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• Missouri vs. Illinois in St. Louis, 11:30 a.m., FSN: The Tigers need a game after an August filled with messy off-the-field incidents.
• Colorado vs. Colorado State at Denver, 1 p.m., Mountainwest: SNCU coach Dan Hawkins simply cannot afford to lose this game to a rebuilding CSU team.
• UCLA at Kansas State, 2:30 p.m., ABC: Injuries at quarterback and in the offensive line at UCLA boost the hopes of the Wildcats.
• No. 5 Texas vs. Rice in Houston, 2:30 p.m., ESPN: Longhorn quarterback Garrett Gilbert's first start will be easier than his trial by fire against Alabama last season.
• Washington State at Oklahoma State, 6 p.m., FSN: The Cowboys haven't stirred much conversation after the loss of many star players.
• North Dakota State at Kansas, 6 p.m., FCS: The Jayhawks need a good showing in Turner Gill's debut with Georgia Tech and Southern Mississippi next on their schedule.
• Utah State at No. 7 Oklahoma, 6 p.m., PPV: The Sooners are hoping to play an entire game without a major injury, which last year seemed like a weekly occurrence.
• Sam Houston State at Baylor, 6 p.m.: All eyes will be on Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin, seeing his first game action since blowing out a knee a year ago.
• Stephen F. Austin at Texas A&M, 6 p.m.: The Aggies last season were fifth in total offense and 105th in total defense.
• Southern Methodist at Texas Tech, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, ESPN: Tommy Tuberville faces a strong test in his Red Raider debut. SMU broke a 25-year bowl drought last year.
In Big 12 football, this is the week to play the weak.
To open the season, three league teams (Kansas, Texas A&M, Baylor) face schools formerly known as Division I-AA (North Dakota State, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State).
Nebraska plays Western Kentucky, which transitioned a year ago from I-AA to I-A and finished 0-12 last season.
Saturday's opponents for Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Colorado posted a combined record of 12-36 in 2009.
There are three matchups between power conference schools.
But two of those look like mismatches. Oklahoma State hosts Washington State, which is 3-22 the past two seasons. Missouri plays Illinois in St. Louis. The Illini are 21-36 under Ron Zook.
The only Big 12 schools playing Division I-A opponents with a winning record last season are Kansas State vs. UCLA (7-6) and Texas Tech vs. SMU (8-5).
In two of the previous three seasons, Oklahoma State's opening game was against Southeastern Conference power Georgia. OSU split those games.
But with the rigors of Big 12 play, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said, an easier path early in the season makes sense.
“Most schools in the major conferences see a tremendous amount of competition week to week,” he said. “Your 1s (starters) are going to have to play the majority of every game, so there is some wear and tear and fatigue involved.
“When you play in these leagues, I don't know many coaches fired up about playing difficult nonconference schedules.”
Contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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