FanHouse Art Briles

The Big 12 North remains a ways from returning to the prominence it enjoyed when the conference first formed in the late 1990s, but if Saturday's matchup between Kansas State and Nebraska for the division title is any indication then better days are certainly on the horizon.

After years of struggles by the Kansas State Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, which have coincided with a dip in the North's strength, the two meet Saturday in Lincoln for a winner-take-all showdown. Neither team has had quite the season it anticipated but each has won enough for the right to play for the Big 12 championship, likely against No. 2 Texas, Dec. 5.

"Certainly we've been in this position before, probably in different ways," said veteran Wildcats coach Bill Snyder, who broke out of a three-year retirement to return to the sidelines this season. "By the same token, I can't remember other than the very early years that playing against the Nebraska teams was not a great challenge and certainly key ball games were after those initial years after they beat us so soundly."

It's just three weeks into the full-swing of Big 12 play but the North Division is looking like any of the six teams could win the race.

That doesn't necessarily bode well at all for the weaker half of the two-division league.

Nebraska and Kansas came into the season as the presumed favorites to represent the North, but after two weeks of inconsistent play neither seems as powerful. The same can be said for two-time North champion Missouri, which started the season a surprising 4-0, but has dropped its first two games of the Big 12 season.

Maybe it's premature to start trumpeting the return of the Big 12 North, but if the non-conference success of the big-three North teams is any indication this could be an interesting season.

Nebraska and Kansas were expected to dominate the weaker of the league's two divisions, but it appears they will have company. Missouri, which is supposed to be in a rebuilding mode after back-to-back North titles, is off to a surprising 4-0 start that catapulted the program into the Top 25 this week at No. 24.

HOUSTON -- It seems every football season there is the push to find the ultimate BCS buster.

And there have been some good ones to crash the "Members Only" party for the big boys of college football. The interesting thing is the club of little guys capable of breaking through has been even more exclusive than the club entry they seek.

Boise State. Utah. Hawaii. TCU.

It was of little surprise Monday when Texas coach Mack Brown named redshirt freshman running back Tre' Newton as the starter for Saturday's UTEP game.

Newton gave the second-ranked Longhorns everything they had been looking for in a tailback for the last two seasons during Saturday's win over Texas Tech, picking up difficult yards and moving the chains. Filling in for injured starter Vondrell McGee in the second half, Newton rushed for 88 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.

His 18 carries for 81 yards in the second half proved pivotal in keeping Texas Tech's explosive offense off the field as the Longhorns escaped with a 34-24 win. It was the inability of the Longhorns backs to pick up critical yards late that paved the way for their upset loss to Tech last season.

The news on Oklahoma All-American tight end Jermaine Gresham Tuesday night wasn't what was hoped for in Norman, but it also wasn't unexpected.

The Sooners senior underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday afternoon and the scope revealed a tear in the cartilage that needed to be stitched back, a procedure that ended his season before it began and likely means the end of his college career.

Gresham, who passed on a chance to skip his senior season and head to the NFL, injured his knee during practice last Tuesday and missed the Sooners' season-opening loss to BYU. Gresham was expected to be the Sooners' top receiving threat and maybe the best tight end in the country after catching 14 touchdowns and 950 yards last season.

HOUSTON --There is an unusual buzz around the Baylor football program this summer.

It's the buzz of expectations.

The Bears faithful have been more than patient, going some 13 seasons without a winning campaign. But second-year coach Art Briles gave them hope in his first season at the helm with a exciting brand of football and an out-of-this-world freshman quarterback that put the Bears in some games they normally would not have been and kept them out of their usual spot in the Big 12 South cellar.

Baylor's Robert Griffin isn't just the most athletic quarterback in college football. He might just be the best athlete ever to play quarterback in college football. And now he's putting all his athletic focus on playing quarterback.

With a new head coach installing a new system, the Baylor quarterbacks entered the spring on even footing.

"To me, it's a situation where everybody's the same," said [co-offensive coordinator Phillip] Montgomery, who tutored Kevin Kolb at the University of Houston before he was drafted in the second round by the Philadelphia Eagles. "Everybody starts fresh, and everybody starts with a clean slate."

Now with spring practices coming to a close and the spring game behind them, fans who hoped one quarterback would jump ahead of the pack are left disappointed. While the battle appears to be between Miami transfer Kirby Freeman and Blake Szymanski, who started for the Bears in 2007, neither has separated himself. Szymanski was 9/13 with 102 yards passing and one touchdown in the spring game. While Freeman connected on 7-of-13 passes for 75 yards and an interception. First year head coach Art Briles seems unconcerned at the moment.

"We've got some guys that can do some things," he said. "To me, I'm more worried about the left guard position and our cornerback position than I am the quarterback, because we've got some guys that can play and make plays.

"I thought we played with pretty good pace and tempo. That's something that we're going to be known as is a tempo-tough football team."

Baylor isn't the only school that will break spring practices with an unsettled quarterback situation. But at least one writer for the school's newspaper is questioning whether the Bears find themselves facing yet another "rebuilding" year. Oh, I don't know, with an overall mark of 35-101 since the inception of the Big 12, I'm pretty sure Baylor just reloads.

It's not unusual for coaches new and old to use the spring to try guys out in new positions. But that doesn't mean that new Baylor head coach Art Briles' latest move isn't more than a little unconventional.

Baylor redshirt freshman Matt Singletary has traded his defensive black jersey for an offensive white one.

Singletary, who previously played defensive end at 6-4, 248 pounds, worked out for the first time at slot receiver Tuesday.

"In our offense, we look for what we call a big slot," Briles said. "We want a guy from about 250 to about 270 that can move and turn upfield and get after somebody with a mean look on their face. Hopefully, Matt can do that. We're kind of checking him out."

This is Matt Singletary, son of legendary Baylor and Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary we're talking about. You know the one who was, "Part of the defense, big and bold." And what kind of offense is built around 260 pound slot receivers? Yikes, I'm really happy I'm not a Big 12 defensive back.

There's no doubt that Matt possesses the genes to master the "mean look on his face" aspect of his new role. But did Baylor fans really expect the younger Singletary to spend his days in Waco lined up in the slot?
Sorry, No Photos