Big 12 Will Get National Showcase Immediately

Baylor, Oklahoma State and Kansas State will find out immediately how far their rebuilding programs have come. <br/><br/>On Saturday, the Bears play at No. 22 TCU, Oklahoma State visits No. 13 Georgia

Monday, August 27th 2007, 7:40 pm

By: News On 6

Baylor, Oklahoma State and Kansas State will find out immediately how far their rebuilding programs have come.

On Saturday, the Bears play at No. 22 TCU, Oklahoma State visits No. 13 Georgia and Kansas State opens at No. 18 Auburn.

``We would certainly like to uphold the conference's reputation,'' third-year Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said on the first Big 12 teleconference of the season Monday. ``I don't think there's any question that any time the conference steps out of league play and plays quality opponents, that we would hope our conference fares well.''

Kansas State coach Ron Prince said slotting a big nonconference game as the opener gave his players incentive to work harder in the spring and summer.

``This had a terrific impact on our offseason, the focus,'' Prince said. ``Our players have been really excited and charged up about having this kind of opportunity.''

Gundy has lined up at least one tough, non-Big 12 measuring-stick game for each of the next five seasons. Next year, the Cowboys will start a two-game series with Washington State, Georgia visits in 2009, the Cougars come to town in 2010 and Clemson is on the 2011 schedule.

Oklahoma State went 7-6 last season, including a 34-25 loss to eventual Conference USA champion Houston. But Gundy said games like the opener at Georgia _ even if the Cowboys lose _ will only help his team in the long run.

``We'll be able to come back and watch tape and find out exactly where we stand in a lot of areas,'' Gundy said.

Prince also sees the Wildcats' trip to Auburn as a key step in the program's development. The Wildcats went 7-6 in 2006 and played Louisville and Texas in the regular season before losing to Rutgers in the Texas Bowl.

``That's exactly the kind of game we need to really to become more calloused and hardened about playing these kind of opponents,'' Prince said. ``You're going to have to beat these type of people to win your own championship, your own division, your own league. Obviously, if you ever have a chance to win the big one, you're going to have to play a team like this.''

Baylor coach Guy Morriss isn't quite so enthusiastic, though he says such interconference games will become more common with 12-game schedules now allowed. But Baylor plays Texas A&M (Sept. 29), Texas (Oct. 20) and Oklahoma (Nov. 10) this year, and that's enough for Morriss.

``You can go to a smaller I-A or a Division I-AA and everybody's looking for that 12th game every year and the RPI goes up and all that kind of stuff,'' Morriss said. ``Just for me as a coach, from a pure scheduling standpoint, the Big 12 is tough enough.''

The rest of the conference teams have much easier openers.

Fourth-ranked Texas opens against Arkansas State on Saturday in Austin. The Indians went 6-6 last season, but flopped in their biggest test, losing 27-0 at Auburn.

Coach Mack Brown is more worried about his own team, which has gaps to fill on the offensive line and in the secondary. They also might be missing two receivers _ Billy Pittman is out with a shoulder injury and Jordan Shipley is doubtful with a tender hamstring.

``We have a lot of unanswered questions,'' Brown said.

In Norman, redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Bradford makes his first start when eighth-ranked Oklahoma hosts North Texas. Bradford won the starting job in fall, beating out freshman Keith Nichol and junior Joey Halzle.

``There's probably a little more sense of being sure of himself,'' Stoops said of Bradford. ``It gives you a little more voice in the huddle, when everybody knows, 'Hey, this is the direction we're going.'''

Stoops expected running back Allen Patrick to return to practice this week and be ready for Saturday's game after spraining his right ankle earlier in fall workouts.

Texas A&M will face Division I-AA Montana in its opener at Kyle Field. Coach Dennis Franchione reminded the Aggies on Sunday that the Bobcats beat Colorado in last season's opener.

``I don't think there's any doubt that their ears perked up when I talked about that game and read some of the comments from the Colorado coaches and players about the game,'' Franchione said. ``This is a team that's usually in the Top 20 of Division I-AA football. There's a fine line of difference in some of those schools. They've got a little bit less of everything, but a lot of them have some very fine players.''

Kansas opens against Central Michigan and Coach Mark Mangino is eager to see how Todd Reesing handles his first start at quarterback. The 5-foot-11 sophomore outplayed incumbent Kerry Meier in spring and fall workouts to earn the job.

``Every repetition on the practice field is important to him, he's thrown the ball extremely well,'' Mangino said. ``He's got really good command of the offense and he's just a feisty guy. His competitive spirit is easy to see.''

Also Saturday, Missouri faces Illinois in St. Louis, Iowa State hosts Kent State in Gene Chizik's head coaching debut, No. 20 Nebraska faces Nevada and Colorado meets Colorado State. Texas Tech plays at SMU on Labor Day.