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• The Dallas Morning News' Chuck Carlton explains how the AD change at Texas affects Mack Brown's future. Dodds' decision may be the start of a critical Texas two-step. Is Texas or USC the better head-coaching job?
• Baylor coach Art Briles says his team has an image to maintain: Fast and fearless.
• Oklahoma is focusing on improving its short-yardage offense this week. Sooner coaches are excited about what their receivers are doing so far.
• Charlie Weis is not hiding from the streak that Kansas hopes to break this weekend. Is more rushing on first down the answer for KU's third-and-long woes?
• Iowa State hopes its recent growth on defense will carry over into the Texas game. That unit has improved thanks to lightening its playbook.
• TCU's offensive line has held up well but is in for a serious challenge against OU.
• Clint Trickett is practicing, but Dana Holgorsen is still unsure what West Virginia will do at quarterback this week.
• Kansas State knows it has to stop several versatile weapons in Oklahoma State's offense. Its players are embracing a "talk is cheap" mantra to fixing mistakes.
• Texas Tech defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt didn't enjoy watching film of last season's KU game, especially Tech's run defense.
• The numbers Oklahoma State's offense and defense have put up so far don't lie. Joe Bob Clements is ready for the challenge of facing the school he left.

If you haven't already seen the video of Dana Holgorsen sipping Red Bull on the sideline, enjoy.

• Texas AD DeLoss Dodds is expected to announce plans for his resignation today. A look at some potential candidates to replace him. The Longhorns also lost a legend Monday in former quarterback James Street.
• One year after giving up 807 yards in Morgantown, Baylor is ready to show how far its defense has come against West Virginia.
• Could Oklahoma find a way to use both Blake Bell and Trevor Knight to challenge opposing defenses?
• Even after one of the best games of his career, TCU safety Sam Carter remains his own toughest critic.
• Texas Tech is sticking with Baker Mayfield at quarterback this week. Is staring the season 7-0 a realistic possibility?
• Charlie Weis still remembers drafting Kliff Kingsbury while with the Patriots. What's going on with the receivers at Kansas? Ex-Jayhawk Marquel Combs has transferred to Southeastern Louisiana.
• Still no word on whether Oklahoma State CB Justin Gilbert will be punished for getting ejected from the WVU game. J.W. Walsh regrets audibling out of a goal-line run in that loss. OSU landed the fastest recruit in the country Monday.
• WVU is down to one healthy quarterback, creating one big question mark for Saturday.
• Paul Rhoads has found his guy at running back in Aaron Wimberly.
• Kansas State is preparing for a disappointed Oklahoma State team this week and trying to fix its own flaws.

Texas moves back up in this week's Power Rankings, West Virginia moves back down and the top four remain steady:

1. Oklahoma State (3-0, 0-0 Big 12; last week: 1): When he was the coordinator in Stillwater, Dana Holgorsen recruited quarterback J.W. Walsh to Oklahoma State. This Saturday, Holgorsen's Mountaineers must deal with stopping Walsh, who’s been terrific since taking over the starting quarterback job in the opener. Walsh ranks sixth in the country in QBR and is a major reason why the Cowboys are three-touchdown favorites for their game in Morgantown.

2. Baylor (3-0, 0-0 Big 12; last week: 2): The Baylor-hasn’t-beaten-anybody argument only holds so much water. Who in the Big 12 has really beaten anybody? Oklahoma State over Mississippi State? Texas Tech over TCU? Oklahoma over West Virginia? The fact is, even against three doldrums, Baylor has been as impressive as any team in the league. This offense has a chance to be as prolific as the 2011 Oklahoma State Cowboys or the 2008 Oklahoma Sooners.

3. Oklahoma (3-0, 1-0 Big 12; last week: 3): After opening with three home victories, the Sooners will finally find out about their team during a road trip to South Bend, Ind., this weekend. They should find out a lot about quarterback Blake Bell, too -- he was marvelous after replacing Trevor Knight two weeks ago against Tulsa. But that was against Tulsa in Norman. This is Notre Dame in South Bend. If OU wins this game, people will begin to mention the under-the-radar Sooners as a possible dark horse national title contender.

4. Texas Tech (4-0, 1-0 Big 12; last week: 4): The Texas Tech defense continues to play well, but the offense was sluggish again in a 33-7 victory over Texas State. Kliff Kingsbury has to decide whether he’s going to stick with Baker Mayfield as his starting quarterback or go with Davis Webb, who has made plays the last two weeks in relief of Mayfield. Kingsbury might secretly and anxiously be waiting on the return of Michael Brewer, who’s been injured since the summer with a bad back but is close to rejoining the team on the practice field.

5. Texas (2-2, 1-0 Big 12; last week: 8): After winning their Big 12 opener 31-21 over Kansas State, the Longhorns still have plenty to play for. But they are also beaten up. Linebacker Jordan Hicks is out for the season again with a ruptured Achilles tendon, quarterback David Ash continues to deal with concussion issues and offensive playmaker Daje Johnson remains out with an ankle injury. The game with Oklahoma (Oct. 12) looms, too. A victory in Dallas is about the only thing that can save Mack Brown’s job and completely reverse momentum in Austin.

6. TCU (1-2, 0-1 Big 12; last week: 5): Gary Patterson was not pleased with his team during the off week. Patterson told reporters last week the Horned Frogs were “feeling sorry for themselves” after the 20-10 loss at Tech. “If we don’t grow up,” Patterson said, “we’re not going to win any more ballgames.” The Frogs had better grow up quickly if they want to avoid letting this season turn into a catastrophe. TCU faces road trips at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in October.

7. Kansas State (2-2, 0-1 Big 12; last week: 7): Even though Texas had been a sieve stopping opposing quarterbacks on the ground, Bill Snyder elected to use Daniel Sams sparingly in Austin. Sams averaged 6 yards a carry but got only eight carries as Jake Waters again took the bulk of the snaps at quarterback. Even though wideout Tyler Lockett is having a monster season, the Wildcats with Waters behind center have been just average offensively, which is flirting with disaster in the Big 12. Especially when the defense is just average, too.

8. West Virginia (2-2, 0-1 Big 12; last week: 6): So much for the idea that the Mountaineers could just replace Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey. West Virginia looked completely inept offensively in a 37-0 loss to Maryland, which is a good team, but not that good. The Mountaineers, who had one of the best passing attacks in the country last year, suddenly can’t pass. Quarterback Ford Childress threw for just 62 yards with two interceptions Saturday, not that Paul Millard fared any better in West Virginia’s first two games. Holgorsen said he’s sticking with Childress at quarterback, which is a sign the Mountaineers are building for the future. The present is not a pretty sight.

9. Kansas (2-1, 0-0 Big 12; last week: 9): With the bottom half of the Big 12 struggling so much, the Jayhawks have the opportunity to win a couple of games in the league. But Kansas has its own problems. An offense that was supposed to be improved actually has been worse so far this season. After scoring just a field goal over three quarters against Louisiana Tech, the Jayhawks had to scramble late to escape with a 13-10 win. Jake Heaps owns the worst Total QBR (32.2) in the league and the Kansas wide receivers so far have been a disappointment. There is some talent on Charlie Weis’ offense, especially in the backfield. But it has yet to manifest on the field.

10. Iowa State (0-2, 0-0 Big 12; last week: 10): The Cyclones have back-to-back Thursday night games on deck: at Tulsa and at home against Texas. If Iowa State can’t prevail in either, this will end up being the worst season of the Paul Rhoads era. The only way the Cyclones can avoid that fate is by conjuring something in the run game, which has been abysmal so far this season.

Preseason camps have wrapped up around the Big 12, and it’s time teams focused on their openers this weekend.

It’s also time for the first Big 12 power rankings, which will appear on the blog at the beginning of each week throughout the season.

This list will change, obviously, but here is the starting point for how the Big 12 teams stack up going into Week 1:

1. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys were competitive last season, despite shuffling through three inexperienced quarterbacks. Even if Mike Gundy makes good on his promise to play both Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh, quarterback figures to be a strength this time. Weapons abound offensively, and seven starters return on defense. The schedule also favors the Pokes, with TCU, Oklahoma, Baylor and Kansas State all slated to visit Stillwater.

2. TCU: The Horned Frogs have the best defense in the league, maybe by far. Among the contenders, they also have -- by far -- the most difficult schedule, which begins this weekend with a neutral-site showdown with LSU. Can TCU survive the gauntlet? That hinges heavily on Casey Pachall, who has the talent to quarterback the Frogs to the Big 12 title -- even against a brutal schedule.

3. Oklahoma: Bob Stoops stunned the college football world last week by announcing Trevor Knight as his starter. There could be bumps in the road early for the redshirt freshman quarterback. But Knight’s potential appears to be vast, and he could become a lethal weapon out of the Sooners’ new read-option offense. If that happens, and Mike Stoops can get something out of an unproven defense, there’s no reason OU can’t win a ninth Big 12 championship.

4. Texas: On paper, the Longhorns would deserve to be at the top of this list. Unfortunately, for them, football is not played on paper. Texas returns 19 starters and appears formidable at every position on either side of the ball. Something, however, has been missing intangibly from this program the past three years, underscored by two consecutive no-shows in the Red River Rivalry. Can the Horns rediscover their mojo? If so, the rest of the league could be in trouble -- because the talent and experience is there in Austin.

5. Baylor: The Bears deserve to be in the same tier with Oklahoma State, TCU, OU and Texas. In other words, they are a viable Big 12 title contender. Seven starters return on a defense that uncovered an opportunistic identity last November, and the offense is, well, loaded. Then again, there’s something to be said for having done it before, which Baylor has not. The schedule is favorable early, but the Bears’ mettle will be put to the test in November-December when they face all four teams ahead of them in the power ranks.

6. Kansas State: Bill Snyder’s bunch has surprised the past two years with heady quarterback play and stingy defense. With a QB battle ongoing and only two defensive starters returning, it’s difficult to envision K-State winning double-digit games again with the same formula. That said, the Wildcats might have the best blocking line in the league, and three of the better playmakers in Tyler Lockett, Tramaine Thompson and John Hubert. You know Snyder will have his team well coached, too. In other words, the Wildcats should not be discounted.

7. West Virginia: West Virginia lost three of the best offensive players in the history of its program, and yet there’s still a lot to like about this offense. The Mountaineers added some talented junior-college transfers, and Houston transfer Charles Sims could be a star in the Big 12. Even though the defense will be improved, it probably won’t be good enough for West Virginia to contend; but it might be enough for the Mountaineers to top last year’s win total.

8. Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are in a state of flux at the moment with their quarterback situation. Projected starter Michael Brewer continues to battle a bad back, which means first-year coach Kliff Kingsbury could wind up starting a true freshman Friday night at SMU. With running back Kenny Williams, wideout Eric Ward and tight end Jace Amaro, there’s more than enough around the quarterback for Tech to be prolific offensively. But unless Brewer gets healthy, it’s hard to see Tech maximizing its offensive potential.

9. Iowa State: Consistent quarterback play has been the one thing that’s kept Iowa State from becoming anything more than a .500 team in the Paul Rhoads era. Can sophomore Sam Richardson finally be the guy who turns that around? The Cyclones are banking he is. Richardson has some tools, and he played well in limited action last year with eight touchdowns compared to just one pick. He’ll need to stay efficient to offset a defense in rebuilding mode.

10. Kansas: Coach Charlie Weis said last month Kansas doesn’t deserve to be put anywhere but in last place. The Jayhawks should be better than last season, especially with former blue-chip prospect Jake Heaps now quarterbacking them. Running backs James Sims and Tony Pierson are dynamic, too. But will that be enough to pull Kansas out of the basement?

The Big 12 has been known as a quarterback conference. This season, at least early on, it might be known as a two-quarterback conference.

During the Big 12’s weekly teleconference on Monday, five coaches indicated they could play two quarterbacks this weekend.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said he would play Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh against Mississippi State.

TCU coach Gary Patterson said not only would Casey Pachall and Trevone Boykin both play against LSU, but they would serve as the offensivee captains for the game.

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen narrowed his competition to two, but said Paul Millard and Clint Trickett are still fighting for the No. 1 job.

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder at least named Jake Waters his starter, but added that Daniel Sams would play.

Texas Tech’s quarterback position remains unclear, too, with true freshmen Davis Webb and Baker Mayfield battling to start against SMU on Friday.

Red Raiders coach Kliff Kingsbury said Monday that he normally would like to have a starter named by this point but said he isn’t against playing both freshmen against the Mustangs as neither guy has really separated.

“We’re not opposed to playing two guys,” Kingsbury said, “if we think that will help us win the game.”

The same goes for the rest of the league, apparently. Other news and notes from the Big 12 teleconference:

Stoops hints Belldozer will continue

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops was asked several questions about Blake Bell following the Sooners decision to name Trevor Knight as the starter against Louisiana Monroe on Saturday.

Unlike previous years when the Sooners have named a starter and given him the majority of the reps in practice, Stoops said the situation will be different with Bell and Knight this season.

“Blake will continue to get reps,” he said.

The Sooners head coach also hinted that Bell could continue to play his role as the “Belldozer” in short-yardage situations. Bell rushed for 24 touchdowns in the role during the past two seasons, helping the Sooners finish second in the Big 12 in red zone efficiency, scoring touchdowns 64.8 percent of the time they ventured inside an opponent’s 20-yard line. Nonetheless, Stoops refused to say for certain if using Bell in spot situations is definitely in the Sooners’ plans this season.

“It wouldn’t make sense to tip our hand,” Stoops said.

Kansas OK with Week 1 bye

Kansas’ season doesn’t begin until next week. Usually that would bother coach Charlie Weis, but not this year.

The Jayhawks open their regular season next Saturday vs. South Dakota. Kicking off the year with a bye is fine by Weis because he’s convinced his players could use the extra preparation.

“Normally, I wouldn’t like the extra week now,” he said. “But because we have so many guys that we’re counting on who were junior college guys and just arrived here, I think it’s given us an opportunity to take this week this week and go through a simulated game week as if we’re playing this Saturday.”

Weis said “90 percent” of KU’s position battles have been decided. This week is more about giving his players time to get adjusted as classes begin Monday. Kansas will have a 7 a.m. practice on Saturday, and then the coaches will spend the day watching KU’s upcoming opponents.

“In this isolated incident, it really plays, in our case, to our advantage for us in this calendar year,” Weis said.

Baylor working on identity

Baylor is one of the few teams in the league entering the season with a settled situation at quarterback. Junior Bryce Petty will be the guy under center for the Bears after spending three years behind Robert Griffin III and Nick Florence.

Nonetheless, Baylor coach Art Briles still isn’t certain how things will play out this fall.

“We’ve talked to Bryce about creating an identity,” Briles said. “Right now, he’s an unknown. I’ve mentioned to him, ‘What are people going to say about you after you’ve played a game?’”

Petty has looked solid in the Bears’ preseason scrimmages, completing 46 of 65 passes for 582 yards and five touchdowns in three outings.

Rachel Bachman of the Wall Street Journal took a look at some of the most-used words from coaches at media days over the past week, including a trio of Big 12 coaches. This includes only each coach's 20 minutes at the podium.

She noted that Texas coach Mack Brown used the word "tempo" 14 times, and Kansas State coach Bill Snyder used the word "young" on 11 occasions, just ahead of Baylor coach Art Briles' 10 "America" references. (How patriotic!)

Let's have a closer look at this phenomenon, thanks to the folks at ASAP Sports, who supplied the transcripts:

Art Briles, Baylor

• "football": 13 times
• "America": 10 times
• "opportunity": five times

Psychoanalysis: What an amazing collection of words here. I'd keep an eye on Baylor changing its colors to red, white and blue pretty soon.

Paul Rhoads, Iowa State

• "replace": six times
• "excited": five times

Psychoanalysis: Rhoads is always excited, but no surprise that there was so much talk about all the replacement going on in Ames this year.

Charlie Weis, Kansas

• "players": 11 times
• "good": seven times
• "junior college"/"juco": five times

Bill Snyder, Kansas State

• "young": 11 times
• "different": 11 times
• "position": seven times

Psychoanalysis: You never know what you're going to get with Snyder. The uninitiated find him boring, and even if Snyder's delivery can be that at times, I came to a new appreciation of his dry sense of humor during the Wildcats' title run last season.

Bob Stoops, Oklahoma

• "great": 19 times (including nine in his opening statement!)
• "excited": nine times
• "Blake": four times
• "In the end": twice

Psychoanalysis: Times are changing in Norman. Stoops' signature phrase gets less and less play these days, but he spent a good amount of time talking about his new quarterback.

Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State:

• "offense(s)": 12 times
• "success": 11 times
• "great": 11 times
• "young men": 10 times
• "advantage": 10 times
• "college football": seven times

Psychoanalysis: This is a great word cloud of exactly what Oklahoma State football has been about on its progressive rise under Gundy. They've done it with offense, especially in the last three seasons.

Gary Patterson, TCU:

• "year(s)": 22 times
• "great": 16 times
• "ball game(s)": seven times
• "defense": five times
• "LSU": five times
• "offense(s)": four times
• "big ball game": three times

Psychoanalysis: Patterson apparently couldn't catch Bob Stoops' "greatness" word count, but that first game is obviously a "big ball game," to borrow a phrase.

Mack Brown, Texas

• "better": 16 times
• "tempo": 14 times
• "older": seven times
• "run(s) the ball": seven times
• "David": six times
• "Colt": six times
• "Vince": four times
• "today": four times

Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech

• "team": 10 times
• "league": eight times

Psychoanalysis: In my conversations with Kingsbury, it's clear he gives by far the shortest answers of any Big 12 coach. That shows here, too. Not a lot of repetition, and when it shows up, it's mostly words everybody uses.

Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia

• "Big 12": 12 times
• "offense(s)": eight times
• "defense(s)": five times
• "quarterback": four times
• "Ford": one time
• "Paul": one time
• "Clint": one time

Psychoanalysis: Props to Holgorsen for not providing much in the way of tea leaves to read when it comes to his quarterback race. Sounds like somebody is (a) happy to be in the Big 12 and (b) loves to talk offense.

Let's take a look back at the week that was at Big 12 media days.

Best overall performance: Art Briles, Baylor. Briles has a reputation as the king of the podium, and he delivered during his 20 minutes in front of the few hundred print media in the room, and kept going during his two hours of breakout interviews. A few choice cuts:

• On having two first-place votes in the Big 12 media poll for the first time ever: "I don't know how many people vote, I guess 25. I was wondering why those other 23 didn't believe in us."
• On Baylor's all-gold helmet on stage: "There's two shiny things up here, that helmet and my head, probably."
• Also on the gold helmets: "If it was made of actual gold, it probably wouldn't still be here because somebody would conveniently put it in their bag."
• On expectations of QB Bryce Petty: "Break every Baylor record there is offensively, which is what we expect him to do and what he plans to do."
• On the final score of Baylor's bowl game: "4914. 4919. I'm sorry. I don't want to cheat them out of five points. 4919, Baylor. "
• On the Big 12 title race: "It's wide open and the wind is blowin'."
• On his preferred playoff format: "One with Baylor."

Second-best overall performance: Bob Bowlsby, Big 12 commissioner. Bowlsby delivered a solid blow to the NCAA structure, but did so with a good mixture of class and memorable quotes that will stick out while this debate rages in the months to come. He campaigned for NCAA transformation and better enforcement, while stopping short of an unrealistic split from the organization. Considering past Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe's poor national perception, that was good news for the Big 12 as a whole.

Best trash talk: Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia. Asked about Alabama coach Nick Saban and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema's complaints about up-tempo offenses in college football, Holgorsen lobbed some strong words in the direction of the SEC. "I'd tell him to get over it because it's not going to change. It's going into the NFL, for crying out loud," he said. "Don't see it changing any time soon. So you'd better learn to adapt to it." We'll get a chance to see it on the field soon. WVU faces Alabama to kick off the 2014 season.

Best quote: Charlie Weis, Kansas. Weis made all kinds of headlines when he talked about his recruiting pitch. "Have you looked at that pile of crap out there? Have you taken a look at that? So if you don't think you can play here, where do you think you can play?"

Best dressed: Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech. Kingsbury's gray suit fit him perfectly, and the lavender touches were a nice accent. I was always partial to Tommy Tuberville's red and black look and suits for his players as well, but Kingsbury lived up to the hype when it came to his fashion sense.

Best one-liner: Mack Brown, Texas coach on preseason expectations. Asked about being picked fourth by national pundit Phil Steele versus the Big 12 media picking his Longhorns fourth in the league, Brown didn't mince words. "I really like the first guy better," he said.

Best anecdote: Bill Snyder, Kansas State. Asked about his first coaching job, Snyder revealed that when he was an assistant at Gallatin High School in Missouri, he thought he'd "died and gone to heaven," despite a mountain of responsibilities. "I was an assistant football coach and assistant basketball coach and assistant women's basketball coach, assistant track coach, drove the school bus, taught four units of Spanish, which I knew nothing about, and I made $6,000 a year."

A few overwhelming observations from two days chatting with the league's coaches and players:

Denial is the name of the game. By my count, only two Big 12 starting quarterback spots are truly still up for grabs: Kansas State and West Virginia. Four more Big 12 teams (Texas, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas) know who their quarterback will be in Week 1. The rest of the league's quarterback races look like mere formalities, but don't tell Big 12 coaches that. Bob Stoops bristled at a question that presumed Blake Bell would be his Week 1 starter. Davis Webb has been a welcome surprise in Lubbock, but Kliff Kingsbury maintaining that he could win the job over Michael Brewer is less than convincing. Gary Patterson saying he asked Casey Pachall to come to media days tips his hand to that "open" job. Mike Gundy is still hoping Mississippi State -- Oklahoma State's Week 1 opponent -- believes J.W. Walsh will beat out Clint Chelf after Chelf's strong finish to the 2012 season. It's all a little silly, but if any of those jobs tip the other way, it'll be shocking.

Charlie Weis can't be beaten in one category: Honesty. The Kansas coach turned heads with his frank comments on his recruiting pitch. "Have you looked at that pile of crap out there? Have you taken a look at that? So if you don't think you can play here, where do you think you can play? It's a pretty simple approach. And that's not a sales pitch. That's practical. You've seen it, right? Unfortunately, so have I." He drew praise and criticism for the comments, but the bottom line is, he's absolutely correct and has a 21-game losing streak in Big 12 play to show for it. Most importantly, his players agreed with him and see it as motivation to change.

Mike Gundy defended himself well in opening up about Wes Lunt. I got a chance to talk with Gundy about the handling of Wes Lunt's transfer, and came away with two conclusions. First, it seems like Wes Lunt sort of threw Gundy under the bus while Gundy was keeping silent at Lunt's request. Other than a lack of communication about where Lunt stood, I'm not sure Gundy did anything explicitly wrong. Two, Gundy's case (Lunt wanted to go to Illinois and he would have allowed him to go to an SEC or Pac-12 school if he'd strongly, specifically requested it) is reasonable, and I buy it. Like Gundy said, a transfer is never going to be a purely clean break, but I do think the controversy with the situation was overblown and Gundy's future strategy of holding a press conference when a high-profile player leaves would be the right one.

The Big 12's getting ready for a new look. The new Big 12 logo debuted early Monday morning. It's simple, and yes, it does bear a resemblance to the FAU logo. It's still a good look, even if it seems the simple approach would suggest the league overpaid for having the logo designed. It won't debut until 2014, and I was also surprised the league stuck with roman numerals. I hate when people refer to the league as the "Big XII," and the new logo's going to keep that confusion going.

This season should feature controversy. Big 12 coordinator of officials Walt Anderson's presentation on Day 2 was one of the more talked-about events of the week, and for good reason. Big 12 referees are being given an extremely difficult task to remove the dangerous hits that put players' heads at risk. It's the right motivation, but with game suspensions on the line, the risk is high and could lead to ugly incidents when it's enforced and done so in questionable fashion. The most baffling news from Anderson: If a targeting penalty and ejection is overturned by the replay booth (who will review all targeting flags), the player will remain in the game but the penalty stays. ... Huh? I'm sure the league's coaches love that.

If you've been without an internet connection since Alabama clinched the SEC's seventh consecutive national title in January, you might not have noticed a bit of saber-rattling on the part of Big 12 coaches.

Bob Stoops started the parade by trumpeting the Big 12's depth and said the SEC's mystique and reputation are attributable in part to "propaganda."

Texas coach Mack Brown later patted Stoops on the back, saying he was proud of his Oklahoma counterpart for sticking up for the conference. In an interview with ESPN.com, Kansas coach Charlie Weis, too, said that Stoops had a point.

Still, it's going to take more than talk to knock off No. 1.

Phil Steele ranked the college football conferences for his preseason magazine, and he's got the Big 12 sitting in second place, behind the SEC. The Big 12 actually finished ahead of the SEC in the computer rankings in 2011 and held a lead for much of 2012, but in tabulations by ESPN Stats & Information, the SEC was king by the end of that season.

Steele explains that without a preseason top-10 team in the Big 12, his ranking of the league might be a bit surprising, but notes that Texas and Oklahoma State were in his top 10, and could both be 9-0 when they meet Nov. 16 in Austin. The Big 12 has four more teams in Steele's top 40 and he pointed out that the conference had the best mark (26-4) in nonconference games last season.

He also notes, and I agree, that those numbers can be influenced by scheduling. This year, though, the Big 12 can settle more on the field. By the end of September, the Big 12 and SEC will have played three games and will meet in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the season. The two leagues met on the field just once in the 2012 regular season, with Texas routing Ole Miss in Oxford. Texas A&M famously rolled over Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.

The 2013 meetings between the leagues -- including TCU/LSU and Oklahoma State/Mississippi State on neutral fields on opening weekend -- should be fun, with plenty of bragging rights up for grabs.

Still, no amount of victories will do much to change anyone's mind about the SEC's superiority -- unless they get to take home a crystal football after the game's over.

David Ubben is talking Devonte Fields, rivalries, and recruiting trail in this week's Friday Four Downs in the Big 12.

DALLAS -- Kansas coach Charlie Weis spent a season as Florida's offensive coordinator under Will Muschamp in 2011. He joins Iowa State's Paul Rhoads (Auburn defensive coordinator in 2008) as the only Big 12 head coaches with experience in the SEC since its run of seven national titles began at the end of the 2006 season.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has been out of the SEC since his days as Florida's defensive coordinator from 1996-98, but made headlines with some sharp critiques of that conference's current status as college football's kingpin.

"You’re listening to a lot of propaganda that gets fed out to you. You’re more than smart enough to figure it out," Stoops told the Tulsa World. "Again, you can look at the top two, three, four, five, six teams, and you can look at the bottom six, seven, eight, whatever they are. How well are they all doing?"

Stoops' comments have ignited something of a debate in the past week, but Weis, who hadn't heard anything of Stoops' comments until I informed him of them Thursday, says the Sooners coach is speaking the truth.

"Do you know the stats? In the SEC, the record of the good guys and the bad guys?" Weis asked ESPN.com in a recent interview.

"The stats" to which Weis is referring have appeared a few times on this blog, and paint the SEC as a league devoid of parity, at least last season. The conference's bottom eight teams went 0-30 against the top six teams in 2012.

"I’m just sayin’, you look at the bottom of our league and the bottom of their league, just going based off the numbers, there’s validity in what he said," Weis said. "I’m just going based off the numbers, I mean, I’m a numbers guy. Just based off the numbers, you’d have to say he’s got a point."

The Big 12 and SEC both sent nine teams to bowl games, but that number meant 90 percent of the Big 12 participated in the postseason, the highest number of any conference in college football history.

"We were the only team in the whole league that didn’t play in a bowl game. It was us. We were the sole member," Weis said. "You talk about bottom-feeders, you think Iowa State was a bottom-feeder?"

Certainly not. The Cyclones have reached bowl games in three of the past four seasons, never finishing the regular season with a record better than more than three Big 12 teams. Iowa State reached a bowl in spectacular fashion in 2011, upsetting BCS No. 2 Oklahoma State and derailing the Cowboys' national title hopes.

The Big 12 hasn't been able to beat the top of the SEC on the field in quite awhile, but Stoops, Weis and I are in agreement on at least one front: The bottom of the Big 12 is anything but a sure victory for any team in the league.

Inspired by Florida's "#ComePlayWRFortheJoker" campaign, our recruiting writers looked at other ways schools can sell themselves on the trail. Here's a look at recruiting pitches for other schools:

Baylor Bears
What they’re selling: The new 45,000-seat, $250-million on-campus stadium that will open in 2014. Recruiting is an arms race, and players like fancy stadiums and locker rooms, and Baylor’s upgrade puts them finally on the same level playing field as everybody else in the Big 12.
What they're missing: Help on defense -- specifically at defensive line and defensive back.

Oklahoma Sooners
What they’re selling: Oklahoma is proud of its football tradition, and few schools can match the Sooners’ track record for success, facilities and ability to prepare you for the next level.
What they're missing: A renewed focus on evaluating players. It’s what differentiated Bob Stoops’ staff when they started, and it’s how they found players like Sam Bradford, Josh Heupel, Juaquin Iglesias and Donald Stephenson. All at the time were considered to be three-star recruits but wound up being impact players for the Sooners.

Oklahoma State Cowboys
What they’re selling: Their ability to evaluate and develop offensive talent.
What they're missing: Elite players in the Lone Star State. With the best facilities in the conference, it might be just enough to get kids to visit.

Texas Longhorns
What they’re selling: Few in the nation can offer up the type of atmosphere, fan base, tradition and total student-athlete package like Texas can.
What they're missing: A true a difference-maker at quarterback. The last two Heisman Trophy winners have come from Texas high schools, and the Longhorns didn’t recruit one heavily and recruited the other as an athlete.

TCU Horned Frogs
What they’re selling: The Horned Frogs recruit to their style of smash-mouth play on both sides of the ball and don’t care how many stars a recruit has. It hurts them some in the recruiting rankings, but it helps them win a lot of ball games.
What they're missing: BCS conference depth. Heading into their second season in the Big 12 after a 7-6 season, the biggest thing the Horned Frogs need to do is to build the roster to be able to compete year in and year out in the BCS conference.

Texas Tech Red Raiders
What they’re selling: The Red Raiders went through a transition that brought Kliff Kingsbury to Lubbock, and the early reception has been nothing short of positive.
What they're missing: The Red Raiders have never had issues putting up points on people, but under Tommy Tuberville and Mike Leach there was little defense being played.

Texas A&M Aggies
What they are selling: There is a lot to sell a recruit on at Texas A&M right now. An explosive offense which led the SEC in total offense by more than 100 yards a game, Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel and a team that went into Tuscaloosa and handed Alabama its only loss last season.
What they are missing: There are still some holes to fill on defense. The Aggies finished with the No. 8-ranked defense in the SEC and the No. 10-ranked pass defense in the league. They also need to replace talented defensive end Damontre Moore, who is now in the NFL.

Time to look at a few of the best things in the Big 12 this spring.

Biggest breakout star: Bryce Petty. The Bears' quarterback is an unknown for now, but he's learned a proven system under great coaches and great quarterbacks. This spring, he never let his competition come close to making it real quarterback battle in Waco. Despite windy conditions, he capped the spring with 181 yards and two touchdowns on 13-of-15 passing. Don't be surprised if he hangs similar stat lines in a first half or two next year.

Biggest flip-flop: Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. Midway through the spring, Gundy offered some real clarity on his quarterback situation, which ended with Clint Chelf carrying the Cowboys through bowl practices and a lopsided win in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. "Clint Chelf is our starter, he takes all the reps with the ones right now. The other guys compete out there, but I don't necessarily feel like there's a battle out there to start in the first game," Gundy said. A week later, though, he said the Pokes "haven't necessarily said anything about the [starter for the] first game of the season." He says they won't be offering any updates on the QB situation until after the season opener against Mississippi State and Chelf is off-limits to media, along with his competition, sophomores J.W. Walsh and Wes Lunt.

Best spring-game performance: Jordan Thompson, WR, West Virginia. Dana Holgorsen joked that Thompson is earning a reputation as the greatest spring game player of all time after he recorded six catches for 123 yards and three touchdowns. Just don't spend too much time reading this paragraph. "Until he plays like that in a game, we're going to call it like it is," Holgorsen said. "I haven't seen him play like that in a game yet. Until he does that in a game, we're not going to talk about it."

Biggest surprise: TCU's quarterback indecision. Many assumed that Casey Pachall's return to the Horned Frogs meant Trevone Boykin's days as the starting quarterback were over, or at least on hold for another season. After 15 practices this spring, however, that hasn't been the case just yet. Coach Gary Patterson says Boykin's made big strides since the end of the season and Pachall looked rusty after not working out or throwing while he was in treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. More than a few folks are skeptical of Patterson's insistence that the competition is still open, but we'll know for sure when TCU opens against LSU.

Most to prove: Jake Heaps and Kansas. KU's Big 12 losing streak now stands at 21 games, and Heaps is looking like a much better passer than Dayne Crist was at this time last year. Charlie Weis is also stocking his roster with tons of juco talent, which could mean a quick turnaround. Will it, though? KU needs to get back to respectability and fast, but winning that first Big 12 game won't be easy.

Best new uniforms: Baylor and West Virginia. West Virginia had a ballyhooed debut before its spring game with three sets of white, blue and Old Gold pants, jerseys and helmets, giving WVU 27 possible combinations. The numbers on the jerseys are also inspired by miners' pick axes. Baylor also debuted new jerseys, highlighted by an all gold chrome helmet and most importantly, the elimination of a cartoonish bear claw mark on the pants.

Athlon Sports ranked all 125 coaches heading into 2013, and that includes the 10 coaches in the Big 12. First on the list is no surprise and won't get any argument from me.

Kansas State's Bill Snyder checked in at No. 3, behind only Alabama's Nick Saban and Ohio State's Urban Meyer.

"As long as Snyder roams the sidelines in Manhattan, regardless of how many starters Kansas State loses, never count out the Wildcats from the Big 12 title discussion," writes Steve Lassan.

Well said. That'll be put to the test this season. Only eight starters return from last year's Big 12 title team, more than only three teams in college football.

Oklahoma's Bob Stoops showed up at No. 7 on the list, just three spots ahead of TCU's Gary Patterson, at No. 10.

"The Kansas native had no FBS head coaching experience when he was promoted at TCU in 2000 but has eight seasons of 10 or more wins, including a 13-0 mark in 2010," Lassan notes.

You can't deny the growth Art Briles has developed at Baylor, and he's at No. 13 on the list after taking the Bears to three consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history. Things look like they're only getting better in Waco, too.

It's a little surprising to see him two spots ahead of Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy at No. 15, but you could make the case either way. Briles' job was infinitely harder than Gundy's, but you can't argue with Gundy's Big 12 title ring, the Pokes' first in about three decades.

Texas' Mack Brown is all the way down at No. 28. The past three seasons have taken their toll on his national reputation, no doubt. It's been quite a slide for the Longhorns.

"The Longhorns have the talent to win the Big 12 title in 2013. If Texas fails to surpass its 2012 win total (nine), there will be plenty of calls for a coaching change in Austin," Lassan writes.

I definitely agree with that. Huge season waiting in Austin.

Paul Rhoads is at No. 38, 10 spots lower. His reputation perhaps exceeds the actual on-field results, but his degree of difficulty in this league is probably even greater than what Briles faces. Briles at least has the advantage of being close to big-time talent in Central Texas. Rhoads' talent pool in Iowa is a lot different, and convincing guys to come north isn't easy.

Dana Holgorsen showed up at No. 50, which definitely seems low, but when you've only been a head coach for two seasons and have a five-game losing streak in one of them, you surrender some right to argue your status, I'd say. He's got a conference title and a BCS bowl win, but winning the Big East won't impress too many folks.

Kliff Kingsbury is down at No. 66, which is where I'd say all first-year coaches belong to start. Any new first-time coach has potential, but they haven't proven to be great or poor yet. Put 'em in the middle, I say.

Lassan has Charlie Weis at No. 106 after his 1-11 campaign at KU last season.

Here's the full list:

• No. 3: Bill Snyder, Kansas State
• No. 7: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
• No. 10: Gary Patterson, TCU
• No. 13: Art Briles, Baylor
• No. 15: Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
• No. 28: Mack Brown, Texas
• No. 38: Paul Rhoads, Iowa State
• No. 50: Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia
• No. 66: Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech
• No. 106: Charlie Weis, Kansas

That gives the Big 12 half of its coaches in the top 15. Not bad.

I checked in earlier with a column on Kliff Kingsbury's biggest challenge of Year 1 at Texas Tech: The ability to learn as he goes along and adjust his schemes as he learns more about his team.

My colleague Travis Haney also wrote about Kingsbury today as part of our weeklong series on first-year coaches. Haney talked to a handful of coaches around the country about Kingsbury, and no surprise, there were plenty of rave reviews. But Haney says even though Kingsbury is young -- the youngest AQ conference coach, to be exact -- a wide-open Big 12 is ripe for him to build a program within.

"He's not just running Mike Leach's Air Raid that he played in college," the coach said. "Kliff did a great job of using little things he's learned, from Leach and Dana Holgorsen (when he was an OC at Houston) and everyone else. He was Charlie Weis' quality control assistant (in 2003 in New England).

"He's taken those things and created his own thing."

That thing? In an era of accelerating offenses, Kingsbury wants to go even faster.

"He's up-tempo as fast as you can go," one SEC assistant said.

But he is still intelligent enough to be flexible when he needs to be. Kingsbury developed a first-year starter in Johnny Manziel, one who doesn't always abide by the letter of the playbook law, into a Heisman Trophy winner.

Well said. The Big 12 will find out soon enough if Kingsbury's rising star will continue to do so in his new role in a new league. Check out the full piece from Haney. Really great, candid, interesting stuff.