In preparation for Big 12 Media Days, 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: Texas A&M

Coach:Mike Sherman
2008 Record: 4-8

What’s Changed Since 2008:A&M’s in a big feud with Texas Tech over comments Mike Leach made about former A&M QB Stephen McGee, the heat’s been turned up a little more on Sherman, and the entire team has another spring of experience in this modified NFL system. The Aggies weren’t very good in 2008, and they probably won’t be in 2009, either. Chalk it up to transition and the overall difficulty of the Big 12 South.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule: The first three opponents, New Mexico, UAB and Utah State, are figured to be reprobates in 2009 – UNM is probably staring down the gun barrel of an 0-12 season - but that didn’t stop A&M from dumping a game to Arkansas State last year. The fourth game is a tilt with old SWC foe Arkansas at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. We expect the Razorbacks to be much improved this year, and win the game in JerryWorld.

2009 Conference Schedule: Trips to Oklahoma and Texas Tech are probably losses. A&M hosts Texas, Oklahoma and Baylor. The mini-slate of Big 12 North squads is pretty favorable, with winnable games at Kansas State and Colorado and a home date with Iowa State. The Baylor game, if A&M’s record is what we think it will be around that time, may determine whether Mike Sherman has a job in 2010.

Offense: Pro-style/West Coast Offense
Coordinator:Nolan Cromwell, a long-time disciple of Mike Holmgren, under whom he coached from 1992-2008. Holmgren’s WCO likes to feature two backs when it can, prefers to operate from under center and use play-action and can, with the right offensive line and running back, be a quite effective rushing offense. Expect toss plays and zone plays. Like most WCOs, there is typically a smaller back and a bigger one. The receivers are usually big. And the tight end has a defined, significant role. A&M incorporated most of that in 2008.

Strength:The receiving corps, which includes tight end Jamie McCoy. They’re all uniformly big targets for QB Jarrod Johnson. The best of the bunch is backup QB Ryan Tannehill, who has an NFL future at the position, and caught 55 passes for 844 yards and five touchdowns as a true freshman. He’s a reliable guy, and can make the big grab downfield. But Tannehill will compete for the QB job, and Sherman doesn’t necessarily want to use the guy at WR. Why? For fear of injury. This, and A&M is bringing in two top-notch QB recruits in 2010. Foolishness.

Weakness:The offensive line returns all five starters. Just one hitch: They weren’t very good last year, giving up 39 sacks and only producing 89 rushing yards per game. The WCO is too controlled a passing offense to win games by itself. At quarterback, Johnson is fair. You see the 2,435 yards and 21 touchdown and presume something, but remember how awful the Big 12 as a whole was on defense in 2008. He had a pretty paltry 6.2 yards per adjusted pass average. That’s pretty low. That’s also the WCO.

Defense: 3-4/multiple front
Coordinator: Joe Kines, who’s been to a lot of schools before A&M, most notably Alabama for four seasons with David Shula. Kines is a riverboat gambler, a chess player, a guy who likes to put offenses in matchups they don’t like. Well, none of it worked last year, as A&M gave up 462 yards per game and 37.4 Was it just the personnel? Nah, not solely that. A&M’s defense often looked bewildered in coverage, and too small and overmatched at the point of attack. Kines committed to using a base 3-4 in spring ball with a “jack” linebacker serving as a potential rusher, run stopper, or cover guy.

Strength: The best player on the defense is either Matt Featherston or Von Miller; they’ll be “jacks” in 2009 And, at the very least, the 3-4 gives you some flexibility. Anything has to be better than last year.

Weakness: The defensive line is just small, it replaces three starters, and a 3-4 defense doesn’t work properly, in this day and age, without a 300-pound hoss at nose tackle. A&M doesn’t have that guy, so you’re asking a lot of those linebackers, especially in playaction. Unless Kines can scheme the opponents’ every move in the running game, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that A&M can stop the run.

Special Teams New punter Ryan Epperson is a walk-on freshman, but that doesn’t mean much; kickers often are. Sophomore Kicker Randy Bullock got off to a nice start in 2008, making 6 of 7 field goals. As a freshman, Cyrus Gray was an excellent kicker returner, averaging 24 yards and scoring a touchdown. Of course, he got about four chances a game at it, too.

Intangibles: For A&M’s overall athletic program, it’s been a pretty good two years. For the football program, it’s been close to a disaster. AD Bill Byrne and Sherman have both gotten bad press, and some Aggies fans are crying foul over the exorbitant prices for the JerryWorld game. This is a team that can’t afford an early slip-up. A&M could, theoretically, roll into a Nov. 21 game vs. Baylor looking to clinch a bowl berth. Baylor probably will be, too. While Kyle Field is a wonderful stadium, it's difficulty on opposing teams is a tad overrated. Think about it: If you made the same noise for three hours, wouldn't you get used to it? It's like eyes adjusting to the dark.

Best-Case Scenario: A&M rides a comfy non-conference and Big 12 North schedule to a 7/8 win season. The “jack” entertains all. The offense develops a running game.

Worst-Case Scenario: Sherman is fired after A&M dumps a game to Baylor on its home field. The Aggies finish with another 4-8 record.

Our Take: We’re not convinced the new defense takes hold completely, but it does stop some of the bleeding. We see the offense remaining a bit stagnant: Efficient one game, and brutal the next. We expect the Baylor game to be for a bowl berth, and considering we have Baylor ranked higher on this list, we expect the Bears to win.

See other Big 12 Breakdowns: No. 12 ISU, No. 11 A&M, No. 10 CU, No. 9 BU, No. 8 KU, No. 7 KSU, No. 6 Texas Tech

Agree? Disagree?Tell us about it.

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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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