FanHouse Mike Leach

Our beaver pelt trader of the week is, be still my beating heart, my coaching crush Mike Leach. As if it weren't enough that he went on "Friday Night Lights" -- spoiler alert, I have to wait until January to watch the show because I don't have DirecTV -- after the loss to Texas A&M, Leach blamed the loss, partly, on the players' "fat little girlfriends." Given the status of bingo wings in Florida, Urban Meyer should file this excuse away. It's much better than blaming the flu for poor performances.

Not to be outdone, as reader Chris V. e-mails, "There is now a website up selling apparel at fatlittlegirlfriend.com.

Outstanding.

There are some people who just see the world different and therefore have an unorthodox way of expressing their views.

Then there is Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.

He is, without any close challengers, the Big 12's best-rehearsed resident oddball.

When Leach has been at this best over the years, he's filled up reporters' notebooks with gems like his fascination with pirates, tips on dating, his ability to predict the weather better than the local meteorologists, his views on world piece and his wacky approach to offensive football.

There is nothing new about Bob Stoops matching coaching wits with old mentor and boss Bill Snyder. They've done plenty of that over the years in Big 12 cross-divisional play.

But that doesn't mean Stoops isn't a little surprised to see Snyder, 70, back on the Wildcats sideline. The longtime Kansas State coach retired four years ago to pursue opportunities outside coaching, but was lured out of retirement last winter.

Stoops, whose 22nd-ranked Sooners host the Wildcats on Saturday, admits it's a little unexpected to be going up against his old boss again, but he was stunned when Snyder was no longer there, too.

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.

We all knew the Kansas Jayhawks offense had a chance to be lethal this season with quarterback Todd Reesing and wide receivers Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier setting the pace.

Well, the trio took it to a ridiculous level Saturday as the receivers bested each other during the Jayhawks' 41-31 win over Iowa State. First Briscoe set the school record for career receptions, then Meier jumped ahead of him. Meier, a converted quarterback, has 167 career catches while Briscoe sits at 165 after making 12 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns Saturday.

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.

Texas Tech quarterback Taylor Potts was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon after being kept overnight from complications of an apparent concussion suffered in the second quarter of the Red Raiders' 48-28 win over New Mexico.

An operator at Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock, Tex. confirmed to FanHouse that Potts was discharged Sunday while free safety Nathan Stone remains hospitalized with what is believed to be some type of spinal cord injury. The hospital would not release any information on the health of the two players.

But the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported Potts suffered a concussion and that Stone had a spinal injury.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has apparently fixed the Red Raiders Twitter problem in quick and absolute fashion.

Less than 24 hours after offensive lineman Brandon Carter and linebacker Marlon Williams vented frustration on their Twitter pages, Leach has taken action to make certain none of his other players make the same mistake.

"Anybody that wants to play for us doesn't have a Twitter page," Leach said Monday when asked about the two posts.

Texas Tech had a bad day on Saturday, dropping a 29-28 heartbreaker to Houston for its second consecutive loss. But it had a downright weird day on Sunday, with one of its best players being suspended indefinitely and announcing that suspension via Twitter, and another senior leader turning to Twitter to rip the football program and head coach Mike Leach.

Tech offensive lineman Brandon Carter tweeted on Sunday, "I am not a captain anymore and will not be playing this week. Good luck red raiders ill still be cheering on my family from the stands!!:)" Carter appears to have deleted his Twitter account (@BCSLAM) after that, but not before the Lubbock Avalanche Journal noted the tweet and the suspension, which has been confirmed by the Tech athletic department.

HOUSTON -- Reclined way back with his feet kicked up on a table in the Houston Cougars' film room Tuesday and answering questions in a philosophical yet aloof way, Dana Holgorsen was channeling his inner Mike Leach without even realizing it.

The voice, the demeanor and delivery were all Leach -- albeit a younger, less clean-shaven Leach.

"I sat in the same room as him for many, many years," Holgorsen, the Cougars second-year offensive coordinator said when reminded of the similarity. "All of that stuff rubbed off, I guess."