation. He said TCU was going to be the best team SMU faced on its schedule all season.

"We have to stop their running game," Jones said. "They do a good job with their break out scheme off of it, also. Defensively, they don't have really any weaknesses."

-- WR Aldrick Robinson, a junior from Waxahachie, left practice early to get some treatment. Robinson dealt with a hamstring injury over the summer that lingered into the season and also twisted his ankle in the UAB game. Jones expects Robinson to play.

Don't underestimate the importance of a bye week. That's especially true in a conference like the Big 12, where tough games seem to lurk around every corner.

For Texas, the bye week comes this week before a home game with Colorado on Oct. 10 and then the big showdown with Oklahoma. You only get one bye week, so getting proper rest, but also getting important work in the weight room, film room and on the field is critical.

"It's real easy to slip off and not do that much in the off week, but we've taken advantage of it so far," Texas QB Colt McCoy said. "We had a really good practice today, worked on the run game, worked on a few things that are really going to help us down the stretch. We're using it wisely and hopefully it will carry over. We ended the UTEP game on a good note, and we definitely want to use what we did in that game and carry it into Colorado."

The Longhorns face Missouri, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas A&M on the road with Colorado, Central Florida and Kansas at home with the neutral site game against the Sooners as well. So it's still a very tough stretch of games left after this week's breather.

"I think it's a good time to refocus on our technique and get back to the basics," defensive end Sam Acho said. "Each week we have been preparing for a different team. Now we get back to the basics and make sure we're doing everything right, the little things."

Texas remains in position to play for a national title if they keep winning. Is Texas the best team in the Big 12? Do you expect them to win out or will they slip up somewhere with several more ranked opponents left on the schedule?

Baylor coach Art Briles was clearly trying to move his football team forward during his weekly news conference yesterday. Robert Griffin's injury means someone has to step up and lead the Bears at quarterback. And while Blake Szymanski hurt his shoulder last week, it appears he's getting better and Briles seems to think Szymanski will play Saturday.

Szymanski isn't Griffin. That's obvious. But Szymanski, from Wichita Falls, is a senior and knows how to prepare for games. He's made 13 career starts, including most of the 2007 season. Then, he had a 57.3 completion percentage with 2,844 yards, 22 TDs and 18 INTs. Those aren't great numbers. But the one thing about college football is you never know when you might get another chance. And that's what Szymanski has now. It probably doesn't hurt that he threw a touchdown pass late in Saturday's game, either.

"Blake's a good player," Briles said. "The thing I like about him is that he's weathered, he's a veteran and his path hasn't been easy. A lot of times people whose paths haven't been easy have a lot to prove, a lot to live for and he's going to fight hard. So I know that's going to happen with him being able to get that opportunity."

It will be interesting to see how Szymanski responds. How do you think he'll do? How will Baylor fare the rest of the season?

TCU coach Gary Patterson has stayed away from BCS talk and won't discuss it with his team, either. But he was asked a non-BCS conference school could play for a national championship.

"I think some day there will be if you start in the top 15 or top 20 and work up there," Patterson said. "When a team has played from non-BCS (in a BCS bowl game), they have won three out of four ballgames. There's going to come a time where they get an opportunity if people are willing to do it for the sake of the game and the two best teams. If it's about the money and some other things, probably not."

What would playing for a national title mean for recruiting at a non-BCS school?

"It would be a whole different door that opens up," Patterson said. "The only thing we fight here is that we are not from those conferences. If you can play for a national title, there'd be nothing to talk about."

That's what head coach Bob Stoops thinks. He was asked Monday about the heat and humidity of Miami and expressed some relief at the time of the game.

"I think we caught a break in that probably it would have been more of a concern at 2:30, but the fact that it's an 8 o'clock game helps," Stoops said. "We'll pay attention to our nutrition and our fluids, but playing at 8 we caught a little bit of a break."

The big question, of course, around Sooner Nation is whether Sam Bradford will play. Stoops said he thought they'd know later in the week and that he would announce the decision. Bradford visited Dr. James Andrews last weekend to get some more thoughts on his recovery. If Bradford can't go, Landry Jones will once again play quarterback.

Texas A&M's game Oct. 10 against Oklahoma State at Kyle Field will kick off at 11:30 a.m. on FSSW. Later in the day, Baylor's game at Oklahoma will be televised regionally by ABC and starts at 2:30 p.m.

Also the same day, Iowa State's game at Kansas will be televised beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Versus, and Colorado's visit to Texas begins at 6:15 p.m. in a matchup to be shown on either ESPN or ESPN2.

So make plans to attend or get those DVR's set.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach would not comment on the indefinite suspension of OL Brandon Carter on Monday, saying that what he needs to do to get back on the team is "pretty much between me and him." When pressed, Leach wouldn't budge. But he did say this: "Anybody that wants to play for us doesn't have a twitter page."

When asked about the Twitter comments made by senior linebacker Marlon Williams? BTW, to see some screen grabs of that page (which Leach said no longer is online), go to the Yahoo! college blog here.

"Anyone that's a malcontent doesn't hang around for long," Leach said, adding that they had plenty of recruits that want to play.

Texas coach Mack Brown said he is working on educating his players on the dangers of Twitter pages.

"What we have done is encourage them not to be on it and if they are on it, they need to be classy and not put anything on there that they don't want their mom to read," Brown said.

TCU junior quarterback Andy Dalton's impressive effort in Clemson on Saturday has earned him Mountain West Conference co-Offensive Player of the Week honors. Wyoming quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels was also a winner.

Dalton was 17-of-26 for 226 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 14-10 win over Clemson in tough conditions. The teams played in a driving rain for the entire second half. Dalton also rushed for a team-high 86 yards on 19 attempts. That's a career high in attempts for him.

Dalton threw a 25-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to Antoine Hicks in what would become the game winner. The Katy native seems to save his best for the second half.

The TCU sports information department shares this fun fact: Dalton is 25-for-30 in the second half of games this season. The quarterback is now in second place on TCU's career passing yards list at 5,326.