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.
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.
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.
The Baylor Bears' hopes of ending a 15-year bowl drought this season suffered a devastating blow with Sunday's announcement that sophomore quarterback Robert Griffin will miss the remainder of the season due to a knee injury.
Griffin sustained an isolated tear to the ACL of his right knee during the first quarter of Saturday night's 68-13 win over Northwestern State. Griffin, one of the most exciting players in college football, had renewed hope that the Bears could turn it around after he put together an impressive season as a true freshman last year. He accounted for 28 touchdowns (15 passing, 13 rushing) 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.
It's not often a traditional power like Michigan can be called be called overlooked, but a 4-8 season will do plenty of things to a program other than just riling up the fanbase. In this case, it makes the Wolverines primed for a surprise season.
And they're not alone.
We'll even invite Florida State to the party dadgummit. Florida, Oklahoma, USC and Texas are laughing but inevitably they'll have their season(s) of woe. Until then, some big programs are giving us material in this feature on programs on the rise.
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.
It's just three weeks into the full-swing of 
It's not like Texas and Oklahoma ever needed a reason to make their annual 
The news on 
HOUSTON --There is an unusual buzz around the Baylor football program this summer.
College Football Spring Storylines 2009
