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STILLWATER, Okla. -- As much debate swirls around which teams are the best and most deserving for a shot at the BCS national title, the Texas Longhorns appear to have the most unabridged path to Pasadena of any of the serious contenders.

Take your pick of the other potential candidates -- Florida, Alabama, Iowa, TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State, Oregon -- and they all could suffer heartbreaks during this final stretch of regular season. Texas' path has far fewer land mines.

The Longhorns, who leaped back into the No. 2 spot in both polls over Alabama on Sunday and are third in the most recent BCS poll, just completed the most difficult portion of their schedule in impressive fashion, beating Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State in what was supposed to be a challenging four-game stretch.

STILLWATER, Okla. --- Texas coach Mack Brown normally demands his teams stay in the moment.

But in the week leading up to Saturday night's game against 13th-ranked Oklahoma State, Brown wanted to make certain the third-ranked Longhorns remembered where they were at this point last season and what they lost against Texas Tech.

They were different opponents, but presented a strikingly similar scenario a year apart.

STILLWATER, Okla. -- It almost seems uncanny, the parallels between tonight's Texas-Oklahoma State Halloween showdown and last season's matchup between the Longhorns and Texas Tech.

A hostile road environment that will be filled with rowdy fans. Night game. National TV audience. The fourth game of an unforgiving four-game stretch that includes Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri before this one.

A bid for the Big 12 South title and a shot at the BCS national championship game also hang in the balance.

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.

DALLAS -- University of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy says revenge will be the furthest thing from his mind Saturday when third-ranked Longhorns take on No.20 Oklahoma in the anticipated Red River Rivalry here at the Cotton Bowl.

But you'd better believe the Longhorns are still upset from last season when they beat Oklahoma by 10 points on a neutral field and finished the season in a 7-1 three-way tie with the Sooners and Texas Tech. Yet it was Oklahoma that represented the Big 12 South in the conference title game and subsequently advanced to the BCS national title.

DALLAS -- Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford's emotions were sprawled all over the place on the night of Sept. 5 as uncertainty about his injured shoulder weighed on him, when a text message of inspiration popped onto his cell phone.

"I'm praying for you and I hope you can get back as soon as possible."

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It's not like Texas and Oklahoma ever needed a reason to make their annual Red River Rivalry game in Dallas any more intense.

The tradition of the two programs, the bordering states and the fight for superiority in fertile recruiting ground of Texas use to be enough. Who knew this early season game would take on so much more meaning when both teams joined the Big 12 in 1996?

This game has become about so much more than school pride and bragging rights, as one of these two teams has won the South each of the last 10 years, and it has sometimes set the stage for the national championship picture.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Just think, Texas coach Mack Brown worried last week that quarterback Colt McCoy wasn't having as much fun as he use to have playing the game.

McCoy showed his coach what fun really looks like Saturday night as the second-ranked Longhorns and Texas Tech got caught up in a virtual game of H.O.R.S.E. during the third quarter. With each touchdown the Red Raiders scored to try to reclaim the lead, McCoy was only too happy to match them.

"In the second half, he had a blast," Brown said. "When they'd score he'd say 'Look out, what a game. We've got come back and score.' He was the old Colt for the second half."

AUSTIN, Texas -- Considering what was at stake and what was likely lost that, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy has tried to erase the ending of last year's Texas Tech from his memory.

On the game's final play last November, Tech quarterback Graham Harrell fired the football to star receiver Michael Crabtree in double coverage near the right sideline. It appeared Crabtree's momentum or a push from one of the Texas defenders would take him out of bounds, and game over, Texas prevails. But instead Crabtree spun away and high-stepped the remaining yards into the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown reception to give the Red Raiders a 39-33 upset win over No.1 Texas in Lubbock.

A defining moment in the 2008 college football season had been made. And then shown over and over.

Every college football season there seems to be at least one major conference that's projected to be among the best , only to find out it's all just hype.

Could this season be the Big 12's turn?

Projected to be one of the top two conferences in the country, along with the SEC, there is now a small mountain of evidence indicating the Big 12 isn't the conference we thought it would be. The league has already suffered more than it share of stunning upsets in non-conference play, starting at the top.