FanHouse Bo Pelini

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.

So much for the Big 12 North being taken seriously this season.

On a day when division leaders Kansas and Nebraska had a chance to make a statement, both teams were upset, and stunningly so.

No.15 Nebraska was exposed offensively in a 31-10 loss to unranked Texas Tech in Lincoln, Neb. And the 17th-ranked Jayhawks, which hadn't played a quality opponent until Saturday, was stunned, 34-30, by a one-win Colorado team for their first loss of the season.

Both defeats have left the door open for supremacy in the North with darkhorses Colorado and Kansas State perhaps having a shot at the division title. The Wildcats exploded on Texas A&M Saturday for after struggling offensively most of the season.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- In terms of rivalries, Missouri-Nebraska still doesn't quite measure up to Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma or USC-Notre Dame.

That isn't to suggest this rivalry hasn't had its moments during the 102 previous meetings that date back to 1892.

But in recent years, especially since the Gary Pinkel-era began at Missouri nine years ago, this Big 12 North matchup has produced quite a few fireworks. There was last year's 52-17 spanking the Cornhuskers took from Missouri in their own Memorial Stadium, marking the first time since 1978 that Mizzou had won in Lincoln. In 1997, an unranked Missouri team came within a miracle catch of upsetting the No.1 Cornhuskers in a co-national championship year.

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.

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.

At last, the road to the top seems awfully clear for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

How far they still have to go will be determined, at least in part, Saturday when the Cornhuskers travel to Blacksburg, Va., to take on the 13th-ranked Hokies, Nebraska's first real test of the season.

Just don't expect Nebraska coach Bo Pelini to admit that his team's first BCS opponent of the season will be a gauge for how close the Cornhuskers are to returning to their dominant former selves.

"Every week is a measuring stick," Pelini said this week. "We have to measure ourselves according to where we want to be and how we're executing. It's the way it is. You have to measure yourself every day. Are you improving every day? Are you getting better every day? Are you competing to be the best every day? You have to make improvement and this week is just the next step."

Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett certainly doesn't speak for everyone who has donned a college football uniform.

But it's a good bet the outspoken second-year pro echoes the sentiment of a large population of current and former major college football players when he questions the motives of those who have accused Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff of excessive workouts.

Current and former Michigan Wolverines players have told the Detroit Free Press that Rodriguez and his staff often held them for 12 hours on Sundays following a game and that summer voluntary workouts were not voluntary at all. Some ask, what's new?

Nebraska dismissed junior Quentin Castille from its football program on Saturday, turning the Cornhuskers' potentially potent 1-2 running back punch of Castille and Roy Helu Jr.. into a one-man show.

Castille, a bruising 6-foot-1, 235-pound back, rushed for 467 yards and six touchdowns last season while sharing time with Helu and Marlon Lucky. He stole the show in Nebraska's Gator Bowl win over Clemson, though, carrying 18 times for 125 yards.

With Lucky off for the NFL, Castille and the athletic Helu were expected to form a dynamite thunder-and-lighting duo. The storm's suddenly lost some potency.

DALLAS -- Embracing the traditions of Nebraska football is something second-year coach Bo Pelini is all about.

Warming up to any conversation about when the Cornhuskers will return to the Nebraska of old is quite different.

"It's honestly not my focus," Pelini said during the first day of the Big 12 Football Media Days Monday. " My focus is to do the best job I can on a daily basis and to win football games. If I do the job I set out to do every single day each season, then we will be where we need to be."