Only a mother in a houndstooth coat could’ve loved the final statement of the 2009 college football season. The BCS national title game - Alabama’s 37-21 win over Texas - was a bust, in part because Colt McCoy’s arm went dead - we think - but mostly because neither staff could coach their way out of a paper bag.

Since you’re looking at two of the nation’s top five teams in 2010 - and possibly the top two, unless voters do Ohio State or USC a big, fat favor - take heart, Nebraska fans. You just saw the enemies, and they can be had.

The Longhorns and Crimson Tide were sloppy, nervous and so blissfully unaware of stuff like clock, field position and down and distance that I thought, for a second, the Rose Bowl had been invaded by gamers who secretly toggled stupidity into the headsets on each sideline. Alabama had the better offensive line, while Texas appeared to be the Tide’s equal on along the defensive line. Bama couldn’t cover UT’s receivers worth a salt, but the Longhorns compensated by dropping a ton of passes.

Bama, the prohibitive favorite by any measure, decided to select “Botched Bowl Punt Fake” from the Bill Callahan Collection on its opening drive of the game, throwing a pass, from its own 6-yard-line, on 4th-and-23. The Tide were lucky UT safety Blake Gideon intercepted it, instead of batting it down. Big Game Nick Saban? Eh - not exactly.

Had McCoy not received such an ill-timed shoulder stinger UT probably takes a 7-0 lead. As it was, with backup Garrett Gilbert, the Longhorns settled for a field goal, and one more later in the first quarter.

The Tide rattled off the next 24 points with considerable help from Brown and Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis.

The shovel pass call with 10 seconds left in the first half - intercepted off a carom and returned for what turned out to be the deciding touchdown - was a decision worthy of demotion, an inexplicable call with no discernibly good purpose, other than potential meaningless yards. It ranked up there with the Washington Redskins’ boneheaded flare pass in the 1984 Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Raiders, also intercepted for a score right before half. At least the Redskins had an excuse: The play had gone for a touchdown earlier in the year.

What was Texas’ excuse?

"We knew we were going to struggle with points, and we felt like we had 15 seconds left so we called the safest thing that might squirt,” Brown said afterward. “We called a little shuffle pass that I had never seen intercepted before, and I certainly hadn't seen it intercepted for a touchdown.”

Stunning. Stunning! Understand that, at that moment, Brown had no clear idea whether McCoy would return. The smart play wasn’t to try getting a cheap, unlikely three points, or throwing a Hail Mary for the end zone. The smart play was to get into the locker room, find out if McCoy could go in the second half, and tighten the score on UT’s opening drive.

Instead, Bama went to halftime with a 24-6 lead. It looked insurmountable, didn’t it? Shoot, I watched a few extra minutes of Dr. Drew’s “Celebrity Rehab” just for the yell of it.

Inside Texas’ locker room, McCoy wanted back in. Plenty of sources confirm this. Brown clearly declined the offer. Down 18, what was the use of getting the kid hurt even more?

Quickly in the third quarter, the story around McCoy’s injury seemed to change. Now McCoy couldn’t go at all. Now his arm was completely dead. While his post-game interview on ABC was a mixture of class, pain and grace, I also sensed something else: Incredulity. Frustration.

Texas fans will never get a straight answer on this issue. There will be the official side, and the whispers. It’s a shame. Last week, I watched Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Ben Rothlisberger re-enter the game after his right shoulder had been unimaginably wrenched. He held his arm after every play. But he threw the ball and completed passes. A potential playoff berth was on the line.

A national title is on the line, and winningest, grittiest quarterback Texas has ever put on the field doesn’t even get a single snap? Not one shot? Nope. And, see, by halftime, Brown left McCoy no choice. Three scores on a dead arm?

Brown nudged the kid out of his final chance by mismanaging the end of the first half, and allowing Davis to blow a field goal try that would have brought Texas within 14-9 after the Longhorns forged their way inside the Bama 30. On a third-and-medium, Davis dialed up a crossing pattern for Gilbert right at the sticks instead of plowing ahead, getting a few yards, and letting Hunter Lawrence try a kick of similar length to the one he made in Dallas to beat NU.

Instead, Gilbert tossed his first of four picks, his first of two to Javier Arenas. Gilbert’s next “throw” was the Carom Six.

Two years in a row, the Big 12’s “elite” and best-paid coaches, Bob Stoops and Brown, badly mishandled key scenarios in the second quarter of the national title game. Chew on it. You think NU’s Bo Pelini lags so far behind these guys? No. Give Pelini this much: He had a respect for field position - for saving points by refusing to give up cheap ones - and it worked wonders for Nebraska over the last half of the season.

Pelini came within one second of beating UT with Zac Lee's torn up right arm and a bum ankle, a left guard with a torn pectoral muscle, a center with the bruise the size of a water cooler, a running back with half a shoulder. He beat Oklahoma with all of that plus Rex Burkhead's broken foot.

Alabama, ahead 24-6 and confident to lean on its running game, patiently waited for the roof the cave in. Gilbert popped a few big ones to Jordan Shipley - the best skill player on the field, either team - in the second half to draw Texas within 24-21. UT even got its shot at a game-tying or game-winning drive until Saban dialed up an aggressive blitz, linebacker Eryk Anders jarred the ball loose from Gilbert, Bama recovered inside the UT five, and Heisman Trophy Winner Mark Ingram - who looked good, but no better than his freshman backup, Trent Richardson - scored from the one.

The Tide added two more picks and one more touchdown in the final three minutes.

It wasn’t Alabama’s best effort. Julio Jones caught a single pass. Ingram and Richardson had their way at the end of the first quarter and throughout the second, but not much otherwise. The Tide’s defensive line was good, but I still can’t fall for the 3-4 as a base defense that often forced Saban to commit five guys to rushing Gilbert, which usually left a UT receiver in single coverage.

Is that what Nebraska’s offense needs to resemble? I’d like to see more passing balance - something in between playaction deep and tunnel screen - but the running game is certainly commendable.

And yet - Bama was plenty human Thursday night. Super in the SEC Championship. Jittery, nervous and conservative on a neutral field for the marbles. Nebraska could have beaten the Tide Thursday night. Know that.

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So there was Texas quarterback Colt McCoy on the floor of the Cotton Bowl, picking himself off the turf after another blitz by Oklahoma, his fingernail falling off, his chest heaving from a respiratory illness, his Heisman Trophy chances being torn into a 100 little pieces like a cheating lover's note: Angrily, with sharp and audible rips.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. With some stalker threatening bodily harm off the field, with the Sooners inflicting so much on it. How many hours did McCoy spend in film study? How many interviews did he do over the summer? And this was the reward? He was grinding so hard, trying too hard, forcing passes that weren't there, throwing bad interceptions, trying to live up to a ridiculous, jaw-dropping junior season of statistical performance against team that were way below the Longhorns pay grade.

“We weren't very good early in the season because we were erratic at receiver, and we were running inconsistent routes,” UT head coach Mack Brown said. “The quarterback needs to trust his receivers. And that wasn't happening. We had some injuries in the offensive line, we had a different running back playing every week. He's such a perfectionist, and he had such a great junior year that he just thought it was going to happen.”

And then, finally, the Red River game, his coming out party in 2008, the day he outdueled buddy Sam Bradford. And McCoy played like he did too often in 2007: Indecisive, harried, small, frustrated. Texas won 16-13, with little thanks to McCoy, whose team needed Bradford's second shoulder injury – and some equally bad quarterbacking from Landry Jones, to escape.

You're better than this, McCoy told himself.

“I had the weight of the world on my shoulders,” he said.

So in the between OU and the game at Missouri, McCoy didn't put in more work. He put in less. He went home earlier. Didn't watch as much film. Tried to get so more rest, more laughs.

And it worked. The kid had his fill of pressure, so he let some air out of the tires. UT went to Columbia frustrated, uncertain team. It emerged with a 41-7 blowout win that remains the Longhorns' strongest overall performance to date.

“We went up to Missouri – we had two road games away from Austin – and we just had to bond as a unit, as an offense, and really as a team,” McCoy said. “From that point on, we just basically started the season over. We just said 'We're better than this; we're capable of being the best offense in the country. Let's pull together.'”

Since OU, McCoy's reset himself on the 2008 pace: 154-209, 1,791 yards, 16 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 277 rushing yards. Had he posted those numbers in the first half of the season, the Heisman race would be over. As it is, he's a giant favorite, because he's hot at the right time, his team is undefeated and the media outside of two CBS broadcasters is getting Tim Tebow jet lag.

Now that he's healthy – besides the respiratory illness, McCoy battled the flu in September – he's back to being a dual threat. His short passes are eerily accurate; McCoy rarely leaves the ball on the wrong side of his receivers. As 175 rushing yards vs. Texas A&M showed, he's still got the jets to run. Brown said UT struggled, too, with its offensive identity earlier this season – it happens to the best of the programs, you know? - but inserted a tight end to help develop the running game.

“Last year, we were running down the field in four and five-wide, and now we've become a more physical offense,” Brown said. “We can get the ball downfield and have better protection out of playaction.”

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See also: Big 12 Postseason Awards, 10 Unforgettable NU-UT Moments, Big 12 Rankings, Bowl Watch, Onward to DFW, Huskers Giving Back and A Dangerous Qwest

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I know, given Bo Pelini's connection to Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, that it's très gauche to even consider Texas coach Mack Brown as an optional template for success in the Big 12. After all, 2000-2004, Stoops owned the guy, winning five straight by an 38-11 average score. OU played for three national titles, and that visor might as well have been embossed in gold.

But Texas has now won four of the last five. It's UT poised to play for its second national title in five years.

Beyond that, Nebraska and Texas' programs share surprising recent histories one decade apart:

*UT's John Mackovic was an NFL coach who installed a pro offense, recruited well and pressed for better facilities. He won a single Big 12 title that eluded Bill Callahan, but was run out after a 4-7 collapse in 1997, which included a 66-13 loss to UCLA. Sound familiar?

*Brown won ten games in his first season, 1998, largely with the help of Ricky Williams. He played for the Big 12 crown in his second year, 1999. Sound familiar to Pelini's situation with Ndamukong Suh, and playing for the Big 12 crown in his second season?

*Upon his hiring, Brown immediately reached out to former players and former Texas legend Darrell K. Royal to help repair rifts between the program and its booster base. Sound familiar to Pelini and Tom Osborne?

Stoops is undoubtedly a terrific coach. Nobody argues this. His role at OU is to win football games, and if the bottom doesn't drop out on his starting QB like it did this year, he's quite efficient at doing it.

Brown's role is also, of course, to win. But he speaks for a certain culture, as well. Just like Bo does. Both are ambassadors for the game in their state. Texas tried it the other way after Royal retired. Nebraska, too. The job simply takes, at this point, a man willing to be a little iconic.

And although Bo uneasily wears that crown in public, he is a gifted, well-liked leader around the athletic department.

What can Bo learn from Mack? On the field, probably not much, although, one day, Pelini may choose to step back from the defensive coordinator role. But in terms of program-building and maintenance, here's four things Brown does that Bo can use in his own regime.

Mack gets out in front of potentially embarrassing stories as they break: Texas has had its share of miscreants through the years – who hasn't? - but Brown rarely tries to defuse a bomb that's already went off. He doesn't merely answer questions about disciplinary issues, he talks at length around them.

The best way to keep a prowling reporter at bay? Keep your lips moving. Brown defrays team distractions better than almost any coach.

Mack plays smart with the media - new and traditional - and uses it to his advantage: Bo may not love it – but he'll learn to manipulate it. The personal Web site is a good start. Now he has to invest more time and interest in his weekly football show – after a rough start to this year, he's getting livelier – and continue conducting air hangar tours of the state each summer.

Brown's too much of a glad-hander, we agree. He shopped Colt McCoy around to just about any media outlet that would interview him this summer, which ratcheted the pressure so high on the senior that he tried much too hard through the first month of the season. Bo doesn't have to do that. But, with time, he can learn to lobby for his team in the polls and for bowl games and become a pillar of the Big 12 North to combat the strong personalities in the South.

"Bo" can and should be a brand in Nebraska.

Texas locks up the best local prospects: UT's spring Junior Day is becoming legendary for Brown's ability to get commitments the minute he asks for them on campus. The Longhorns apply a bit of pressure, true – and that's not Pelini's way.

But do this: Superimpose the state of Texas onto Nebraska, with Lincoln and Austin matching up. You'll find the area reaches from Kansas City to Denver, from Wichita to South Dakota, spilling into parts of Iowa and Wyoming. NU should continue to gobble up some of UT's leftovers from Texas, absolutely. But it needs to own its local recruiting area with aggressive recruiting right after Signing Day. If Texas doesn't lose many recruits to A&M, Baylor, Tech or even Oklahoma, then Nebraska shouldn't lose anybody it wants in that seven-state region. Period. There isn't one Big 12 North program with the prestige, tradition, facilities or cachet of NU.

Mack uses a lot of names: This is an old-as-time-yet-effective tool for gaining positive momentum and linking the past to the present. Many of the great coaches – including Tom Osborne – just know how to do it. Brown personalizes almost everything. He says the names of reporters when they ask questions. He often sprinkles in anecdotes about former UT players and coaches in press conferences – he did so Monday by mentioning Vince Young's 99-yard game-winning drive for the Tennessee Titans on Sunday – and he knows the names of opposing players and coaches, as well.

Osborne has a similar “everybody's friends here” vibe about his public appearances. It's something that his successors, Frank Solich and Bill Callahan, lacked.

See also: Big 12 Postseason Awards, 10 Unforgettable NU-UT Moments, Big 12 Rankings, Bowl Watch, Onward to DFW, Huskers Giving Back and [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/view/bid/2363/i/podcast

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Nebraska's back? In Mack Brown's world – the Cornhuskers never really left.

“Nebraska's one of those programs that's never going to be out of sight and mind for long,” the Texas head coach said during his Big 12 teleconference Monday. “It's one of the winningest programs in college football history...every season when we start, we think Nebraska will be in the mix. And that's the way they are. That's the way you look at Nebraska.”

And so began a week of warm words for NU, a giant underdog in Saturday's Big 12 Championship game.

Few coaches spin a sunnier story than Brown, who has a doctorate kissing babies, handshakes, smiles and football business. After gently reprimanding a local TV reporter for her numerous questions on the suspension of UT defensive back Marcus Davis – who was arrested Saturday for suspicion of DUI, among other charges – he made a point of returning to her later during his weekly press conference in Austin.

“You know, you're welcome back anytime,” he said with a father's charm.

Mike Gundy, he isn't. Brown is considerably older - and wiser - than 40.

So it wasn't surprising when the compliments about Nebraska – Texas' lone remaining obstacle to the BCS national title game – flowed like wine from Brown, who especially praised NU's stingy defense, 11th nationally in total yards, and third in points per game.

“They're gonna line up, they're gonna say 'here we are, come and get us,'” Brown said. “It'll be a true test. Our offense has looked great for the last two weeks. They haven't played anybody in the last two weeks nearly as good as this bunch.”

Said Texas quarterback Colt McCoy: “Nebraska has a really stout defense. They don't give up big plays. It's a challenge for us.”

The 12-0 Longhorns bring their own salt to Cowboys Stadium. Fifth in total defense. Ninth in scoring defense. UT's lone hiccup was on Thanksgiving, when it allowed more than 500 total yards in a 49-39 win over Texas A&M.

Texas' defensive coaches tried to cram too many checks and schemes into a short week, Brown said, and paid for it with 13 missed tackles and just as many mental busts. They spent all of Friday reviewing every mistake, and combustible defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, Brown said, was “very disappointed.”

“That lack of performance will get our attention for this weekend,” Brown said.

Nebraska (9-3) doesn't provide as many schematic or quarterback headaches as the Aggies do. NU has scaled down its offense during a five-game winning streak, sticking mostly to power sets and playaction passes. Brown said it'll provide UT with a different kind of challenge than it's faced most of the year against wide-open spread attacks.

“They're probably the most physical team we've played,” he said. “Their offensive line – they line up, and they're gonna run the ball right down your throat. And if you don't stop it, you won't see a pass. And if you see one, it's going to be playaction and deep, probably.”

Brown is kind. NU has the nation's 92nd-ranked offense, and its ground attack averages less yards than the Longhorns, whose running game was practically non-existent during the middle part of the season.

Still, the Huskers' formula has shortened games, leaving the outcome in the capable hands of the special teams units and the Blackshirts. Brown said it's a tough combo because punter Alex Henery is so adept at downing punts inside the 20-yard line, and NU's defense makes it hard for opponents to drive the length of the field for points.

Brown credited The Brothers Pelini – Bo and Carl – for Nebraska's excellence.

“We think they're as well-coached as any team we've seen,” Brown said.

See also: Big 12 Postseason Awards, 10 Unforgettable NU-UT Moments, Big 12 Rankings, Bowl Watch, Onward to DFW, Huskers Giving Back and [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/view/bid/2363/i/podcast

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Burnt orange makes a lot of Nebraska football fans see red.

Texas, they’ll say, stole the Big 12 away from the Cornhuskers and the rest of the old Big Eight not named Oklahoma. Those rich, liberal, glitzy, gorgeous Lone Studs and Starlets spend too much money, and they make others do the same in futile pursuit. UT’s coach, Mack Brown, is to be trusted about as much as Don Draper in a hotel cocktail lounge.

And, of course, there’s that business about the Horns pulling out wins every time Nebraska seems to have them roped.

But NU faithful with a memory can appreciate a team on a mission. The Huskers had a few teams like that in the 1990s. And the 2009 Texas squad has polished that shoulder chip for eight solid months. On the doorstep of the 2009 college football seasons, it gleams.

Shut out of the 2008 Big 12 and BCS title games because of a strange (and yet unchanged!) conference tiebreaker that essentially penalized the Horns for Arkansas’ bad season (while crediting Oklahoma for TCU and WKRP’s surprisingly good ones), UT whined (and wined) and dined every media toadstool from Bristol to Camaret (Yeah, really. The Brittany contingency. All the way the hell out there. Mack Brown’s got people, and they’re lobbying for a fishing village poll.)

Brown held a mixer at the Big 12 Media Days. Colt McCoy grew a mustache. Sergio Kindle covered the grassroots campaign, one apartment building at a time.

It was one serious summer. In the middle of it, UT’s John Grady Cole, if you will, in McCoy, an undersized, wiry, tough son-of-a-gun who scrambles and throws like Eric Crouch used to run: With so many herks, jerks and effort plays, it leaves the viewer a little worn out. He’s not Vince Young. He’s not a classic passer like Sam Bradford. Yet the kid just wins Red River Rivalries and bowl games like he wrote the book on it. Should UT run the table in 2009, McCoy would become the winningest starting quarterback in college football history.

At least until Tim and his Ten Prophets roll into Pasadena with their traveling carnival of faith healing, arrogance (no shirt, Tim? Really?), counter treys, off-block options, tight end shovel passes and media hosannas fit for a Flannery O’Connor novel, this is the Year of the Horn. Root against our neighbors to the south if you wish, but just remember: Half of NU’s football team will soon be from there.

Oklahoma takes a tiny step back. Oklahoma State isn’t quite ready. Kansas? Child, please. Iowa State prepares for full conversion to the MAC conference.

Nebraska? Oh, we’ve got words for them. In another column. Suffice it to say Bo Pelini has a chance to take his team for a December soiree in Dallas, where Jerry Jones, Tony Romo, Brent Musberger, God and everyone will be watching to see if Alex Henery can boot a punt into the monster video board.

For now, enjoy our offering of superlatives, league finishes, and whatnot. See, we’re smart. We wait until fall camp is practically over before we fry up our donuts. You know, in case somebody got tasered.

Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year: Colt McCoy, Texas QB – His time and his turn. Sam Bradford would have to be, well, miraculous to surpass his numbers from 2008, and his creaky offensive line won’t make it possible. Runners Up: Bradford, OSU WR Dez Bryant

Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year: Sergio Kindle, Texas LB – This is no knock on Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh. But the spoils go to the victors, and Kindle is just as special as Suh is. Well, on the field. Suh manages to stay away from crashing into apartment buildings off the field. Runners Up: Suh, Oklahoma LB Ryan Reynolds, Baylor LB Joe Pawelek

Big 12 Freshman of the Year: Rex Burkhead, Nebraska RB – How’s that for unearned hype? Whoop whoop! The kid’ll back it up though. Runners up: Texas DE Alex Okafor, Mizzou RB Kendial Lawrence

Big 12 Newcomer of the Year: Grant Gregory, Kansas State QB – Playing the odds here, as it seems Gregory might win the starting job at KSU, and thus accumulate big enough stats to win the award going away.

Big 12 Coach of the Year: Art Briles, Baylor – If he gets the Bears to seven wins and a bowl game in two years? The award is for coaching, right? Not “happening to coach a great team.” Runners Up: Mack Brown, Mike Gundy

Creampuff Award: Goes to team with the largest winning margin in a game. Right now, Oklahoma vs. Idaho State is looking pretty sexy.

The Mike Leach “Soundbyte” Award: Leach, as you know, lost to Mike Gundy in 2007. But he’s the frontrunner.

The “Ream The Refs” Award: Pelini probably took that one home in 2008. How bout ol Mark Mangino in 2009? He’s due for a conspiracy quote or two.

Hot Seat: Dan Hawkins, Colorado. If his season goes according to our plan, he’ll be searching for Division 1-AA jobs by the end of the year. Mike Sherman is on a fairly tight leash at Texas A&M, too.

Best Games Not Called the Red River Rivalry: We’re partial to Oklahoma State at Oklahoma, Nebraska at Missouri, Texas at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma at Texas Tech and Oklahoma at Nebraska.

Predicted Order of Finish and Record (Excluding Bowl Games) (Click on the team name for in-depth profiles. Nebraska’s to come on Sunday)

South

1. Texas (13-0, 8-0)
2. Oklahoma (10-2, 6-2)
3. Oklahoma State (10-2, 6-2)
4. Texas Tech (7-5, 4-4)
5. Baylor (7-5, 3-5)
6. Texas A&M (4-8, 1-7)

North
1. Nebraska (9-3, 6-2)
2. Missouri (8-4, 5-3)
3. Kansas State (7-5, 4-4)
4. Kansas (6-6, 3-5)
5. Colorado (5-7, 2-6)
6. Iowa State (3-9, 0-8)

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Husker Locker will be counting down and breaking down each of the teams in the conference. We hope you view this series as more interesting, comprehensive and definitive than what you may find elsewhere. Where we can make strong takes – we will.

We rank the teams 12 to 1 in overall strength. Then we’ll provide for you the North/South breakdown – and the preseason All Big 12 team, as well.

Enjoy!

Today: No. 1 Texas

Coach:Mack Brown
2008 Record: 12-1 (Beat Ohio State 24-21 in the Fiesta Bowl)

What’s Changed Since 2008: Brown launched a rather exhaustive media tour for both UT football and quarterback Colt McCoy following the Longhorns getting jobbed out of the Big 12 and BCS title games. McCoy grew a mustache which at least two opposing fan bases will mock during the season. Sergio Kindle ran a car into an apartment building, drove away, bought a pizza, saved a three cats from trees, jammed with a salsa band down Sixth Street, resolved the FCC’s dispute with Comcast, piloted a drone into Pakistan, then decided to tell someone about the car, and the apartment. Brown also signed an excellent recruiting class, maybe his best.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule: Pretty dreamy, if you ask us. Louisiana-Monroe a trip to Wyoming, back home vs. UTEP, and a midseason classic against Central Florida.

2009 Conference Schedule: UT makes or breaks its season with this trio: Vs. Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State, and at Missouri. And don’t forget the game at College Station on Thanksgiving. A&M is still a rival.

Offense: Spread Passing

Coordinator: Greg Davis – Smart in the sense that provide the quarterback with enough freedom to make plays. But if the quarterback can’t make those plays, the Longhorns tend to bog down a little. Fortunately, McCoy made those plays in 2008.

Strength: McCoy, who we think is the nation’s best college quarterback. He’s more athletic than Sam Bradford, a better pure passer than Tim Tebow, and possesses just a little more moxie than former Horn Jevan Snead. A fearless runner who plays hurt, cut and dazed, McCoy was deadly accurate in 2008. The receiving corps, headlined by Jordan Shipley and the next great one, Malcolm Williams, is good. UT also has the league’s best offensive line, led by tackle Adam Ulatowski.

Weakness:Texas has lost four tight ends for the season because of various lingering injuries. Vondrell McGee is still learning to be a superior running back.

Defense: 4-3/attacking

Coordinator: Will Muschamp, who has no problem letting his front four do the work – which they often did last year – but likes to mix an occasional five-man blitz featuring Kindle, a rare, exciting athlete who also runs cars into apartment buildings.

Strength: The back seven should be excellent. UT’s defensive backs were a little beaten up last year – 259 yards per game through the air, only six interceptions – but most of the key faces return. The linebackers – Kindle, Roderick Muckelroy and Jared Norton – are the league’s best unit. Kindle is a special player used in a variety of ways. Big enough to stuff the run. Fast enough for coverage.

Weakness:The front four won’t be weak, per se, but you don’t replace Brian Orakpo and Roy Miller – who combined for 17 sacks – easily. How quickly true freshman defensive end Alex Okafor adjusts to the speed of the college game could play a role in how well the Longhorns do.

Special TeamsTerrific. Shipley will handle the punt and kickoff returns, Hunter Lawrence is one of the Big 12’s best kickers, and John Gold and/or Justin Tucker are fine punters. UT generally has good coverage units.

Intangibles: Two big ones work in Texas’ favor. First, there’s a chip on the Horns’ shoulder, and there’s something to prove. UT smacked Oklahoma around for the last three quarters of a 45-35 win, and overcame a 22-0 deficit at Texas Tech – in the fourth game of a brutal stretch, mind you, facing four top 15 teams – only to lose on the game’s second-to-last play. And for all that…OU got the nod? Absurd. Texas is playing mad in 2009. Second is McCoy. The kid’s not afraid of Oklahoma, of bowl games, of injury, and not afraid, it seems, of failure (and he had his share of it in 2007). Every negative stereotype UT teams have – soft, uncertain, talk big and play little – McCoy defies it. He’s not as gifted as Vince Young, but the Eyes of Texas look to him just the same.

Best-Case Scenario: BCS champions. No ties. No controversy.

Worst-Case Scenario: Three losses.

Our Take: We don’t think people fully appreciate how much of a juggernaut Florida’s going to be in 2009. OK, maybe they do. And they should; it’s the closest thing to a dynasty you’re likely to see. We think Texas gets to the Rose Bowl. But we’re not in 2005 anymore.

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If a fan of Nebraska athletics was already fearful that the Big 12 conference had tilted permanently in favor of Texas, consider this column a long, unpleasant spelunk into the cave of more proof.

According to data compiled by the NCAA’s Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, the Longhorns’ athletic department brought $120.3 million in revenue in 2007-2008. That’s $32 million more than the second-place school in the Big 12 (the identity of which might surprise you, more on that in a minute).

That whopping dollar amount is the GDP of some third-world countries, and tops in college sports – just slightly ahead of Ohio State, which culls a major wad of cash from the Big Ten Network and runs two Jack Nicklaus-endorsed golf courses.

As for football revenue, UT was the nation’s No. 1 there, too, bringing in $72.9 million.

Yeah, in the Big 12, Nebraska was second. At $49 million. That’s close to the national top ten.

But the gap between NU and UT – almost $24 million - is larger the entire football revenue of six Big 12 teams. Texas earned five times what Kansas reported – although KU had $50 million of revenue in the “not allocated” category - and nearly doubled the $40.9 million taken in by Oklahoma, a program that’s had more success than its rival over the last decade (one more reason to respect Bob Stoops, eh?).

UT recorded more than $52 million in profit. That alone is more than the reported football revenues of any Big 12 team. And while Texas also spends more money on football, it only spends a fraction more - $20 million vs. the $19 million spent by Texas A&M, the $18.8 million spent by OU and the $18.7 spent by Nebraska.

Why? Because the Longhorns merely have to drive a couple hours to many of the nation’s best football recruits who reside in cities surrounding Austin – Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio. How hard is it to recruit when you’ve got most of your class figured out before Memorial Day?

Is Texas the lone “have” in the conference? Of course not. OU holds its own. Kansas leads the way in basketball revenue. Oklahoma State, behind the donor dollars of billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, is actually second in total revenue at $88 million. And Texas A&M, with Bill Byrne as the athletic director, will make a serious push at UT in all the pertinent Olympic, smaller sports. The Aggies already have, in fact, winning national titles in men’s golf and track.

Nebraska is stuck in a tougher spot. The Huskers have always hung their hat on football, and have a former football coach as the athletic director. Sans Texas (and Pickens, I suppose), nobody runs a better fundraising show in the Big 12, and Tom Osborne has brought needed stability back to North Stadium.

NU had the upper hand for more than 30 years, 1970-2001, winning five national titles to Texas’ zero, playing in countless more title games (UT played in one and lost to Notre Dame) winning one more Heisman Trophy, more O’Brien Awards, more Lombardis, more Outlands, you name it. But UT, right now, simply does football better, and has since 2002.

The orderly Big 12 reinvigorated Texas, which suffered in the lawless, hate-fueled Southwestern Conference. Like a defeated corporate giant suddenly tabbed to run another company, UT threw around far more bluster and weight upon its entrance into the league than its athletic portfolio suggested it could.

Too willing to topple the Big Red Machine in football – and upon the inception of the Big 12, there was no college football program more powerful and intimidating than Nebraska - Big 12 South members unwisely followed the Longhorns’ lead on a number of issues, whether it was partial academic qualifiers, television contracts or the facilities arms race. It all favored Texas.

You think Iowa State wouldn’t mind some partial qualifiers? Colorado? Kansas State? Oklahoma State? You think these same schools enjoy building perk after perk for 19-year-olds, only to see Texas, its stadium not even full for every game, roll out every red carpet known to man?

Not to say that UT has ill in mind for the rest of the league, but the numbers simply don’t lie: The Longhorns, financially, has the Big 12 wrapped around its burnt orange finger.

Once upon a time, the most loathed man in the history of NU athletics, Steve Pederson, vowed not to surrender the Big 12 to Texas (and Oklahoma). It was a cocky statement then, an affront to some Husker fans who believed Nebraska ruled the Big 12 roost for many years, and weren’t far, at the time, from ruling it again.

But it’s time get honest. This isn’t 1996 anymore, and Texas made three terrific hires – Mack Brown, Rick Barnes and Augie Garrido – when it counted. Brown and Garrido won national titles, and Barnes took the Horns to a Final Four. Since those hires, Nebraska’s on its third football coach, its third basketball coach, and currently slumping in baseball.

At $75.4 million, NU is now fifth in total revenue, behind Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas (a surprising $86 million) and Oklahoma ($77 million). And Texas A&M, which was so bad off four years ago that the university actually loaned the athletic department $16 million, is not far behind at $74.7 million. Missouri doesn’t currently compete in terms of revenue, but the sleeping giant has finally woken up, as the Tigers won Big 12 titles in men’s basketball, softball, and women’s soccer, reaching the conference title games in baseball and football.

While Pederson, Bill Callahan and Co. dithered around with a culture change, Mizzou and KU caught up, Byrne started working from the ground up in College Station and OU and Texas broke further away from the pack.

So now is not the time for NU administrators or fans to get distracted by the sheer, stunning misery of two Big 12 North schools – Iowa State and Colorado – and the tumult engulfing Kansas State. They’re the jokes of the league, and Nebraska better plan on beating them consistently in just about everything.

It’s also not the time to get overly wistful for the old days of 2000, when the Huskers’ athletic program was the envy of the every school not named Stanford. It’s time to work smarter and harder.

Here's how.

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In light of Bo Pelini’s new contract at Nebraska, we decided to review the coveted coaching jobs in the Big 12 Conference and determine, top to bottom, which job was hardest and which was easiest.

We decided to eschew “best” and “worst” in part because that debate automatically thrusts Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska to the top of the list and schools like Baylor and Iowa State to the bottom, based on sheer tradition.

Rather, we decided to take a bold stab at figuring out which jobs – perks and warts combined – were the kind coaches could tackle with enthusiasm and effort, and which jobs needed, shall we say, a bit more than that. Like a few a well-placed prayers to the pigskin karma saints.

Our list goes from easiest to hardest, and takes into account five categories:

Recruiting Base/Interest
Administrative/Booster Support
Media/Fan Expectation
Chance of “Success”
An “X” factor

Today, we run down we deem to be the six easiest jobs in the Big 12. Tomorrow, the sixth toughest.

And as we count them down, know this: None of them are what you’d call “easy.” All take 60-hour workweeks, strength, smarts, stamina and personality.

One other thing…the list partially takes into account who’s coaching the program, which, in the case of Kansas State’s Bill Snyder, frankly, makes the job easier than it would have been for Snyder’s predecessor, Ron Prince, or whoever follows Snyder.

On with the countdown!

No. 12 KANSAS

Head Coach: Mark Mangino. Compensation: $2.3 millon per year, with tons of performance bonuses. Mangino gets five grand just for beating Nebraska, for example. For every game televised on ESPN that KU wins, Mangino scores ten grand.

Recruiting Base: KU has direct access to the best talent in Kansas City and Wichita, along with reasonable access to the second-tier prospects in Oklahoma. The Jayhawk State is also home to many of the Midwest’s best junior college football programs. Mangino still plucks his share of players out of Texas – that’s one of the secrets to his success – but there are more home-grown kids to choose from, too.

Administrative/Booster Support: For football, it’s better than ever, after KU finished a $33 million football complex in 2008. Basketball will always be king in Lawrence, but football is being embraced like never before.

Media/Fan Expectation: Tempered by the hulking monolith that is the basketball program, KU football is expected to compete for the Big 12 North trophy and beat its rivals, Missouri and Kansas State. Beyond that? Gravy. At least a quarter of the Big 12 programs would like a national title in the next decade. If that doesn’t happen at Kansas, nobody is losing sleep over it.

Chance of “Success”: Mangino has upped the ante and created his own success story. Still – “success” at KU is defined by eight, nine wins a year, a solid bowl game, and win over Mizzou. Would many Kansas fans have considered 2008 a “down” year? Following 2007, yes, it was. Overall? It was quite good by historical Jayhawks standards.

X Factor: Kansas football is not, and never will be, the flagship sports program in Lawrence. Outside of possibly Iowa State, it’d be hard to claim that about anywhere else right now.

No. 11 OKLAHOMA

Head Coach: Bob Stoops Compensation: Around $6 million. This includes a $3 million lump sum Stoops received recently for his tenth anniversary as OU coach and bonuses he earned last year.

Recruiting Base: It’s national, really, but Oklahoma does most of its damage at home and in Texas, routinely plucking great players from both states. Some years, OU outperforms Texas for coveted players in the Lone Star State. Stoops is a good recruiter, sure, but he resides in and near the land of milk and honey, too.

Administrative/Booster Support: Very strong. Stoops has the full support of the old guard (guys like Barry Switzer) and his athletic director, Joe Castiglione, is a proactive standout in his field. As far as facilities go, we’ll take Nebraska’s swank spread of OU’s ten-year-old digs, but the Sooners want for very little. Stoops has all the tradition, support and booster bucks he wants. He’s created a lot of success, yes. He’s also been given a lot to create it with.

Media/Fan Expectation: They’re high. Very high. But they’re not lunatic high, like they are at certain SEC programs, and the fans aren’t fickle, like they are at Texas. Sooner fans want to win. Stoops does win. But he’s not required to be a messiah (again: see the SEC).

Chance of “Success:” OU has every advantage in this regard. It’s one of the great programs, and has been since Bud Wilkinson. There’s talent. There’s tradition. There’s reasonably warm weather for recruiting purposes.

“X” Factor: Stoops’ recent run of losses in bowl games makes fan groan a little. Not that they want him to go anywhere.

No. 10 TEXAS

Head Coach: Mack Brown Compensation: Around $3 million.

Recruiting Base: None better. The best talent in the state of Texas. And most of them are rounded up by the end of spring football. UT’s recruiting budget must be equal to the military budget of Albania.

Administrative/Booster Support: Some would call DeLoss Dodds the nation’s most powerful athletic director. He’s sure one of them. In defense of Brown, he’s done a really good job winning back his share of boosters after the long, dark period after Darryl Royal retired. Then again, it was Brown’s predecessor, John Mackovic, who got the unpleasant job of bluntly telling those boosters UT’s facilities were woefully out of date. Brown walked into a better situation than Mackovic left when he was fired.

Media/Fan Expectation: We know some Texas fans, and, outside of rubbing OU’s nose in it, the goals are sometimes fuzzy. UT will cherish Vince Young and the national title he won for the Longhorns for the next century. But do they blame Brown for the one loss that blemished an otherwise terrific 2008? Success doesn’t always bring out the fans anyway, as witnessed by the occasional empty seats in UT’s stadium.

Chance of “Success”: Right up there with OU. Texas has all the advantages. At this point, any number of coaches – say, Will Muschamp – could be plugged into that job and coast on fumes for five years.

“X” Factor: The University of Texas has more beautiful women on its campus than any other in America, in one of the nation’s best college towns. It helps.

No. 9 KANSAS STATE

Head Coach: Bill Snyder Compensation: 1.85 million

Recruiting Base: The same as Kansas, except that Snyder leans much more heavily on the JUCOs.

Administrative/Booster Support: Basically, Snyder will get the “Joe Gibbs” treatment. He’s already performed “The Miracle in Manhattan” and if he carves out a modicum of success, any setbacks will just be blamed on Ron Prince’s three years at KSU. Snyder runs that town, and he’ll make darn sure the Wildcats schedule three or four wins per year.

Fan/Media Expectations: A respectable program. Coaches who don’t have to run stadium stairs.

Chance of “Success”: Pretty good, if 7-5 is the standard, and we don’t really see Kansas State doing much better than that in whatever time Snyder chooses to put into this second act.

“X” Factor: Snyder will need one year, and maybe two, to clean up the mess Prince left behind. And he won’t have Stoops and Mangino to help him do it.

No. 8 TEXAS A&M

Head coach: Mike Sherman Compensation: $1.8 million

Recruiting base: The central/southern part Texas seems pretty sweet to us. The Aggies make a killing in NASA country (that’s Houston). A&M probably draws a little too much talent from a 100-mile radius, for that matter.

Administrative/Booster Support: Aggies are plenty competitive, and will spend top dollar to win in almost every sport. Athletic director Bill Byrne is no less competitive, even if his zeal in the past, including at Nebraska, was for non-revenue sports that could inch him closer to a Sears Directors Trophy. Still – at A&M, excellence is the standard. Another season like 2008, and Sherman might be gone very soon.

Fan/Media Expectation: For a solid decade, A&M was the premier program in Texas. Getting there again is a top priority, and it’s not completely out of the question, either. The Longhorns are due for a dry spell. Oklahoma, on other hand…we don’t see the Sooners going anywhere. The fans at A&M are terrific. The closest to Nebraska fans, in fact.

Chance of “Success”: Ten wins, a Big 12 South crown and bragging rights over UT are a lot to ask for right now. Maybe a little too much to ask. But the Aggies are committed, support is entrenched, and the area talent is rich. This is fertile ground for winning. Sherman has no excuses, really, because Dennis Franchione didn’t exactly run the program into the ground.

“X” Factor: A&M is making the painful transition from option zone read to West Coast Offense with a former NFL coach. Ask Nebraska how well that turned out.

No. 7 TEXAS TECH

Head Coach: Mike Leach Compensation: $2.3 million

Recruiting Base: Leach has made inroads into central and the Texas Panhandle to go along with the football-rich region of West Texas.

Booster/Administrative Support: It’s no great secret that Leach and his athletic director aren’t great chums. But Leach won the war of public opinion in a recent contract dispute, and let’s just say wasn’t the proletariat that turned the tide, but the Tech bourgeoisie. The Red Raiders just finished a $84 million renovation to Jones Stadium.

Media/Fan Expectation: Leach seems to win eight every year – 11 in 2008 – and fans don’t seem too riled up if he can’t win the big games, which he rarely does. He’s brought more publicity to Lubbock than anyone since Buddy Holly. Yeah, even more than Bob Knight.They love the big pirate-lovin lug.

Chance of “Success:” Every four years or so, Tech might be able to climb that national title mountain like it did in 2008. Otherwise, since fans seem content with nine wins and a fun offense each year – and the Wes Welkers and Michael Crabtrees of the world are still willing to enroll – chances are pretty good, we’d say.

“X” Factor: Leach makes this job easier for himself, because Leach is Texas Tech. We pity, really, the coach who must follow him.

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