FanHouse Big 12 Football

AUSTIN, Texas -- Okay, so let the debate began.

Vince Young or Colt McCoy.

Which is the greatest Texas Longhorns quarterback of all time? Young led the Texas Longhorns to a season of perfection and the BCS national title in 2005 as a junior. McCoy, a four-year starter at Texas, has a chance tonight to become college football's all-time winningest quarterback with 43 wins should the second-ranked Longhorns make it past Kansas here at Texas Memorial Stadium.

AUSTIN, Texas -- University of Texas coach Mack Brown usually doesn't like to live in the past, but this week he broke out some old film for his team.

He showed the Longhorns how teams from 2006 and 2007 finished in comparison to 2005, when Texas won the BCS national title, and last season when many agree the 12-1 Longhorns should have been given the opportunity to compete for the national championship.

Brown's point to his second-ranked,10-0 squad is simple: stay focused these last two regular-season games, the Big 12 championship game in two weeks, and then biggest of prizes await the Texas Longhorns in Pasadena. A slip up anywhere between now and the Jan. 7 BCS national championship game will lead to great disappointment for Texas.

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."

The Oklahoma State Cowboys rallied in the second half to defeat Colorado, 31-28, on Thursday night at Boone Pickens Stadium to remain in contention for their first BCS bowl.

With Zac Robinson sitting out the game due to a shoulder injury, the 12th-ranked Cowboys (9-2, 6-1 Big 12) turned to junior Alex Cate but it was third-string sophomore Brandon Weeden who rallied them from a 21-10 deficit against the struggling Buffaloes.

Weeden completed 10 of 15 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. His 28-yard touchdown pass to Justin Blackmon while rolling right gave the Oklahoma State Cowboys the lead for good with 8:11 remaining in the game. Weeden also had a 47-yard touchdown throw to running back Keith Toston earlier in the second half.

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.

NEW YORK -- He doesn't want to talk about his foot, really. He's been asked about it so much that he can feel the question coming, and he heads it off with a tsk, a shake of the head and a practiced response.

"I've got a brand-new set of wheels, man," Michael Crabtree said Thursday night. "That's the way I look at it."

The Texas Tech receiver, a likely top-10 pick in this weekend's NFL draft, was making the interview rounds at the premiere party for EA Sports' NCAA Football 10 video game. (He's on the cover of the Xbox 360 version.) He's looking forward to finally finding out which team he's going to, and the stress fracture in his foot is healed, thank you very much, and he's not real keen on talking about it.

What he does like talking about is college football. Which is something he's going to miss.

College Football Spring Storylines 2009 looks at the key developments and big news from spring ball.

The Big 12 stood up and challenged the SEC for the title of One Conference to Rule Them All in 2008. They didn't exactly succeed, but the conference gave us a lot of great football last season.

However, that was then and this is now. The postseason was not entirely successful for the conference, with a 4-3 overall record in bowl games. How will that carry over into this fall? Who's on the rise? Who's hitting the skids? We'll talk about the big stories after the jump.

College football fans often use the promise on display during a spring game to get them the through the dark days of the off-season. If Saturday's performance is any indication, the off-season might actually be the only bright spot for Baylor fans. Case in point, the Green and Gold teams managed to score just 7 points in the finale to Baylor's spring practices, and the lone touchdown came in the game's last five minutes.

"That's kind of been our M.O.," Morriss said. "It's the (lack of) consistency with some new things that we're doing this spring that's got them thinking a little too much. We really would have liked to see them be a little more crisp and sharp than we were, but we've still got some time to work on all that."

While I'm sure Baylor fans have to come to expect this type of deficiency, you'd think the offense could at least muster a little spunk in the spring game. Optimistic fans will point out the strong play of the Baylor defense. The first-team defense of the Green team shut out the Whites, and tallied six sacks. Baylor managed just 11 sacks all of 2007. But despite their performance, Baylor defenders are displaying an incredible level of modesty hyperbole:

"Man, it's an incredible feeling to know that you've got a push like that in the middle," said senior defensive end Geoff Nelson. "When we start doing stunts, it's going to be amazing to watch."

Shutting out Baylor just feels right. Even when you play for ... Baylor.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jerrod Johnson finished the Aggies' spring game 5 for 5 passing for 39 yards and a TD while also rushing for 34 yards. He also completed a 31-yard pass to Jamie McCoy on 3rd and 16, on his first play under center. Despite these numbers it looks like the 6-6, 223 pounds Johnson will have to wait his turn in College Station.

"He is certainly not game ready and ready to win a football game, but he does some really good things," A&M coach Dennis Franchione said. "When he pulls it down with that size and runs with the football, he reminds of you of a lot of different guys that can do things with his arm and those feet."

The reason for the delay is Junior Stephen McGee who remains the clear number one for the Aggies. McGee was 8 for 14 for 72 on Saturday, while wearing a "no contact" jersey. I'm sure we will all get tired of hearing the inevitable Vince Young comparisons with every tall, athletic quarterback that comes on the scene. But the fact that Jerrod Johnson plays for the rival of Young's college team makes the comparison even more convenient. This will likely produce an absurd number of shots of Johnson standing on the Aggie sideline throughout the 2007 season.

In a game that was supposed to highlight the apparent quarterback battle, Texas Tech receivers Mike Crabtree and Edward Britton stole the show. Britton finished the day with three catches for 93 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown from Graham Harrell. Crabtree also caught three balls and finished with 103 yards receiving. He scored on a 43-yard pass from Harrell in the first quarter.

The emergence of Britton and Crabtree could be an important development for Texas Tech fans. The Red Raiders are trying to replace a talented trio of 2006 seniors in Joel Filani, Jarrett Hicks and Robert Johnson. The offense is also relying on a young, first-year wide receivers coach in Lincoln Riley. Riley was pleased with what he saw on Saturday.

"Every guy that we have right now is pretty good after the catch as far as making things happen," Riley said. "That's exciting, knowing that if we can get completions and make routine plays, those guys have a chance to take it the distance."

Despite being somewhat overshadowed by the wide receiver play, the Texas Tech quarterbacks also enjoyed solid days. Incumbent Graham Harrell finished the day 16-25 for 317 yards and three touchdowns. The only negatives to Harrell's performance were his two interceptions, both of which were returned for touchdowns. Taylor Potts who is challenging for Harrell's job completed 16-27 passes for 139 yards and also threw one interception.