Barfknecht: Huskers are best nominee for title game co-star

The Big 12 really, really, really needs Nebraska to win the North Division football title.

Five straight championship game clunkers on prime-time TV — with the South winning them all 62-21, 38-17, 21-7, 70-3 and 42-3 — have put this league in desperate desire of a competitive matchup.

The Huskers showed with a 10-3 win over Oklahoma that they are the likeliest team in the North to provide that, even with the lingering aroma of back-to-back home losses to unranked teams (Texas Tech, Iowa State).

Kansas State, which will play at NU on Nov. 21 in the probable determining game in the North, has been a wonderful feel-good story.

The return of 70-year-old Bill Snyder to wash away the stain left from the Ron Prince hire and to turn a no-name roster into a contender makes great theater.

But the Wildcats already have a 52-point loss to the No. 4 team in the South, Texas Tech. The shortage of physical skills necessary to challenge No. 2 Texas, the presumed South winner, sets up another potentially damaging-to-the-league mismatch.

(Yes, K-State fans, I remember your Cats in 2003 upsetting Oklahoma — supposedly the greatest team ever — 35-7 in the championship game. But on that roster were Darren Sproles, Ell Roberson, Nick Leckey and Josh Buhl. That skill level and depth of talent isn't present today.)

So Texas vs. Nebraska would make the folks in the home office mighty happy.

The marquee value is monstrous, something the Big 12 needs after starting the season with five ranked teams — three in the Top 10 — and seeing that dwindle to two this week (No. 2 Texas, No. 17 Oklahoma State).

UT is second all-time in football wins (841) and NU is fourth (823). Adding energy is the underlying tension between these two longtime powers since the formation of the Big 12.

Also, the fan bases are big enough and motivated enough to fill the 80,000 seats in Jerry World (oops, Cowboys Stadium), even with ticket prices ranging from $55 to $132.

As for the game itself, the conventional wisdom is that Texas will need a good tune-up game before the BCS championship because of its pedestrian schedule the final month of the season.

Nebraska's defense has shown the chops to give the Longhorns more than a tune-up, even while carrying an offense that has produced just four touchdowns in four weeks.

Everyone in preseason talked about how the Oklahoma and Texas defenses would lead the league.

But the Huskers are No. 2 nationally in scoring defense, 10th in rushing defense, 11th in total defense and 21st in pass defense. In the same categories, Texas is 7, 1, 1 and 19, while Oklahoma is 7, 5, 9 and 22.

Iowa State assistant head coach Bill Bleil, who handles the offensive line, said watching film of those three defenses can be chilling.

“When you're as athletic as those folks are, that's going to be the key,'' he said. “They have guys who can run, in the defensive line and the back seven. And they have sound schemes. They'll make you take the ball the length of the field.''

One more element of drama could spice a Texas-Nebraska matchup — Husker payback for 1996.

That season, the Big 12's first, No. 3 Nebraska faced unranked Texas in a dome (St. Louis) for the league title and a chance to move on to the national championship game.

But the flu went through about half the Husker roster that week.

As an NU beat writer then, I still recall setting up an interview with defensive back Eric Stokes. Upon arrival, the poor guy was so sick he looked green. When he told me that his temperature was 103, I told him to forget the interview and go take a nap.

Texas, a 21-point underdog, won that game 37-27.

This time, all of those roles between Texas and Nebraska are reversed, and it is during a major flu outbreak. Would another upset follow such circumstances? Maybe we'll find out on Dec. 5.

Scheduling talk

Big 12 athletic directors discuss scheduling in general ways almost perpetually. But recently a few have asked for some specific review.

Kansas A.D. Lew Perkins said in an interview he has asked the league's schedule-makers to look at his Jayhawks and Iowa State having to play Texas and Oklahoma in the same season two out of every four years. ISU plays those schools on back-to-back weeks.

“I just asked that they look at it,'' Perkins said. “I don't know what can be done.''

Colorado A.D. Mike Bohn recently told the Boulder Daily Camera another proposal that might be offered in crossover division play is never going more than one season without playing another school.

For example, if Nebraska played Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma one season, it would face Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma State the next. Currently, the crossover schedules are the same for two years in a row.

Bowl babble

For the first time in three seasons, the Big 12 likely will fill all eight of its bowl slots — and then some.

Four teams already are qualified (Texas, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Texas Tech). Six others are one win away (Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Kansas, Iowa State, Missouri). Even Baylor and Colorado are still mathematically eligible.

With the odds favoring only one Big 12 team in the BCS mix, a couple of teams could reach bowl eligibility yet still find themselves home for the holidays. That happened in 2006 to a 6-6 Kansas team.

Here are some early guesses on slotting Big 12 bowl teams:

• Jan. 7 BCS title game (Pasadena): Texas vs. BCS qualifier

• Jan. 2 Cotton Bowl (Dallas): Oklahoma State vs. SEC

• Dec. 30 Holiday Bowl (San Diego): Nebraska vs. Pac-10

• Jan. 2 Alamo Bowl (San Antonio): Oklahoma vs. Big Ten

• Dec. 31 Sun Bowl (El Paso): Texas Tech vs. Pac-10

• Dec. 31 Insight Bowl (Tempe): Kansas State vs. Big Ten

• Dec. 28 Independence Bowl (Shreveport): Texas A&M vs. SEC

• Dec. 30 Texas Bowl (Houston): Iowa State vs. Navy

Such a lineup would leave slumping Missouri and Kansas scrambling for spots left open from other conferences that can't fill commitments.

Contact the writer:

444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com

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