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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 comparisons between the Texas Longhorns 2005 team and this season's team are inevitable.

At this point in the 2005 season, the Vince Young-led Longhorns looked pretty invincible. After a tough early season game against Ohio State , they romped over opponents with relative ease on the way to the BCS national title. These Colt McCoy-led Longhorns are doing the same with only their annual rivalry game against Oklahoma serving as the lone close challenge in putting together a perfect 9-0 record and a No. 2 national ranking.

It's just the second time since 1983 that the Longhorns have been 9-0. The other time, of course, was in 2005 when they put together an undefeated campaign that ended with a dramatic national championship victory over USC.

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.

Former Texas A&M assistant and ex-Green Bay coach Mike Sherman returned to the Aggies nearly two years ago vowing to restore Aggie pride, dignity and accountability to the once proud program.

But in less than two complete seasons, Sherman doesn't seem close to his promise.

This will certainly be a tough week in Aggieland after A&M fell asleep against Kansas State and did not wake up until the mediocre Wildcats had pulled off a 66-14 rout in Manhattan, Kan., Saturday. And as crazy as it sounds, the score wasn't anywhere as close as it appears.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- It didn't seem to make sense for Texas A&M to have starting quarterback Jerrod Johnson still in the game late in fourth quarter with Arkansas well on the way to a 47-17 win Saturday night the Cowboys Stadium.

So imagine the concerned looks on the Aggies sideline when Johnson took a hard blindsided hit from Tenarius Wright that caused a fumble to pop out in Arkansas territory on the final real play of the game. Johnson stayed on the ground for a moment before popping back up.

Afterward, A&M coach Mike Sherman even questioned himself for leaving Johnson in so long.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- After a bumpy start to the Mike Sherman era at Texas A&M last season, the Aggies are off to a surprising 3-0 start to begin the season.

But after running through lightweights New Mexico, Utah State and Alabama-Birmingham, we will find just how real the Aggies are tonight when they face their first real test against Arkansas in a battle of old Southwest Conference rivals at Jerry Jones' new Cowboys Stadium.

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.

One of the more interesting quarterback battles in the Big 12 this fall camp is over.

Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman said Monday that incumbent Jerrod Johnson will be the starter for the Sept.5 season opener against New Mexico after staving off a strong effort by sophomore QB/WR Ryan Tannehill to unseat him. The subtraction of Tannehill at quarterback should be an addition at receiver where Tannehill put together an impressive freshman campaign as a quarterback who played receiver on Saturdays.

Tannehill showed promise at quarterback last year during fall camp, but eventually became a record-setting freshman receiver for the Texas A&M Aggies. He was promised every opportunity to switch to his desired position of quarterback this offseason, and Sherman stayed true to his word.

There are usually a few surprises over the course of the NFL Draft. Maybe I watch too much college football, but I was stunned during the fourth round Sunday.

That was when the Dallas Cowboys selected Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee with the 101st overall pick. I understand that college stats don't mean much when it comes to having NFL-caliber talent, but this seemed quite odd to me.