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The web was abuzz after what sounded like a slip of the tongue by TCU AD Chris Del Conte at an event in Lubbock on Wednesday.

A report surfaced that Del Conte confirmed -- albeit accidentally -- that Florida State, Clemson and Miami had interest in joining the Big 12 while answering a question from an interviewer.

Del Conte spoke with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram later in the day and clarified his comments.

Del Conte told the Star-Telegram he was not substantiating the rumors. The radio host interjected Miami into the group of schools rumored to be mulling a move to the Big 12. Del Conte said he was just referring to the rumors when he mentioned that Miami and others were interested in joining during the breakfast gathering, which came after the radio interview.

"If you listen to the radio interview my comments were in reference to where [the Big 12] was a year ago and now we’re being talked about by all these schools,” Del Conte said. “It’s gratifying because a year ago we were talking about the Big 12 not being around. It’s just a remarkable the transformation in less than a year. That’s all I was addressing."

It seemed pretty obvious to me that Del Conte was just talking on Wednesday, not confirming any rumor, but you knew a storm was coming when the comments first surfaced.

Del Conte also told the Telegram that no one from the Big 12 contacted him or told him to retract his comments.

No harm. No foul. Time to move on with this one.

Hey, you stay at the top long enough, people get tired of seeing you there.

Such is life as Mack Brown and Bob Stoops.

This year, we asked who got you fired up the most, and Brown and Stoops ran away with the poll.

Stoops hauled in 39 percent of the vote, while Brown checked in with 37 percent.

They couldn't be any more different in personality, but they have one big thing in common: They win. If a coach kept beating your team, you wouldn't like it much, either.

Stoops got the OSU faithful fired up last season when he needled them for recognizing a co-Big 12 South title in 2010. He's won the biggest of any coach in the Big 12, and until the past two seasons, Brown had won with the most consistency.

That streak of nine consecutive 10-win seasons came to a screeching halt with a 5-7 campaign in 2010, leading more than a few to question Brown's coaching prowess. Could he be as effective at another school? What if you plopped him right in the middle of Ames? Would you still be impressed?

And at Texas, which has all the resources -- both financial and recruiting -- anyone could ever want, shouldn't a coach win more than one national title in 14 seasons?

Maybe that's fair. Maybe it's not. Only eight coaches currently coaching college football even have one national title. Stoops and Brown are both in that group.

The duo has outlasted every other Big 12 coach. No one in the league has been at their current schools longer. (Yes, Bill Snyder's three-year sabbatical disqualifies him.)

Before last season, Snyder was the only coach to swipe a Big 12 title from Brown and Stoops since 2001.

Hate them if you must. Pardon them if they don't stop winning long enough to notice.

As part of “College Football Live’s” 100 Days Till Kickoff countdown, here’s a look at the top 10 players in the Big 12.

Note: This is a separate list from our preseason top 25 players. We'll tackle that later. It might be a lot different. It might be much of the same.

1. Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia: Geno's a newcomer to the Big 12, but putting up big numbers is nothing new for the senior, who threw for 4,385 yards last season. Only one quarterback threw for more, but Smith had two more touchdown passes and eight fewer interceptions than the No. 2 quarterback on this list. Smith also completed nearly 3 percent more of his passes.

2. Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma: Jones checks in at No. 2 as the Big 12's leading returning passer, and will try to climb back in 2012 to give the Sooners another Big 12 title. Jones is the Big 12's most experienced quarterback, which should pay off the fall.

3. Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State: Klein was the league's No. 4 rusher and threw for 1,900 yards? You can't argue with that production, and Klein accounted for 69.8 percent of the Wildcats' offense. That's insane. His importance to K-State can't be understated.

4. Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia: Austin's the most dangerous playmaker in the Big 12, a true triple threat as a receiver, runner and kick/punt returner. He's the Big 12's No. 2 returning receiver, but he also returned two kicks for touchdowns in 2011, joining two other Big 12 returners who duplicated that feat last season.

5. Jake Knott, LB, Iowa State: Knott was outplayed by teammate A.J. Klein last season, but not by much. Knott was also playing through injuries. He's a superior talent, and like Klein, there's no arguing with his production. He's made 244 tackles in the past two seasons.

6. Joseph Randle, RB, Oklahoma State: Randle is the Big 12's leading returning rusher and should see an increased workload from his 208 carries last season. He turned those into 24 touchdowns to come three short of the Big 12 record.

7. Arthur Brown, LB, Kansas State: Brown's one of the league's most impressive freak athletes, a cruise missile of a linebacker who doesn't miss tackles in the open field and gets there faster than any true linebacker in the league. (You nickelbacks don't count.)

8. Kenny Vaccaro, S, Texas: Vaccaro's the most versatile talent on a loaded Texas defense, and as a roaming nickelback, offenses must account for where he is on every snap. He's also got a case as the hardest hitter in the Big 12.

9. Jackson Jeffcoat, DE, Texas: Who has two last names and is the Big 12's returning sack leader? This guy. His 8.5 sacks were 1.5 more than any other returner in the Big 12, and he made four more tackles for loss (17) than any other returner, too.

10. Stedman Bailey, WR, West Virginia: Bailey's a more traditional receiver in WVU's offense and he's taken advantage. He's the league's leading returning receiver and offers the Mountaineers a steady, dangerous target with sure hands who will help make WVU arguably the league's most dangerous offense.

The champions of the Big 12 and SEC conferences will meet in a bowl game annually, sources have told ESPN.com.

The agreement will begin with the 2014 season, with the champions of each conference meeting provided that neither team is in the BCS national championship game.

An announcement is set for noon ET later today.

For more on this story, go here.

It's that time again, boys and girls. The spring is over, and the Big 12 stock must be checked. Here's how I slot the conference heading into the summer.

1. Oklahoma: The Sooners' lead on the rest of the league looks like it's slimming after the suspensions of Jaz Reynolds, Trey Franks and Kameel Jackson. The pressure's on for an impressive haul of freshman receivers, highlighted by spring star Trey Metoyer and juco transfer Courtney Gardner, to offer Landry Jones solid targets.

2. West Virginia: You could certainly make a case for WVU as the favorite, but consider me a bit spooked by the inconsistency the Mountaineers showed in 2011. That inconsistency was masked by (a) their playing in a league that almost nobody in Big 12 country watches and (b) their most impressive showing of the season coming on their biggest and final stage, the Orange Bowl. I can't wait to see Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey navigate a Big 12 schedule, though. They'll fit right in. Getting Dustin Garrison back will be huge, too.

3. Kansas State: K-State has the widest variance of possibilities of any team in the Big 12 (undefeated and a Big 12 title or a six-win disappointment are both in play), and they have the highest volume of doubters of probably any 10-win team in America. Bill Snyder put together one of his finest coaching jobs ever in 2011, and he'll need another doozy to win a Big 12 title in the midst of a deep top half in 2012.

4. TCU: TCU also has the talent to win a Big 12 title -- in the starting lineup, anyway. Coach Gary Patterson said this spring that the first unit is good, but the second and third units are the reasons teams win Big 12 titles. The defense took a hit with offseason arrests, but the offense should be on par with any in the league.

5. Texas: The Longhorns are loaded with upside, but until they show something, that's all it is. Last year's truckload of freshmen will be sophomores in the fall, and the offense revolves almost entirely around them. The defense will be stingy at all three levels, but can the offense prove it's balanced (or powerful) enough to keep Big 12 defenses honest?

6. Oklahoma State: OSU pulled the trigger on a true freshman at quarterback after just 15 practices, and even OC Todd Monken said before the spring he'd be "shocked" if that was the case. Here we are. The good news for new QB Wes Lunt? Last year's opportunistic defense which ranked 107th in total defense but first in forcing turnovers could be one of the Big 12's best, and could become both opportunistic and solid in places other than the red zone.

7. Baylor: Nick Florence validated his status as the likely heir to Heisman winner Robert Griffin III; doubt the offense's potency at your own risk. The defense is still a massive question mark, but Baylor may finish the season with the Big 12's best receiving corps, despite losing Big 12 receiving champ Kendall Wright. The trio of running backs (Glasco Martin, Jarred Salubi and Oregon transfer/Texas native Lache Seastrunk) will be productive, regardless of how carries are divvied up, which is still in flux.

8. Texas Tech: Tech stayed healthy this spring, which was a welcome development. The Red Raiders are coming off a 5-7 season, but the offense was still productive in 2011, despite missing the top two receivers and two running backs for part of conference play as well as a host of injuries on the offensive line and defense. New coordinator Art Kaufman is a longtime associate of Tommy Tuberville and installed his 4-3 this spring to try to fix a defense that gave up more rushing yards than any team in college football in 2011.

9. Iowa State: ISU's spring was about finding a quarterback and replacing departed OC Tom Herman. Courtney Messingham was promoted from within, but the Cyclones left the spring as the lone Big 12 team that doesn't have a starting QB identified. That doesn't bode well for the fall.

10. Kansas: I'm a firm believer that the gap between Kansas and the rest of the Big 12 is narrowing. And trust me, it was enormous. Charlie Weis infused some much-needed talent through transfers, headlined by Notre Dame transfer Dayne Crist. Former Oklahoma receiver Justin McCay will have to wait until 2013 to play, as will ex-BYU quarterback Jake Heaps, but Weis set a tone when he dismissed about 10 players from the team before spring even began and suspended starting running back James Sims three games for an OWI arrest.

We're taking a look at spring breakout players across college football today, and here's who made a big impact across the Big 12.

Trey Metoyer, WR, Oklahoma: Metoyer may have had the best spring of anyone in the Big 12. The physical freshman spent last season in prep school, but walked in this spring and essentially earned a starting job. Then three Sooners receivers were suspended indefinitely. Metoyer was already going to play and probably going to start. Now, with Oklahoma's passing offense and Landry Jones throwing the ball, it's a near certainty that he'll have a huge impact.

Wes Lunt, QB, Oklahoma State: Lunt hasn't made an impact yet, but he's already made headlines. Lunt may be the first freshman to win a starting QB job in the spring in the history of the Big 12. The Illinois native beat out junior Clint Chelf and redshirt freshman J.W. Walsh for the right to succeed Brandon Weeden, and quickly trended nationwide on Twitter after the announcement.

Will Smith, LB, Texas Tech: Smith came to Lubbock as a lightly recruited California juco transfer trying to find some playing time at outside linebacker. Midway through spring, he'd already established himself as the team's best linebacker and coach Tommy Tuberville moved him to the inside so he wouldn't have to leave the field during passing downs.

Jordan Thompson, WR, West Virginia: WVU is already loaded at receiver, albeit a bit top-heavy. Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin are bona fide studs, but Thompson should find a niche in the Mountaineers' offense after showing he could make an impact as an early enrolling true freshman. He's quick and has good hands, and the Houston native may resemble (gasp!) a young Tavon Austin next fall.

Brandon Moore, DT, Texas: Moore reportedly still needs to work on his conditioning, but the 6-foot-6, 330-pound juco transfer was a force in the middle of the line for the Longhorns, and could be a valuable pocket collapser and run stopper for a loaded Texas defense in 2012. That could blow up a lot of great Big 12 offenses. Think Nick Fairley vs. Oregon in the 2010 season's national title game.

Charlie Moore, WR, Oklahoma State: There was buzz surrounding Moore all spring, but he proved it in a big way as a spring game breakout star. The junior caught nine passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns in the game, and overshadowed yet another breakout star over the course of the spring, sophomore receiver Josh Stewart. OSU needed to find weapons this spring to replace Justin Blackmon, Josh Cooper, Hubert Anyiam and Michael Harrison at receiver. The Cowboys did exactly that.

Tony Pierson, RB, Kansas: Pierson made a small impact last season, but he's essentially the unquestioned starter at KU for now after Darrian Miller was kicked off the team and James Sims was suspended for the first three games of 2012. The East St. Louis native is dangerous in the open field and gives KU a much needed home run threat.

New Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby doesn't want to see any future expansion in college athletics, but recent events have given him no choice but to put the issue on the Big 12's agenda, as it is on other conferences'.

My opinion," he told USA Today on Tuesday, "is college athletics would be well served by some period of smooth water and not all of the angst and disorganization that goes with moves from one league to another."

We've heard that from the Big 12. Florida State is forcing Bowlsby's hand, though he wouldn't mention the school by name.

"I think the topic of expansion will be on every agenda going forward. But it's on every other conference's agenda going forward, too," Bowlsby told the paper.

Over the weekend, Florida State's chairman of its board of trustees opened up a big ol' can of realignment worms, however, when he offered credence to a long-held rumor rumbling around college sports. Could Florida State leave for the Big 12?

"On behalf of the Board of Trustees I can say that unanimously we would be in favor of seeing what the Big 12 might have to offer. We have to do what is in Florida State's best interest," Andy Haggard told Warchant.com.

So, here we are. After two years of attrition and a role as the hunted, the Big 12 is doing some hunting of its own? Or is it? The league just added TCU and West Virginia for 2012 after Texas A&M and Missouri bolted for the SEC, leaving the Big 12 with eight members. That move was a year after Nebraska and Colorado left the Big 12 for the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively, costing the conference its namesake. Could Florida State move the Big 12 one step closer to a return to 12 members?

Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds tamped down some of the discussion, telling the Austin American-Statesman that there was "no traction" to the reports.

He did not add a "yet" on the end of that sentence, but more than a few assumed that was the case. How could the Big 12 and Florida State at least not sit down at a table for an exchange of ideas?

Where does the Big 12 stand right now? Bowlsby's not showing his hand.

"It's all about driving value for the member institutions," Bowlsby said. "There is a case to be made for optimal value being driven by the status quo, and there is a case to be made for some form of expansion. And I'm not prejudging or adopting either side of that right now."

He is, however, discussing it. And while that happens, there won't be many calm waters in college football.

There's no escaping the hottest rumor in college football right now: Is Florida State coming to the Big 12?

The chairman of the FSU board of trustees made headlines over the weekend when he told Warchant.com, "On behalf of the board of trustees, I can say that unanimously we would be in favor of seeing what the Big 12 might have to offer. We have to do what is in Florida State's best interest."

So what does our ACC blogger, Heather Dinich, say?

Before FSU decides to pursue a $20 million divorce from the ACC for a chance at better revenue in the Big 12, it should consider just how comfy ACC competition is. FSU isn’t ready for the Big 12. Heck, it wasn’t ready for Wake Forest last year (I know, I know, ‘guys were hurt’ …). Regardless of what conference the Noles play in, they still have to win to be relevant, and the ACC and its fans have grown weary of the program falling short of expectations in recent seasons. FSU hasn’t won the league title since 2005. Virginia Tech has won it three times since then, including in 2010, when the Hokies beat the Noles 44-33 in Charlotte.

Strong words.

Is Florida State ready for the Big 12? There's no doubt the Big 12 is tougher than the ACC. Only the SEC is a better league than the Big 12, and excluding the excellence at the top, a case could be made for the Big 12 as a better league from top to bottom.

Sure, Florida State's not going to run the Big 12 like it ran the ACC.

The Seminoles won 12 ACC titles from 1992 to 2005, helping stake its claim as a national power under Bobby Bowden.

Since 2005, the first year of the ACC Championship Game, Florida State's been shut out of the ACC's winner's circle.

But could Florida State compete? Absolutely. Jimbo Fisher has the 'Noles on the way up, and a move to the Big 12 wouldn't affect FSU's recruiting at all.

A national power in a talent-rich state? Florida State only has 25 players on its roster not from Florida. The talent will be there, and Fisher's brought in some of the best recruiting classes in school history in recent years.

It's been a rough run for FSU, but the 'Noles could compete. They won't dominate or win Big 12 titles by the bushelful, but they'll certainly compete, and if they do win, would only further validate the program in a much tougher conference.

IRVING, Texas -- The Big 12 introduced Bob Bowlsby as its commissioner on Friday. You can expect plenty more coverage from ESPN.com, including a column from Ivan Maisel on what convinced Bowlsby to leave a comfortable job at Stanford to take over a league that many believe is in turmoil.

"I wouldn't have been interested in (the Big 12 commissioner job) if I had arrived at the interview and found that there was fragmentation. I'm not much interested in having my horse shot out from under me," Bowlsby said. "I came in with some reservations, and those reservations were quickly put to rest. We had some very frank conversations about what the challenges were with the league, and what the opportunities are with the league. I came away feeling very good about it. Not knowing whether or not I was going to get an offer, but feeling very good about it."

As the new face of the Big 12, though, where does he stand on the issues facing the league? Here's a quick rundown.

On possible future Big 12 expansion:

"Expansion will be an ongoing consideration for us. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk with all of the presidents about this issue, and I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to all but a couple of the athletic directors. I certainly am not going to presume a direction that we will go. I think, though, as you consider expansion, it has to be expansion that has, as its roots, the enhancement of the league. There’s nothing magic about 11, 12 or 10."

Later, he added that there is no consensus among the members about a number, but there are a lot of variables to consider.

On a playoff in college football:

I think we're going to end up with some form of playoff. Whether it's inside the bowls or outside is yet to be determined. There's certainly arguments to be made for both. If I would have had to bet on it or guess at it a year ago, I'd have said the plus-one model had the best chance, but I think the commissioners group and the BCS leadership has really gravitated toward a position that has four or five legitimate options, and I think time will tell which will be selected, but I think one of them will be.

On the idea that the Big 12 commissioner is a puppet for the University of Texas:

"I guess I would just suggest that you do a little homework on me. I haven't been very good at being a puppet over the years."

On issues revolving around Texas that affected conference unity:

"I think it's in the past. ... I have found them to be very thoughtful and very team-oriented in terms of how they view the issues. I asked some probing questions along those lines, because the University of Texas is always going to be an 800-pound gorilla in college athletics, and that isn't going to change. But I have been very impressed at the extent of which the folks at the University of Texas are committed to the conference, and committed to the best outcomes -- not only for them, but for the other nine members.

On extending the league's grant of rights:

"The longer we go, presumably the more stable we are."

On equal revenue sharing:

I think the Big 12 can do anything the Big 12 wants to do. I think they're terrific universities and great sports programs, and I think the world is our oyster. The landscape is changing quickly, and we're going to need to change with it, but I'm very excited about the group that we're going to go to battle with. I think we can compete with any conference out there. I think we can compete on the playing surfaces, and we can compete in the marketplace as well.

He later added: "Great competition every Saturday is the best thing you can have. One of the ways you do that is by making sure the rich don't get richer and the poor don't get poorer. I think it's really important to have something resembling equal revenue sharing. It isn't just about the money that makes you competitive, but it is in part about available resources that institutions can use. The best situation you can have is an all-out war on the football field every Saturday or every Saturday on the basketball floor."

On the Longhorn Network:

"I think everybody wishes that they had the Longhorn Network available to them, and not everybody can do that, although there are several in the league that have their own models of third-tier rights utilization. It's a challenge going forward, but I think the presidents have given a lot of thought to how it fits together, and I was satisfied with what I heard from them along those lines.

On having a geographical outlier in West Virginia:

Because of that, we do need to think about how to (make them welcome). It isn't a situation where they're going to have a natural rival in the state next door. their Backyard Brawl with Pittsburgh is natural geographically, but it isn't evident that there's the same geographic vicinity with the Big 12 teams. Having said that, I think it's all about high-quality competition. Football and basketball teams are playing all over the country, so it isn't a particular logistical challenge there, but for some of the non-revenue Olympic sports, it's going to be a challenge. We're going to have to think innovatively about how we don't disadvantage a team that's from some distance away.

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Mike Gundy remembers what happened the last time Oklahoma State shook up the Bedlam rivalry.

Gundy was an assistant on Les Miles' staff back in 2001 when the Cowboys knocked off the defending national champion Sooners on their home field as four-touchdown underdogs. In 2002, Miles did it again, beating the No. 4 Sooners in Stillwater, 38-28. The Sooners' noisy neighbors to the north woke them up to a rivalry that would turn one-sided again very soon.

"The first two years I was here with Les and we beat them, they didn’t really consider us a factor. I obviously don’t have any proof of that, but I’m sure when they looked at their schedule, they were looking more at Texas and Nebraska and people like that. ... I don’t think their players every really paid much attention to us," Gundy said. "It’s been so one-sided here for the last 100 years, or however long; it's been a bigger factor for the fans than it was the players.

"That changed in 2003 up through now. They, in my opinion, were very aware of that game. Last year is only going to add to that."

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops? Well, he strongly disagrees with that assessment.

"Everyone calls it a rivalry for all these years, now you’re saying it’s now become one? I don’t understand that. When wasn’t it a rivalry?" he said. "Like I didn’t need to last year? What year didn’t I need to win it?"

Valid points from Stoops, but the facts support Gundy's assumption. After the 2002 loss, the Sooners won next eight Bedlams battles. Only three of the eight wins were by single digits, even though a rising Oklahoma State program was ranked in five of the eight meetings.

Just like 2001 and 2002, Gundy says the Cowboys' emphatic 2011 win "throws fuel on the fire" of Bedlam, a Big 12 rivalry gaining fast on Red River as the Big 12's most nationally relevant game.

Last season, the balance of power in the state shifted. When receiver Isaiah Anderson goes home to Wichita Falls, Texas, he sees more orange than ever before. It's on car bumpers, the fronts of shirts and emblazoned across hats.

With a 44-10 Cowboys romp in Boone Pickens Stadium capped by a field storming, Oklahoma State announced its arrival.

"Oklahoma’s not the only team in Oklahoma anymore. They can’t call it the Sooner State," Anderson said.

This was no fluke win. It was no blip of an upset that put a late-season blemish on Oklahoma's record. This was two in-state rivals playing for everything, and Oklahoma State walked away as 34-point victors.

"I said it then: If not now, then when? When is that gonna happen?" offensive coordinator Todd Monken said. "We got them here, everything’s on the line, we’ve had a bye week, we’re playing good football. We’re healthy. They weren’t."

The Sooners had taken home seven Big 12 titles since 2000, and even with injuries to leading receiver Ryan Broyles and running back Dominique Whaley, they had positioned themselves for an eighth. Oklahoma State said, "No. This one's ours."

Oklahoma State had won games, sure. It had won bunches of them -- 29 in the past three seasons, including a school-record 11 in 2010. What it hadn't won? The big one.

"The bully is the bully until you beat up the bully," Monken said. "You can’t say you’ve arrived until you actually win it."

Fans mobbed players to celebrate as they ripped down the goalposts.

Middle-aged alums hopped the field's 8-foot wall and hugged players such as Justin Gilbert, who said he couldn't take a step without someone thanking him and his teammates.

In one night, Oklahoma State ended eight years of frustration.

"Hopefully, now in our players' minds and our fans’ minds, we’re not the whipping boy anymore," offensive lineman Jonathan Rush said. "We can play. It’s not like we have a curse that we’ll never win that game. Now we can believe. It’s doable."

It also booked its first trip to the BCS and, most importantly, won its first outright conference title.

"If we beat Iowa State and lost to OU, it’s not the same," Monken said, referencing a double-overtime loss to the Cyclones that cost OSU a shot at the national title but didn't deter its Big 12 title hopes. "Yeah, we might have gone on and played in the Sugar Bowl, but it wouldn’t have been the same because you didn’t win the league. You didn’t win the title. You can’t say, 'Hey, we’re conference champs.' And you did it against OU, who, let’s face it, has had the upper hand for years."

The Sooners had the upper hand on more than just Oklahoma State. OU and Texas combined to win 10 of the 15 Big 12 titles before last season. No one except the Sooners and Longhorns had won the former Big 12 South since Texas A&M in 1998.

Then, all of a sudden, the Big 12's Red River dominance came to an end.

"I think what that’s done is kind of broke the ice a little bit," Gundy said. "The people that follow football in this part of the country, I think they enjoyed watching Oklahoma State win this league, because of the dominance the other two schools have had."

It's no longer impossible to surpass Oklahoma and Texas. The road to the Big 12 title was easier in the former Big 12 North, but when the Big 12 eliminated divisions in 2011 after being trimmed to just 10 teams, concern arose that no one would be able to outperform OU or Texas over the course of a 12-game season.

A Big 12 North team could upset a team from the South in the Big 12 title game. Kansas State proved that with a mammoth upset in 2003. Colorado upset Texas in 2001. But outplay the Red River rivals for an entire season? Good luck with that.

A year later, Oklahoma State proved it can be done, and can be done emphatically. The Cowboys finished two games ahead of the Sooners after the Bedlam beatdown for state supremacy.

"Winning a BCS game in some way has changed all of their lives," Gundy said. "They just don’t know it. It certainly changed mine and the people that coach here and work in their organization. It did theirs, too. They just don’t know it yet."

The Big 12 made it official on Thursday afternoon: Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby is the new man in charge of the Big 12. He'll be introduced as commissioner at a press conference on Friday morning.

I'll be there at the Big 12 offices in Irving, Texas, for sure, so be sure to check the Big 12 blog for coverage.

Bowlsby will take over for interim commissioner Chuck Neinas on June 15. Neinas replaced fired commissioner Dan Beebe in September 2011.

"I am proud to have been selected to lead the Big 12 Conference as its Commissioner. The member institutions represent the best in competitive intercollegiate athletics and they occupy a prominent place in the history of sports in America," Bowlsby said in a statement. "I am excited to work with a very talented and committed group of Presidents and Chancellors to advance the Conference on the national sports landscape. Additionally, the directors of athletics, senior woman’s administrators, faculty athletics representatives, coaches and conference office staff are among the very best in the country. The future is exceedingly bright and I look forward to engaging with my colleagues to achieve great things in the years ahead."

In a tweet, Kansas State AD John Currie said the league's presidents and search committee "hit a home run" with the hire.

"Bob Bowlsby is a highly respected and experienced college athletics administrator who has a reputation for integrity and excellence. His vision will be shaped by successful experiences at leading institutions in other BCS conferences which will serve the Big 12 very well as he leads us into a bright future," Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw said in a statement.

Oklahoma president David Boren also lauded the selection.

"His combination of skills makes him the ideal selection," Boren said in a statement.

Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis explained those skills in the Big 12's announcement of the Bowlsby hire.

"The institutions of the Big 12 wanted a Commissioner that could take us to the next era as a conference with the addition of TCU and WVU, and we unanimously agreed Bob is that leader," Hargis said. "The search committee looked for a candidate that has a vision for the next generation of college athletics, and his credentials and ideas exceeded this. He understands enhancing athletic competition among conference schools, the challenge of balancing academics and athletics for our student-athletes, and working with our broadcast and bowl partners."

The Big 12 is closing in on its permanent replacement for former commissioner Dan Beebe.

The conference has offered its commissioner's job to Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, multiple conference and industry sources told ESPN.com Wednesday night. Bowlsby is expected to accept the offer, sources said.

Bowlsby was in Phoenix the past few days as the Big 12 and Pac 12 meetings overlapped. Bowlsby has a strong relationship with Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott. Bowlsby was on the search committee that discovered Scott, with the aid of search firm executive Jed Hughes who has handled both searches for the Big 12 and Pac 12 commissioner's jobs. Hughes was at a different firm for the Pac 12 search firm than he is for the Big 12 search.

Bowlsby has been highly respected by his Pac 12 colleagues, and sources said he had a strong endorsement from Scott.

The Big 12 fired Dan Beebe as its commissioner last fall and replaced him with temporary replacement Chuck Neinas. He helped guide the Big 12 through the loss of Missouri and Texas A&M, as well as inviting TCU and West Virginia to join and give the league 10 members.

Bowlsby was Iowa's athletic director from 1991-2006 before taking over at Stanford.

For more on the story from Andy Katz, go here.

Next Monday, start the countdown.

Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas will have two months left as the boss of a league that's seen plenty of tumultuous times over the past two years.

"We were kind of saved by the bell by Chuck Neinas. He kept it going in terms of getting us on the right track and getting everybody involved, all the teams in the conference," Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said during the Big 12 coaches teleconference this week. "We had lost two teams each of the last two years, which has been devastating to this league, but with Chuck’s leadership, it’s come on pretty good."

TCU and West Virginia replaced Texas A&M and Missouri to bring the Big 12 back to 10 members, but now it's Neinas who must be replaced.

He agreed to stay on in an interim role through June 30, but his replacement could be named before then. What do the league's coaches want to see?

"The answer is very obvious. You’d like to have a good person. You’d like to have a very honest, forthright person, with a balance in how he operates the conference itself, with the idea that everybody is treated equally and what he would do would be in the very, very best interest of the 10-12 teams that would make up the conference itself," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. "Somebody that’s highly respected across the country and well-known across the country as well, has a reputation that would be very, very prominent as it relates to conference commissioners across the country."

For Tuberville, the new guy needs experience.

"Hopefully we get a strong-personality guy that can work with everybody, put their touch on it, somebody with experience, somebody that has maybe been a commissioner or a deputy commissioner for one of the other leagues," Tuberville said. "I think experience is going to be key for us, somebody that’s been there, done that, seen all the problems. It’s no different than coaching a football team in that experience usually pays off for you."

He added: "We’ve obviously had some setbacks the past few years, if we can get somebody who understands our league, maybe somebody from another conference looking from the outside in, understanding what’s going on and bringing their philosophy in would really help us."

For Texas coach Mack Brown, it's simple: He wants someone who can maintain stability, and unity is the first way to help establish it.

"We’ve been through so much turmoil over the past two years in the Big 12. I think what I would like to see is stability. I’d like to see someone come with confidence and new ideas and making sure that it sounds like our league is really stable at 10. I know some are looking at the possibility of 12," he said. "I’d like to see somebody who can really lead the group and get everybody on the same page, because it’s a wonderful conference. I love the additions that we’ve made, and I think it can be again, one of the top conferences in the country because the teams are all winning. But you gotta have a boss."

For the second consecutive year, the Big 12 is beginning play with an all-new lineup.

For the second consecutive year, the Big 12 is beginning play with just 10 teams.

Perhaps most importantly, it's beginning with no Big 12 Championship game. The Big 12 lucked out in 2011 on the season's final weekend.

Who said there was no Big 12 Championship? Oklahoma and Oklahoma State played for the Big 12 title and a trip to the Fiesta Bowl on Championship weekend, providing a fitting end while the SEC played its title game and the Big Ten and Pac-12 held their inaugural games.

Oklahoma State romped and stated its case for the national title game, though the Cowboys fell short.

Now, 2012 is a new year, and a new risk befalls the 10-team Big 12: Can it survive in college football's new world without a title game?

Expanding to 12 teams is a possibility, but not a necessity for the league to reinstitute a title game. The Big 12 could petition the NCAA and likely bring back the event on the season's final weekend, the same weekend the league hosted from the time it began in 1996 until 2010.

There's little motivation to do so from those who tend most to on-field matters: Coaches. At least one expressed a desire on Monday, though.

"I would like too see us add a couple more in the future to get us back to 12 and a conference championship game," Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said. "But who’s out there?"Everyone is kind of scrambling around trying to fill it up."

The biggest motivator, though, is the same as always: Money.

Former Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe convinced ABC/ESPN to honor its contract with the Big 12 in the summer of 2010, despite doing away with the Big 12 title game.

A new first-tier TV deal will likely be signed in 2014, the same year that -- gasp! -- college football could be entering a world with a four-team playoff.

Is there any doubt a new Big 12 television contract would be more valuable with the promise of a titanic clash at season's end?

By 2014, the Big 12 would join the Big East as the only major conference without a national championship game, and even that's no guarantee, with the Big East eyeing wholesale expansion and perhaps doubling the size of its league.

Perception is reality, and perception would claim the Big 12 was behind the times. The Big 12 could earn more cash with a Big 12 title game, but the respect from re-instituting it would come with a hefty price of its own.

A Big 12 team has never been thrust into the national title game, but on three occasions, Big 12 teams have lost the conference's title game when a win would have landed them in the national championship.

The Big 12 played for the title seven times, second only to the SEC's nine, but four more appearances than any other league.

Without a Big 12 title game, the Big 12 could have earned back some of that money with conference revenue from an appearance on college football's biggest stage.

Bring back the title game, though? Especially in a world with a four-team playoff?

Big 12 teams would be asked to win three games in addition to a 12-game schedule, after a Big 12 title game, national semifinal and national championship.

That's not easy.

Without divisions like the other leagues with title games, deciding the two participants for the game wouldn't be easy, either.

For now, the Big 12 will move on with 10 teams and no title game. Want to bring it back?

When the new commissioner arrives and a television contract is pieced together, prepare for plenty of debate.

Recruiting season got started in earnest on Tuesday with the release of the ESPN 150, so it's time to offer our first real check-in on where the Big 12 recruiting classes sit with a little less than 10 months before players can officially sign.

Remember, this card is in pencil. Players are free to switch commitments until they sign a letter of intent with a school.

1. Texas Longhorns

Total commits: 13
ESPNU 150 commits: 7
Key commits: QB Tyrone Swoopes, WR Ricky Seals-Jones, C Darius James, OT Jake Raulerson
Class notes: Texas' top three commits are all the best at their positions, and 10 of the class' 13 commitments are four stars or higher. That's nothing new in Austin, but Swoopes looks like the quarterback of the future in Austin, though he hails from a smaller school in Whitewright, Texas. Seals-Jones is a physical presence at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds.

2. Oklahoma Sooners

Total commits: 4
ESPNU 150 commits: 3
Key commits: RB Greg Bryant, RB Keith Ford, DE D.J. Ward
Class notes: Oklahoma's class is still pretty small for now, but the Sooners are getting some much needed help at running back, where numbers are suddenly thin following a rash of transfers after the season. Ward joins fellow DE Matt Dimon in the class, too.

3. Baylor Bears

Total commits: 6
ESPNU 150 commits: 1
Key commits: QB Chris Johnson, RB Johnny Jefferson, WR Quan Jones
Class notes: No surprise here: Baylor's new class is loaded with skill position talent. Johnson is the nation's No. 2 dual-threat passer and Jefferson is the nation's No. 36 running back. It seems like almost every year, Baylor reels in a huge prospect. For now, 2013 is no different, and coach Art Briles looks like he can continue his QB lineage. Johnson is a four-star, and Jefferson and Jones are three-star recruits.

4. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Total commits: 5
ESPNU 150 commits: 0
Key commits: ATH Devin Lauderdale, WR Dylan Cantrell, CB Will Barrow
Class notes: Texas Tech has landed top-25 recruiting classes in each of Tommy Tuberville's first full seasons in Lubbock, and the Red Raiders are off to another nice start in 2013. Super recruiter Robert Prunty's developed a penchant for reeling in ESPN 150 talent, so keep an eye on the newest major player on the recruiting scene. Lauderdale is a four-star recruit.

5. Kansas State Wildcats

Total commits: 3
ESPNU 150 commits: 0
Key commits: ILB Tanner Wood, DE Jordan Willis, WR LeAndrew Gordon
Class notes: Two of Kansas State's three commits are three-star recruits. The Wildcats won 10 games in 2011, but another solid year in 2012 could help spur recruiting efforts even further.

6. Oklahoma State Cowboys

Total commits: 1
ESPNU 150 commits: 0
Key commits: WR Fred Ross Jr.
Class notes: Ross is a four-star and the nation's No. 21 receiver, but OSU could climb this list quickly, riding the success from its first Big 12 title in 2011. It's a slower start than you'd envision for OSU, but we'll see if the Cowboys can win some battles with Texas Tech, TCU and others.

7. TCU Horned Frogs

Total commits: 2
ESPNU 150 commits: 0
Key commits: OLB Sammy Douglas, OG Patrick Morris
Class notes: Douglas is a three-star recruit and the nation's No. 36 outside linebacker. That's a big position of need for TCU, but the Big 12 entrance and recent campus drug sting that resulted in four players being arrested will be battling for positive and negative pushes on the recruiting trail. We'll see which one wins out in 2012.

8. Kansas Jayhawks

Total commits: 3
ESPNU 150 commits: 0
Key commits: QB Montell Cozart, TE Ben Johnson, LB Kellen Ash
Class notes: Kansas doesn't have a nationally ranked recruit, but Weis sounds like he's high on Cozart, a highly recruited QB from the Kansas City area who had offers from West Virginia and Minnesota.

9. West Virginia Mountaineers

Total commits: 0
ESPNU 150 commits: 0
Key commits: None
Class notes: WVU is one of two teams without a commit yet in the 2013 class. We'll see if that picks up if WVU can validate its membership in the Big 12 with a strong debut season.

10. Iowa State Cyclones

Total commits: 0
ESPNU 150 commits: 0
Key commits: None
Class notes: Iowa State has started slow, too. Another bowl appearance would help, but it has to be a bit frustrating for the Cyclones to be behind the eight-ball for now. That's especially true considering what Kansas has done thus far.