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When it comes to quarterback, Bob Stoops lives a charmed life these days.

Not many coaches can boast a bona fide Heisman contender -- Landry Jones -- with 37 career starts to his name entering the 2012 season. Stoops can.

But looking at both of the Sooners' rivals, it's a different picture.

Texas is engrossed in a two-man derby between David Ash and Case McCoy. North of the Sooners, Oklahoma State is playing host to a battle between junior Clint Chelf and a pair of freshmen, J.W. Walsh (redshirt) and Wes Lunt (early enrollee).

Texas nearly has its man; Ash is handling the majority of the first-team snaps.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma State is still splitting first-team reps evenly and doesn't have much separation between the three. Neither Texas or Oklahoma State has named a starter.

Stoops will have to replace Jones next season, but if he were in Mike Gundy or Mack Brown's shoes, he wouldn't hurry to name a quarterback.

"There's so much that can happen from the end of spring," Stoops told ESPN in Norman this week. "Just think about the amount of time before you take a snap in a game. So, I always felt having our guys continue to remain very competitive was the best thing."

Brown didn't name Garrett Gilbert his starter until the week before the Longhorns' opener against Rice last season. Texas' spring ended with Sunday's spring game and once again, Brown didn't name a starter.

Gundy, meanwhile, has seven practices remaining in the spring and wants separation. What about the notion that a team needs a commanding presence during the summer, when coaches can't oversee player workouts and it's up to a team leader to organize?

"I think that's overrated," Stoops said. "What, Ryan Broyles can't do that? A big-time receiver can't orchestrate it? Or the two (quarterbacks) can't say, 'Hey, we're meeting at this time.'?

“Or your team pride. What, I need the quarterback to tell me I need to come in here and work hard? You've got 100 guys on a team … they oughtta all be pushing each other to get in here and work. Heck, (former OU tight end) Jermaine Gresham could have grabbed everybody by the throat and made sure they were here."

Gundy and offensive coordinator Todd Monken see it quite differently.

"I don’t think it’s overrated," Gundy told ESPN in Stillwater this week. "I think it needs to be there. Can you have a lineman do it? Yeah. It’s not the same. This’ll be a big summer for us, because whoever we feel like is going to be our quarterback, he has to develop some leadership and I feel like that’s all part of it."

Said Monken: "You’re staring at two guys who played quarterback, Mike and I. So from our end of it, that’s how we’re going to see it. Stoops, he played DB, so he doesn’t care. He sees it a different way, and he’s right, anybody can organize it, but that’s not usually the case."

Monken's biggest reason? Quarterbacks need it more than anyone else. OSU receiver Justin Blackmon lived with a walk-on quarterback during his career, and anytime he wanted to get some work, he had an arm who could throw him balls at full speed.

Quarterbacks, though? Work is work, but throwing to walk-ons or friends isn't the same as throwing to targets with sub-4.5 speed like they will in live games.

"Quarterbacks need those guys to function," Monken said. "I don’t blame anybody for their opinion. That’s their opinion, but the reality is that the guys that are usually in charge of the summer workouts are the QBs because it affects them the most."

He added: "There’s something to be said for the guy that leads your team being the organizer. It doesn’t have to be, but it certainly helps."

Oklahoma State doesn't know who its quarterback will be. It would love to name him by spring. But even with the stakes high during the summer, they have no plans to force a decision.

"If we don’t know, then we won’t do it, but if we do, then we’ll do it," Gundy said. "That’s as important as anything we do in the offseason."

WACO, Texas -- Oklahoma defensive lineman Ronnell Lewis went down and clutched his knee on a 55-yard catch-and-run from Kendall Wright in the second quarter.

He won't be back.

Lewis is on Oklahoma's sidelines in street clothes and a knee brace. That's a big loss for the Sooners. Frank Alexander has been Oklahoma's best defender this year, but Lewis is a close second. Both are in contention for the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The Sooners defense will need to play well without him, too. Baylor scored on an unbelievable 87-yard play that caromed off Tevin Reese and floated right to a wide-open Kendall Wright in stride downfield, tying the score at 24.

You won't see that too often, but the Sooners had a similar touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham against Oklahoma State back in 2008.

The comparisons to the upcoming 2011 season and what Oklahoma experienced in 2009 have been unmistakable.

Now, after the latest news emerging from fall camp in Norman, the similarities have become a bit eerie.

The Sooners opened 2009 as a top-five team with a Heisman-winning quarterback leading a loaded offense with a defense good enough to win a national title a year after coming up short against Florida.

This year, the Sooners opened the coaches' preseason poll as the nation's No. 1 team with a Heisman favorite leading a loaded offense and a defense likely better than the 2009 team. Additionally, the Sooners are coming off a 12-win season that culminated in a BCS bowl win against Connecticut.

But before the 2009 season, just days before the opener against BYU, news leaked that senior tight end Jermaine Gresham, named an All-American after his junior season, had suffered a knee injury. The severity was unknown, but it seemed likely he could return at some point.

Gresham never played again for OU after tests revealed torn cartilage in the knee, and the Sooners suffered a season-opening loss to BYU in Cowboys Stadium. In that loss, Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford played with a shoulder injury that he never fully recovered from. He had midseason surgery and ceded control of the team to Landry Jones.

Which brings us to today. Jones is still healthy. So is the rest of the team.

But linebacker Travis Lewis' toe injury can't help but conjure up scary images of a chase for a title gone awry before it even had a chance to begin.

Unlike the loss of Gresham, the Sooners have a fit replacement for Lewis with tons of promise.

Tight end essentially became irrelevant in Oklahoma's offense, which scored more points than any team in college football history during the run to the national title game in 2008.

Lewis, the preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, leaves a void at weakside linebacker, but he's backed up by touted blue-chip recruit Corey Nelson. The only thing keeping Nelson off the field was Lewis, who chose to turn down NFL money and chase a title, just like Gresham, Bradford, Gerald McCoy and Trent Williams did in 2009.

Now is Nelson's opportunity. Fans will get a chance to see him work at his natural position instead of the nickel back spot he'd been working at during fall camp.

This isn't 2009 yet, though it certainly smells similar.

Oklahoma finished 8-5 that season, hurt further by a rash of injuries on the offensive line that at one point forced defensive tackle Stacy McGee (a backup on this year's team) to move to offensive line.

The Sooners can still rise above Lewis' injury. They're good enough everywhere else to beat ranked teams Florida State and Missouri, who have September dates with the Sooners. Lewis could return in October, and until then, weakside linebacker could still remain a strength.

There's no replacing Lewis' experience, or his on-field energy, where he's one of the most talkative players in the league and the defense's unquestioned leader. Nelson can hold things together with his talent, though.

Barring further injury, Nelson and the Sooners have a chance to rewrite the forgettable history of 2009. In September, we'll find out if they can do it.

NORMAN, Okla. -- This time last year, receiver was still a glaring question mark on a team with Big 12 title hopes. Ryan Broyles was a likely All-American, but he was the only established player from a group that was one of the Sooners' weak spots in 2009.

"I felt like we almost didn’t have a purpose," Broyles said of the nightmarish '09 campaign. "We set out with greatest quarterback in OU history, I feel, Sam Bradford. One of the greatest tight ends [Jermaine Gresham] and both of those guys got hurt early in the season, so we lost that first game against BYU and I felt like the season was just up in the air."

A return to the national title game, where Oklahoma has been denied by Florida months earlier, looked unlikely just 30 minutes into the 2009 season, when Bradford suffered a shoulder injury that cost him most of his junior season. Gresham never made it on the field after a knee injury just days before the opener. Two of the biggest pieces of the national runner-up were gone.

"We really lost out on what we were working toward after the first game, so I felt like it was almost like we were going through the motions and it showed," Broyles said. "We went 8-5 and that was one of the biggest things that hurt us."

Freshman Kenny Stills burst on the scene in the spring of 2010 after enrolling early at Oklahoma, but few knew what to expect from the receivers come fall.

They did a great job, especially toward the second half of the year," Stoops said.

Most impressive, besides Broyles' nation-leading 131 receptions, was the unit's depth.

Stills was second on the team with 786 yards on 61 catches, including five touchdowns. A torn mensicus sidelined Dejuan Miller in mid-October after the junior had played two of his best games of the year against Texas and Cincinnati. But even with Miller out, Oklahoma had an answer.

Senior Cameron Kenney caught just 14 passes in Oklahoma's first 11 games, but finished with 19 in its final three -- the Sooners' three biggest of the season. He accounted for 264 yards and three scores, including a momentum-swinging, third-and-long, 86-yard touchdown against Oklahoma State in Stillwater to help the Sooners win a South title.

"That was a major spark," Stoops said. "There’s no question they became a strength and it became a big difference in the latter part of the year."

Freshman Trey Franks added 29 receptions, and although Kenney's eligibility is done, the Sooners' receiving corps looks like one of the Big 12's deepest heading into 2011.

"They worked," Stoops said. "[Receivers and co-offensive coordinator] coach [Jay] Norvell did a great job working with them and they gained a little maturity and confidence as they went and gained positive experience."

Stills, after another spring, looks to cement his place as one of the league's best receivers in 2011.

"He came in early in the spring, he learned the offense, and that helped. Guys come here in the summer and they’re a step behind. It’s not as easy. The faster you get out there, the easier it is to relax and be able to play the way you can play. He was able to get out and get in crunch time," Broyles said. "He’s going to be electrifying. People label me as a guy you can expect great things from every game. And he’s another one of those guys."

Broyles, a senior, is plugging what he's learned into young receivers like Franks. He's gearing up for what could be that big year the Sooners missed out on in 2009.

"To be honest, it took me three years to learn the offense and what the coaches expected," Broyles said. "But I feel like those guys are getting a grasp of that."

The Oklahoma Sooners earned an unfavorable reputation as the 2009 season dragged. With a perfect 6-0 record at home, the Sooners looked almost invincible at Owen Field. Away from home, Oklahoma was just 2-5.

This year's Sooners are different and they have plenty to prove -- only part of which is shedding that tag of a team that leaves its best play at home. Oklahoma already outlasted Texas in the Cotton Bowl earlier this month and beat Cincinnati at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati in September.

"We’re staying healthy and we’ve got the whole nucleus from last year back this year. We’re just a tougher team," said linebacker Travis Lewis. "We learned from those close games, those tough losses. Then you mix that with this team this year and we're just a tougher, more healthy team."

This team will face its toughest road test of the season so far on Saturday when it travels to No. 11 Missouri to play the Tigers.

Win this game, and any talk of a team that struggles on the road should end immediately. Last year's offense was hit the worst by the injuries: shuffling out offensive linemen nearly every week, and playing without two of its best players in tight end Jermaine Gresham and quarterback Sam Bradford for almost the entire season.

This year's defense lost both cornerbacks, two linebackers and three defensive linemen to the NFL, including Gerald McCoy, who was picked third overall in April's draft. After early struggles by the unit, including giving up more than 350 yards on the ground to Air Force and more than 340 yards through the air to Utah State, the defense is finding the consistency to keep its winning streak alive.

"We've always known we were capable of being a great defense, we just haven't been consistent, and we've been giving up some big plays," Lewis said.

That wasn't the case last week, when the Sooners shut out Iowa State and looked more like their dominant selves in 2009, when they recorded shutouts against Oklahoma State, Tulsa and Idaho State.

"That bye week helped," Lewis said. "It helped settle us down, brought us back to health and helped us get a reality check."

And after that performance, the Sooners bring a No. 1 rank in the BCS standings to take on the Tigers. On Monday, the day after the Sooners won the meaningless midseason crown, Lewis, a team captain, exercised some leadership.

"It’s great from a recognition standpoint, but it can also be a bad thing. Some guys can become complacent. I just stressed to our players, don’t talk about it, don’t think about it, you still have to win every game. Go out there and play," Lewis said. "I told them I've been on No. 1 teams, I've played No. 1 teams ... Ohio State lost last week. Alabama lost the week before. No. 1 means nothing. It just means you've got a bigger target on your chest and you have to work that much harder."

And when Lewis looks back on how his team has played through its first six games, it's hard to find any satisfaction in the ranking.

"We’ve still got a lot to prove. Especially from a defense standpoint. We're ranked like 80th or 90th in the country, so we don't have much room to be complacent," Lewis said. "We all feel the same way, that we haven’t played like the No. 1 team in the nation."

The injuries for Oklahoma began before the season, when tight end Jermaine Gresham tore cartilage in his knee in practice and eventually underwent surgery that ended his season.

They continued early on, and the Sooners national title hopes ended before halftime of the season opener, when Sam Bradford injured his throwing shoulder and missed nearly the entire season after re-injuring the shoulder against Texas.

They continued throughout the season, even through the bowl game when defensive tackle Adrian Taylor suffered a gruesome broken leg and is still recovering, hoping to be back on the field by fall.

But Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is sending a stern message to anyone who thinks five losses in 2009 with a team that began the season ranked No. 3 means he'll change how he runs his program.

"I think its pretty evident that when you lose your Heisman Trophy quarterback and a first-round draft pick, All-American tight end and on and on and all the O-line injuries -- no, we haven’t changed anything," Stoops said. "We’ve got a pretty strong, proven method for winning Big 12 Championships and competing for national championships through 11 years."

Oklahoma only suffered one major injury this spring, losing right tackle Eric Mensik for 6-8 weeks with an MCL injury that won't require surgery. Guard Stephen Good suffered an ankle injury in the spring game and was carted off the field, but the injury was minor and should only keep him out of commission for a couple weeks.

Stoops held running back DeMarco Murray out of the spring game as a precaution, and limited the availability of Ryan Broyles, who still caught four passes for 69 yards in the game.

"Just because we got a rash of injuries in one season, we didn’t change a thing," Stoops said. "Had a great spring."

Defending Big 12 champion Texas has to replace record-setting quarterback Colt McCoy, receiver Jordan Shipley and a slew of big-time players on defense.

Oklahoma loses 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, All-America defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, tight end Jermaine Gresham and two key offensive linemen.

Kansas and Oklahoma State will be looking for new quarterbacks to replace record-setting passers who just left, and Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III is coming back from a torn ACL in his right knee.

Kansas and Texas Tech have new coaches, and Texas A&M has a revamped coaching staff.

With all of the key departures and changes across the conference, spring practice will be as important as ever. But change will also bring opportunity.

If ever there was a time to make a move in the Big 12 Conference, it’s now. After challenging the SEC as the country’s best college football conference the past few seasons, the Big 12 figures to take a step back in 2010.

But don’t expect the league’s traditional powers like Texas and Oklahoma to fall off the map. Longhorns coach Mack Brown and Sooners coach Bob Stoops have recruited too well for their programs to slip very much, and Nebraska seems ready to take control of the Big 12 North.

Whichever teams find suitable quarterbacks should have the smoothest transitions. Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert was introduced to America on the sport’s biggest stage. He was thrust into action when McCoy was hurt in the first quarter of the BCS National Championship Game against Alabama. Gilbert struggled early, but showed enough moxie and talent to make the Longhorns believe that life without McCoy won’t be so bad after all.

Oklahoma’s Landry Jones took over the starting job a year earlier than expected, after Bradford injured his shoulder in the ’09 opener against BYU. Oklahoma State’s new quarterback, Brandon Weeden, might lack experience but certainly isn’t short on maturity. He’s a 26-year-old former minor league baseball player.

The Big 12 will have plenty of new faces on the sideline and playing field in 2010.

But I’m betting it’s the same old names at the top of the Big 12 standings -- the Longhorns and Sooners -- at season’s end.

All season long, I heard offensive coordinators across the Big 12 talk about how much more difficult it was to move the ball in the conference last season than it was in 2008.

The conference still leads the nation in scoring when compared to other conferences with a per-game, per-team average of 28.39 points per game.

But the Big 12's average in yards per play was down to 5.47 yards per snap. That figure ranks ninth among the 12 FBS conferences and worst among the conferences that receive automatic berths in the Bowl Championship Series.

As shown on Tuesday, most every team in the Big 12 saw a noticeable reduction in offensive production and scoring last season compared to the previous year.

That trend didn't necessarily correlate across the rest of the country, when individual conferences are analyzed.

The number of plays remained the same from 2008 to 2009, but total yards and yards per play increased across the nation. Rushing yardage and passing yardage was up a little bit across the board as well. Scoring did drop, but not by the 20.3 percent reduction that we saw in the Big 12 in 2009.

Obviously, the graduation of top players like Michael Crabtree, Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, Graham Harrell, Quan Cosby, Josh Freeman and Joe Ganz had something to do with it. The conference also struggled with injuries to many of its top stars as Jermaine Gresham missed the entire season, Sam Bradford, Robert Griffin, Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter all were gone for most of the season. Even Colt McCoy's injury came at a critical time to limit his team's offensive efficiency when it really could have used him.

Most importantly, the Big 12 had a wealth of top defensive players last season. We'll see that in the NFL draft when Ndamukong Suh is the likely first pick of the draft. Gerald McCoy should follow soon thereafter -- perhaps as quickly as the next pick. It wouldn't surprise me to see Earl Thomas and Sean Weatherspoon both as high first-round picks as well.

For a closer examination, I looked at every conference and compared offensive numbers from 2008 to 2009. The Big 12's figures were noteworthy, when compared to the rest of the nation.


It's interesting to note that the Big 12's per-team averages were down in yards per game, yards per play and scoring from 2008. The only other conferences where this trend occurred were in Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference.

And contrasting with this trend, the Southeastern Conference's figures in all three categories went up in 2009.

These figures are cyclical. But with the departure of so many dominant defensive players in 2010, along with the return of eight of 12 starting quarterbacks next season, we might see an increase from the numbers of this year.

If that happens, maybe we won't hear as much whining from the offensive coordinators, either.

Much was made during the past season about the Big 12 defenses had finally started catching up to the offenses across the conference.

Obviously, numbers would be expected to plummet with players like Chase Daniel, Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree, Joe Ganz and Josh Freeman gone from last season. Toss in injuries to Sam Bradford, Kendall Hunter, Jermaine Gresham and Robert Griffin and offenses would be expected to be weaker.

But an underrated factor in the offensive decline across the Big 12 was the hard work of defensive coordinators across the conference.

Defensive coaches and players got tired of being humiliated on a weekly basis last season. It led them to come back determined to stop the offensive growth in the conference. The numbers bear out that they did a much better job in 2009 than the previous season.

With all of the looking back we've done this week, I couldn't leave without picking my own All-Big 12 all-decade team.

It was a tough choice at several positions, but here's my all-decade team.

Please feel free to provide any changes you would make, and explain why you would make them.

Believe me, it's a hard choice. I spent more than an hour trying to choose between Darren Sproles and Cedric Benson and Jermaine Gresham and Chase Coffman.

OFFENSE

QB: Vince Young, Texas

RB: Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma

RB: Cedric Benson, Texas

WR: Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech

WR: Rashaun Woods, Oklahoma State

TE: Chase Coffman, Missouri

T: Russell Okung, Oklahoma State

T: Jammal Brown, Oklahoma

G: Duke Robinson, Oklahoma

G: Derrick Dockery, Texas

C: Andre Gurode, Colorado

DEFENSE

DE: Brian Orakpo, Texas

DT: Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska

DT: Tommie Harris, Oklahoma

DE: Dan Cody, Oklahoma

LB: Derrick Johnson, Texas

LB: Rocky Calmus, Oklahoma

LB: Teddy Lehman, Oklahoma

CB: Terence Newman, Kansas State

CB: Derrick Strait, Oklahoma

S: Roy Williams, Oklahoma

S: Michael Huff, Texas

K: Mason Crosby, Colorado

P: Daniel Sepulveda, Baylor

Ret: Wes Welker, Texas Tech

Here's my final look at the Big 12 power rankings for this season.

1. Texas: Longhorn fans will always remember Colt McCoy’s injury in the national championship game and what could have been. Texas overcame every challenge during the regular season, but came up lacking without its leader in the biggest game of the year. The way the Alabama game played out will always haunt Texas fans. If they could have ever grabbed a touchdown lead or more over Alabama, was there any real indication that Alabama could have won with Greg McElroy and the Crimson Tide’s leaky offensive line? But it went the other way and the Longhorns were ground into submission by Alabama’s potent rushing attack to put a disappointing capper on an otherwise memorable season.

2. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers finished 10-4 and were only five or six plays removed from winning three of those games -- losses to Texas, Iowa State and Virginia Tech. If that had happened, it’s not out of the realm of possibility the Cornhuskers could have finished in the top five or six teams nationally. But the convincing victory over Arizona, especially with the unexpected offensive firepower, should build confidence and embolden Bo Pelini and his team for bigger and better things next season.

3. Texas Tech: A roller-coaster season finished with Mike Leach and Ruffin McNeill looking for work despite an impressive 9-4 record where the Red Raiders overachieved to a Top 25 finish. Tommy Tuberville’s arrival will bring changes, but Tech returns with a strong nucleus starting of quarterbacks Taylor Potts and Steven Sheffield and running back Baron Batch. If Tuberville can get the Red Raiders up and running quickly, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that his new team could challenge Texas and Oklahoma next season. But it will be tough as he tries to change the culture of the most memorable era of Tech football.

4. Oklahoma: A fast finish took some of the sting out of Bob Stoops’ most disappointing recent season. The Sooners’ hopes of a Big 12 four-peat were doomed as soon as Sam Bradford was lost for the season. And Jermaine Gresham’s injury before the season changed the way Kevin Wilson’s offense could operate. But at the end of the season, Landry Jones showed enough promise to give him a foothold for the starting position next season. The defense developed some young playmakers like David King and Demontre Hurst who showed promise in the bowl game for future growth. The Sooners will be back challenging for the Big 12 title next season if those players build on their late-season efforts.

5. Oklahoma State: All of the promise at the start of the season unraveled with a disappointing string of injuries and suspensions. And even with all of those struggles, the Cowboys still had a chance to play in a Bowl Championship Series game if they had beaten Oklahoma. Losses in the last two games of the season left a bad taste for what could have been Mike Gundy’s breakout season. The defense played much better than expected under new coordinator Bill Young, but the offense didn’t live up to the promise -- especially when Zac Robinson was hurt and his offensive weapons were stripped away. All things considered, a 9-4 record with everything the Cowboys overcame this season was better than could be expected.

6. Missouri: As well as the Tigers played at times during the season, their season was marked by their fourth-quarter home collapse against Nebraska and their confounding Texas Bowl upset loss to Navy. Truthfully, it was expected to be a rebuilding year after losing Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin and Co., but some of that was lost after a four-game winning streak to start the season. Blaine Gabbert surpassed expectations and is in line to become the conference’s best quarterback over the next couple of years. And Danario Alexander was the best receiver in the nation over the second half of the season. Defensive woes hurt them, but Gabbert’s return and some young defensive talent should have the Tigers pointed to improvement next season and maybe a challenge at the North title.

7. Iowa State: Was there a better moment in the 2009 Big 12 season than Paul Rhoads’ emotional response to his team’s upset victory over Nebraska which became a YouTube staple? Rhoads’ first season far surpassed expectations with a 7-6 record, the Insight Bowl victory over Minnesota and all of the other surprising accomplishments. Alexander Robinson was the most underrated player in the Big 12 and the gritty Iowa State defense played just like you would expect from a Rhoads-coached team. It won’t be easy for them to duplicate next year as they switch to the Texas-Texas Tech-Oklahoma gauntlet of South Division opponents. But it was a nice first step for Rhoads in building his program.

8. Kansas State: The Wildcats missed out on a bowl trip because of playing too many creampuffs during the nonconference season, but Bill Snyder’s first season was better than expected. The Wildcats received huge contributions from Grant Gregory and Daniel Thomas, who both arrived before summer practice with no real expectations coming into the season. Thomas developed into one of the conference’s best backs and should return for more next season. If Oregon transfer Chris Harper can develop into a playmaker at either quarterback or wide receiver and the defense comes together, the Wildcats might be a threat to make a bowl appearance in 2010.

9. Texas A&M: For all of their offensive weapons, the Aggies’ defense and special teams were the primary culprits in a 6-7 season capped by a disappointing Independence Bowl loss to Georgia. Jerrod Johnson posted the top statistical numbers ever produced by an A&M quarterback and he’s surrounded by a bevy of strong offensive weapons. But Mike Sherman’s new coordinator is going to need to produce more improvement from a young defense if the Aggies have any hopes of contending in the South Division next season and beyond.

10. Kansas: The Jayhawks’ leaky defense did it with mirrors against a weak early schedule, but it all caught up with them during a seven-game losing streak to close the season that precipitated Mark Mangino’s resignation. Todd Reesing, Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe all finished careers that will go down among the top players in Kansas history. But the challenge for new coach Turner Gill and defensive coordinator Carl Torbush will be to rebuild a defense that allowed at least 31 points in seven of eight conference games.

11. Colorado: Dan Hawkins popped off about challenging for a Big 12 North title at the end of last season. Instead, his team’s struggling performance ended his hopes of “10 wins and no excuses” before conference play even began. The season started off badly with embarrassing nationally televised losses to Colorado State, Toledo and West Virginia and didn’t get much better once conference play began. The Buffaloes did start Kansas’ losing streak and beat Texas A&M, but sputtered offensively as they ranked in the bottom 10 teams in rushing, passing efficiency and sacks allowed and in the bottom 20 teams in total offense. Tyler Hansen emerged as the quarterback of the future. His development will be critical in Hawkins’ hopes at a contract extension.

12. Baylor: The Bears started the season with a confidence-building upset at Wake Forest, but their season for all intents and purposes ended as soon as Robert Griffin sustained a season-ending injury in the third game. Griffin should be back next season but key defensive players like Joe Pawelek and Jordan Lake won’t be. The quarterback's return will be critical in rebuilding offensive confidence that was booming heading into the season. The Bears might have the opportunity to snap the conference's longest bowl drought next season in a more balanced Big 12 South, but the key for the season will be developing a defense that can better challenge the South Division’s powers.

Whatever happened to the Big 12 and all of those wild offensive numbers and great teams from last season?

With all of the promise from last season, more of the same was expected with many of the key players returning for another season. But an improbable rash of injuries and suspensions left top players like Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham, Baylor’s Robert Griffin and Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter sitting along the sideline rather than playing.

Instead, the defenses bit back in 2009, capped by a wild 13-12 victory by Texas over Nebraska in the conference championship game.

The results were seen on the field where the conference started slowly with a 4-7 record in out-of-conference games. Only one of those nonconference wins came after the first week of the season.

Taking advantage of Oklahoma’s injuries and a tight victory in Dallas on Oct. 17 over the Sooners, the Longhorns remained at the front of the Big 12 for most of the season. The Big 12 finished with only one team ranked among the top 19 teams in the final BCS standings and only three in the Top 25.

The bowls will provide a tough challenge for Big 12 teams. Only Texas Tech and Oklahoma are favored among the eight teams that were selected for postseason play.

Texas will be a consensus underdog against Alabama in the Citi BCS Championship Game. It’s exactly the position the Longhorns were in five years ago when they stunned USC in the title game.

A Texas triumph in the Jan. 7 matchup will be necessary to help salvage some of the Big 12’s reputation.

Offensive MVP – Texas quarterback Colt McCoy

Although he struggled in the championship game and against Oklahoma, McCoy was the fulcrum of the league’s best team. Down the stretch he pushed himself into Heisman consideration with 300-yard passing games in three of his last four regular-season games to finish with 3,512 passing yards and 27 touchdowns. But his most impressive number was breaking David Greene’s career won-loss record to set the NCAA mark with a 45-7 record.

Defensive MVP -- Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh

After his stellar senior season, Suh might have progressed to a level never approached by a Big 12 defensive player. Suh dominated the game in ways unusual for a defensive tackle as he finished with a team-leading 82 tackles, including 50 solo stops. He was third nationally with 12 sacks, broke up 10 passes and also blocked three kicks. He capped his season with a career-best 12 tackles in the championship game, including a record 4.5 sacks in a performance that earned him a trip to New York City for the Heisman Trophy award ceremony.

Newcomer of the Year -- Kansas State running back Daniel Thomas

Thomas was projected as a quarterback when he arrived at Kansas State this summer from Northwest Mississippi Community College. Coach Bill Snyder thought he could help the team more at running back and he emerged as the focal point of a Kansas State defense that took the Wildcats within a game of the North Division title. Thomas led the league with 1,265 rushing yards, 247 attempts, 11 rushing touchdowns and 105.4 yards per game, accounting for more than 100 rushing yards in five different games.

Coach of the Year -- Texas’ Mack Brown

While some could argue for Paul Rhoads and Snyder as possible candidates, Brown’s ability to lead the Longhorns to a perfect 13-0 season, his second Big 12 title and his second BCS title game appearance elevates him over the rest. The Longhorns excelled from the first game as they charged to the first 12-0 regular-season record in school history. He’s also pushed the Longhorns into another BCS bowl game for the fourth time in six seasons. Texas has won all of those previous games, but will be challenged as it faces Alabama as a decided underdog.

Biggest surprise -- Kansas State

The Wildcats were picked to battle to stay out of the North Division cellar and had to break in new players at quarterback and running back. After a 2-2 start in nonconference play capped by a loss at Louisiana -Lafayette, Snyder’s team caught fire behind quarterback Grant Gregory, Thomas and a plucky defense. The Wildcats led the season with a month to go, but couldn’t nail down a title after losses to Missouri and Nebraska. Those losses cost them a bowl appearance, but Snyder proved he could still coach a little bit -- even at the age of 70.

Biggest disappointment -- Oklahoma

The Sooners entered the season as the nation’s No. 3 team and a potential challenger for the BCS title game. But a preseason injury cost them Gresham for the season, and Bradford played less than two complete games before he was knocked out for the season with a shoulder injury. An injury-ravaged offensive line struggled to remain solvent, and the Sooners’ hopes of claiming an unprecedented fourth straight Big 12 title ended after an early loss to Texas. It didn’t stop there as later road losses to Nebraska and Texas Tech left them free-falling all the way to a berth in the Sun Bowl. It left them with a 7-5 record that marked the most losses in the regular season in Bob Stoops’ coaching tenure.

Game of the Year -- Texas 13, Nebraska 12, Big 12 title game, Dec. 5

The defenses dominated this game as the two teams combined for only 308 total yards and converted only eight of 35 third-down plays. But after a fourth Nebraska field goal by Alex Henery had given the Cornhuskers a 12-10 lead with 1:44 left, Texas answered. McCoy mustered a late drive to put the Longhorns in position for a game-winning kick. But as he attempted to run a final play from scrimmage, McCoy appeared to have allowed the game clock to expire as he threw the ball out of bounds. Nebraska players charged the field thinking they had won the game, but game officials ruled there was one second left. Hunter Lawrence took advantage of the remaining time to drill a 46-yard field goal, pushing the Longhorns into the BCS title game. Memories of the extra play will resonate throughout history for Nebraska fans who already believe they were jobbed out of a chance at a surprise Big 12 title.

Stanford (8-4) vs. Oklahoma (7-5)

Dec. 31, 2 p.m. (CBS)


Stanford take by Pac-10 blogger Ted Miller: Don’t be fooled by Oklahoma’s 7-5 record. This is an elite team, see its 27-0 whipping of Oklahoma State in the season-finale.

It’s just difficult -- and deflating -- when a team loses its consensus All-American quarterback and tight end for the season, as the Sooners did with Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham.

This should be another interesting strength-on-strength matchup, pitting Stanford’s power running attack with Toby Gerhart vs. Oklahoma’s outstanding run defense, which ranks seventh in the nation.

Stanford will have to be particularly wary of end Jeremy Beal and tackle Gerald McCoy. Those two have combined for 32.5 tackles for a loss and 16 sacks.

Balance will be the key for Stanford. Quarterback Andrew Luck can’t let the Sooners gang up on Gerhart.

The Sooners have been inconsistent on offense, but Stanford has been uneven on defense. Quarterback Landry Jones, after a slow start, has flashed potential and the Sooners offensive line features All-American Trent Williams. They average 31 points and 419 yards per game, so Oklahoma probably will expect to move the ball on a defense that gives up 26 points and 397 yards per game.

There’s another sidenote: Desire.

Stanford will be thrilled to play in the Sun Bowl. It hasn’t played in a bowl game since 2001. Oklahoma? Hard to say. The Sooners are accustomed to BCS bowls -- they played Florida for the national title last year -- so they might not be thrilled by a trip to the Sun Bowl. Or maybe they will want to make a statement for next year.

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Oklahoma take by Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin: The Sooners started the season with legitimate BCS title hopes and a No. 3 preseason ranking, but were doomed when tight end Jermaine Gresham was lost in August with a season-ending knee injury and returning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford lasted less than two games before he was knocked out for the season.

Those losses only scratched the surface in an injury-ravaged season that was the worst run of injuries ever endured by a team coached by Bob Stoops. Freshman quarterback Landry Jones emerged as a starter, but had a streaky range of performances, including six touchdowns in one game, five TD passes in another and five interceptions in another.

After the Oklahoma defense was humiliated in a late-season loss at Texas Tech, the Sooners rebounded with their best performance of the season in a 27-0 beatdown over Oklahoma State. Wide receiver Ryan Broyles emerged as the Sooners’ most versatile weapon with 76 receptions and 12 touchdown grabs. His production will be big against the explosive Cardinal, who rank 10^th nationally in scoring, 11^th in rushing and 13^th in total offense.

Stanford is led by all-purpose running back Toby Gerhart, a Heisman candidate who has rushed for 1,736 yards and 26 touchdowns this season. But he will be tested by the Sooners’ rushing defense, which ranks seventh nationally and has limited opponents to 88.6 yards per game. Winning the Sun Bowl will be huge for Stoops, who has lost five of his last six bowl games.

Texas approaches the Big 12 championship game with its first 12-0 regular-season record in history and momentum from a strong sprint through the Big 12.

And still, something appears to be missing as the Longhorns attempt to claim their first conference championship since 2005.

If Texas can beat Nebraska Saturday in Arlington, Texas, the path appears set for the Longhorns to make their second trip to the BCS national title game in five seasons. A potential matchup with Alabama or Florida beckons in Pasadena -- just like it did for the Longhorns to higher-ranked USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Even with that historical parallel in place, these Longhorns aren’t approaching the conference championship with a lot of national buzz. Most are seeing their Big 12 championship game with little excitement compared to the SEC championship game earlier on Saturday. It is causing the Longhorns to suffer in comparison to both the Gators and Crimson Tide as “Super Saturday” approaches.

Texas’ performance in its 49-39 victory over Texas A&M appeared to raise some questions that the Nebraska game could be more of a challenge than expected. The Longhorns struggled on defense against an A&M team that came into the game as the Big 12’s most inconsistent team. Earlier in the season, the Aggies had lost games by 28, 48 and 55 points.

The Longhorns have benefited from a series of favorable breaks throughout the season. Oklahoma was missing tight end Jermaine Gresham from the start of the season. Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford made it through only nine snaps in the Longhorns’ 16-13 victory over the Sooners earlier this season.

Some of the difficulty of the Longhorns’ trip to Oklahoma State diminished when Dez Bryant was suspended by the NCAA. The Cowboys also lost 2008 Big 12 rushing leader Kendall Hunter for most of the season. Hunter had one carry in the Texas game.

Even their toughest nonconference game against UCF featured a favorable break. The Knights opted to sit starting quarterback Brett Hodges and starting running back Brynn Harvey in their game in Austin earlier this season. UCF coach George O’Leary’s strategy appears to have worked as his team has won its last three games. But it still diminished the challenge the Longhorns faced.

The Longhorns have lost three tight ends during the season, including projected starter Blaine Irby. So it’s not like their rivals are alone in injury losses. But Texas appears to have gotten its fair share of breaks.

The Longhorns have relied on Colt McCoy’s short passing as their major offensive weapon – mainly to wide receiver Jordan Shipley. Their running game has been sporadic, but appears to be coming on as the season continues with the recent emergence of Tre’ Newton.

Texas’ defense had been the Longhorns’ major strength before being gouged by the Aggies for season-high totals in points and total yards. Before that game, the Longhorns had given up 37 points combined in their last three games and had allowed more than 21 points only once this season -- in a 34-24 victory over Texas Tech on Sept. 19.

Before that stumble, Texas had produced a remarkably consistent statistical season. The Longhorns still rank among the top 16 teams nationally in 13 of the 17 categories tracked by the NCAA. Included in those are first in rush defense, third in scoring, sacks, tackles for losses and kickoff returns, fifth in total defense, eighth in scoring defense and ninth in scoring defense.

Critics contend those numbers have been swelled by playing in a weaker-than-expected Big 12 and against a nonconference schedule that featured no opponents from conferences with automatic bids into the BCS.

Their margin over fourth-place TCU eroded from 114 points to 98 points in Sunday’s Associated Press poll. While it doesn’t appear that Texas is in danger of being lapped by TCU or Cincinnati, it still is indicative that the Longhorns’ status as a legitimate title contender could be called into question by some media members.

Texas should be a heavy favorite in the championship game. But it always hasn’t benefited them, especially in a game with similar circumstances eight years ago.

In that 2001 title game, Texas had a similar open path to the national championship game. All the Longhorns had to do was beat Colorado to qualify for a chance to meet Miami for the title.

Instead, the Buffaloes jumped all over them in a surprising 39-37 victory that sent the Longhorns spinning to the Holiday Bowl after their BCS title game hopes had appeared set with a victory.

Since then, Texas coach Mack Brown has learned to trust his coordinators more and become more of a delegator of authority. It has resulted in one national championship, a five-game bowl winning streak and seven consecutive finishes inside the top 13 at the end of the season.

That recent surge has helped change the national perception of his team from some of his earlier Texas squads, which always had trouble beating Oklahoma. In those days, Brown was known as “Mr. February” because his strong recruiting didn’t always translate into on-the-field success against the Sooners. Brown didn’t claim his first Big 12 title until 2005.

That image has changed. But the Longhorns still need a convincing victory Saturday to prove their legitimacy to much of the country heading into the national title game.

Here are some trends we learned about the Big 12 in Week 12:

Revenge was sweet for the Red Raiders: Texas Tech had been waiting for its chance to “Jump Around” on Oklahoma for a year. The Red Raiders were still miffed after having that House of Pain song ring through their ears during a demoralizing whipping last season in Norman. They returned the favor with a 41-13 beatdown against the Sooners -- tied for the second-worst defeat for a Bob Stoops team in a Big 12 conference game. The Red Raiders, ranked 117th rushing in the nation before the game, punished the Sooners by gashing them for 161 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Oklahoma can salvage some of its season by ruining Oklahoma State’s BCS at-large hopes with a victory. If not, there’s the very real possibility that Stoops’ team could finish the season with a losing season record after losses to the Cowboys and in a bowl game. Few could have ever imagined those possibilities this season -- even after potential All-Americans like Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham were lost with season-ending injuries.

Kansas State was bitten by its weak nonconference schedule: No team in the Big 12 could have used the extra bowl practice as much as Kansas State, which will end up being denied a bowl trip largely because of the transition from Ron Prince to Bill Snyder. The Wildcats ended up with six wins but couldn’t make a bowl trip because two of the triumphs came over nonFBS programs and could count only one for bowl purposes. The change in leadership left the new coaching staff and the KSU program scrambling for a late addition to its schedule. The result was a victory over late addition Tennessee Tech that doesn’t count for bowl eligibility and will keep the Wildcats out of those needed December practices. In the future, look for Snyder to put aside his previous appetite for gooey scheduling treats for a more determined challenge. Too much early sugar isn’t good for a developing program.

Colt McCoy hopes his memorable "Senior Night" isn't the end: McCoy beat Big Bertha and shot off the mammoth Texas cannon after leading Texas to its first Big 12 title game appearance since 2005. But it’s still undetermined if he can produce a Heisman Trophy as his ultimate reward for this season. If McCoy becomes the first Texas quarterback in history to receive the Heisman, voters are going to have to be sold on a “career achievement” kind of spin. He started it by claiming his record-setting 43rd career victory Saturday night. Big performances against Texas A&M Thursday night and against Nebraska in the Big 12 title game will be important as McCoy tries to make a late Heisman charge. It's not out of reach, but he absolutely, positively has to produce two huge performances in his remaining games in order to win it.

"The Bear's" soft side might have emerged too late to save his job: We saw the lovable side of Mark Mangino Saturday night in Austin, not the angry one that some of his players have decried over the last week in a series of troubling revelations that have surfaced around his Kansas program. Mangino, known as "The Bear" by his coaching friends, hugged his players and even told a referee he was “a good man” during an exchange that was picked up by a sideline microphone. It has taken a determined, forceful leader like Mangino to pull the Kansas program out of the abyss that he inherited in order to get them to a BCS bowl game. It's a shame that Mangino didn’t show his compassion more often during the building process.

Unsettled Texas A&M needs more stability in the future: I can’t remember a more up-and-down team in Big 12 history than the Aggies. Their 6-5 season has qualified them for a bowl trip with one more game to play despite an amazing run of emotions this season. The Aggies won games by 35, 37, 22, 25 and 35 points -- including their 38-3 whipping of Baylor Saturday that earned them the bowl trip. Earlier this season, the Aggies lost games by 28, 48 and 55 points. The Aggies are going to a bowl game, but Mike Sherman’s biggest job over the offseason will be to build consistency so that his team won’t have the week-to-week volatility that has marked his team in 2009.