The Oklahoma Sooners haven’t won the Big 12 football title since 2010, but they enter this season as a heavy favorite to get back on top of the conference and to perhaps do much more. The Sooners status as prohibitive conference favorite and serious national contender is testament to how much the perception of a program can change after two games.
Texas & Oklahoma are the powers-that-be in Big 12 football. Their programs have brand-name power and from 2002 to 2010 it was either the Longhorns or Sooners winning the conference championship in every year but one—and in the “out” year of 2003, Oklahoma was still ranked high enough to make the BCS National Championship Game.
But the last two years have been different, with Oklahoma State and Kansas State coming in and winning outright league championships. Is there more rebellion lurking in 2013, or is the Establishment ready to reassert themselves? That’s the focus of today’s college football coverage
Big 12 football is sporting a new look this fall, as Missouri and Texas A&M have left for the SEC and the conference welcomes in West Virginia & TCU. Add that to the departures of Nebraska and Colorado prior to last season and this is not your father’s Big 12. Well, actually since the league has only existed since 1996 maybe we should say it’s not your older brother’s Big 12. Whatever it is, it’s a league trying to survive as a power league in an era of change and TheSportsNotebook previews the 2012 race…