Prediction:
3-9 (1-7 South)

Art Briles has turned programs into winners at every stop he has made during his career. And, with a few more solid recruiting classes, Baylor should be no different.

Briles guided Houston to a 34-28 record while under his control, earning four bowl berths in five seasons. He also made a habit out of putting fans in the seats thanks to his high-octane offensive approach.

But don’t expect miracles this year, as the Bears are still adjusting to their new coach and new systems, plus, face another difficult slate in the Big XII. Add in two OOC bowl teams from last year (Connecticut and Wake Forest), and Baylor is staring at a 13th consecutive losing season.

Player to Watch:
Freshman quarterback Robert Griffin may not win the job out of camp, but barring a redshirt season, Baylor fans can expect to see the highly-touted recruit and bronze medal-winning hurdler (NCAA Outdoor Championships) on the gridirion this fall. He will contend with Miami (Fla.) transfer Kirby Freeman and incumbent starter Blake Szymanski — who threw for a school-record 2,844 yards and 22 TDs last year — for snaps under center.

Key Games: vs Washington State; vs Iowa State

Prediction:
6-6 (4-4 North)

The next step that Colorado and head coach Dan Hawkins take will be a critical one.

After compiling a 2-10 record in 2006, the Buffaloes finished 6-6, earned key wins over Colorado State and Nebraska, and reached a bowl game.

Now, Hawkins and Colorado hope to follow in the footsteps of Big XII North rivals Missouri and Kansas and make an even bigger splash on the national radar.

Led by sophomore quarterback Cody Hawkins (Dan's son), the Buffaloes installed a fast-paced, no-huddle offense over the summer. They also picked up a huge talent in top-rated freshman running back Darrell Scott to shoulder the load and help take the pressure off the gunslinger.

Expect Colorado to be a more improved squad overall, but with OOC tilts against West Virginia and Florida State on the docket, winning more than six games again could prove difficult.

Player to Watch:
Scott is the kind of difference maker every team in the country likes to land. His big-play capability is countered only by his willingness to tote the rock 30 times a game. If he doesn't become the best freshman in the Big XII, Colorado will have no chance at returning to the postseason.

Key Games: vs Colorado State (Denver); vs West Virgina; vs Florida State (Jacksonville); vs Oklahoma State

Prediction:
3-9 (1-7 North)

Not many coaches can easily tolerate losing. Count Cyclone second-year man Gene Chizik among those.

After enduring a 3-9 record in his debut in Ames, Chizik made it a point to get back to fundamentals and just coach football, which he does about as well as anybody in the country.

The Cyclones must replace record-setting quarterback Bret Meyer and wide receiver Todd Blythe, but return several key cogs on defense.

Hometown hero Austen Arnaud (who prepped at Ames High School), is expected to take over QB duties from Meyer. Arnaud has a strong arm and is elusive when he needs to be, plus he gained much-needed experience while subbing for Meyer a year ago.

Sophomore tailback Alexander Robinson had just under 400 yards and six touchdowns in his final four games last season, giving him a heads-up in the race to be the feature back.

Chizik, a defensive whiz at Auburn and Texas, has talented ends in Rashawn Parker Kurtis Taylor (6.5 sacks) to work with this year, along with linebacker Jesse Smith – a former walk-on – and cornerback Chris Singleton.

Player to Watch:
Wide receiver Sedrick Johnson amassed 79 catches for 1,652 yards and 24 touchdowns during his final two seasons as a prep in Texas. Couple Blythe’s departure with no proven deep threat on the roster, and it is pretty safe to say Johnson should see plenty of balls thrown his way this fall.

Key Games: at Iowa; at Kansas State

Prediction:
7-5 (4-4 North)

How do Mark Mangino and the Jayhawks follow up a 12-1 season that culminated in an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech? By wiping the slate clean and starting all over again.

Granted, Kansas has nine starters back on defense and Heisman candidate Todd Reesing back to lead the offense, but the Jayhawks will see a much tougher Big XII slate this time around.

Gone are Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas A&M from the schedule. In their place will be Big XII South favorites Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. Plus, you can’t forget about Missouri and an OOC tilt with South Florida on the road in Week 3.

Reesing, despite standing under 6-feet tall, threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 33 touchdowns a year ago, guiding Kansas to a league-high 42.8 points per game. Talented backs Jake Sharp – who ran for 821 yards as a sophomore – and Jocques Crawford – a JUCO signee that racked up 1,935 yards and NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year honors a season ago – will help to take pressure off Reesing.

The defense will miss cornerback Aqib Talib, but several other names are ready to step up and fill the void left by the first Jayhawk to earn first team All-American status since 1983.

Player to Watch:
Sophomore Chris Harris learned all he could from Talib a year ago, garnering Big XII Defensive Newcomer of the Year honors along the way. Harris started 10 games and picked off a pass in the Orange Bowl. With Talib gone, the burden of defending several elite league receivers falls on Harris.

Key Games: at South Florida; at Oklahoma; vs Texas; vs Missouri (Kansas City)

Prediction:
3-9 (0-8 North)

Ron Prince dug deep into the history books of Kansas State football and found what was missing: junior college recruits.

Former legendary Wildcat coach Bill Snyder turned the program around by scouring the JUCO ranks for talented players. And with 19 coming aboard this season, it is obvious Prince is thinking the same thoughts.

Quarterback Josh Freeman is not one of those incoming junior college athletes. With a cannon for an arm, the junior set a new school-best with 3,353 yards passing last year, completing 63.3 percent of his throws and 18 TD strikes. Granted, he won’t have current Green Bay Packer and All-American Jordy Nelson around anymore, but Deon Murphy is back to pick up the slack.

Newcomers Daniel Calvin, a junior college All-American, and Ulla Pomele will be counted on to stop opposing offenses from scoring at will against K-State.

Prince also shifted a few returnees around to help shore up things in the trenches, but the talent level in Manhattan just isn’t on par with the rest of the conference yet.

Player to Watch:
Freeman cut down on his interceptions a year ago, going from 15 as a freshman to just 11. If he can continue on that path, and improve upon his TD strikes, he may be picking up a few league honors and NFL looks heading into his senior season.

Key Games: at Kansas; vs Iowa State

Prediction:
11-1 (7-1 North)

It was a year to remember for the Tigers in 2007, as they claimed the No. 1 spot in the poll for the first time since 1960 and had a Heisman finalist in Chase Daniel.

But, it could have been even better, as Missouri was one win over Oklahoma in the Big XII title game from playing for the BCS National Championship. That loss ultimately knocked Mizzou out of the BCS picture as a whole, sending them to the Cotton Bowl despite having earned a regular season win over Orange Bowl pick Kansas.

The sting delivered by the BCS helped fuel the Tigers’ drive this offseason, as Daniel and his playmaking sophomore do-it-all talent Jeremy Maclin went back to work.

Daniel, the reigning Big XII Offensive Player of the Year, passed for 4,306 yards and 33 scores, leading an offense that scored 39.9 points per game. Maclin was an All-American selection as a return man, but also became a favorite target of the senior QB right off the bat.

Head coach Gary Pinkel has 13 other starters back to join Daniel and Maclin, nine of which play on the defensive side of the ball.

After a key OOC battle with Big Ten foe Illinois in St. Louis to start the year, the Tigers get a few cupcakes before an Oct. 4 showdown in Lincoln with Nebraska. The game should decide the North champion, and could springboard one of them into National Title talk.

Player to Watch:
While Daniel and Maclin are exceptional talents, the key position this year could be next to Daniel in the backfield. Replacing Tony Temple, a back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher, falls to either senior Jimmy Jackson or sophomore Derrick Washington. Jackson is more of the straight-ahead runner, while Washington can break off big plays at any given time.

Key Games: vs Illinois (St. Louis); at Nebraska; at Texas; vs Kansas (Kansas City)

Prediction:
10-2 (6-2 North)

The Blackshirts are back in Lincoln thanks to the hiring of former Nebraska defensive coordinator Bo Pelini.

Pelini, who helped lead LSU to a national crown last year as an assistant coach, was hired to replace Bill Callahan as head man of Cornhusker Nation.

Pelini has pledged to return Nebraska’s past tradition of strong defense to the forefront. Last year, the Huskers were ranked 112th in total defense, 114th in scoring defense and 116th in rushing defense. Those numbers won’t jump way up right away as Pelini’s needs time to get his system in place with the right players, but you can fully expect Nebraska to be back among the elite in no time.

One positive that came out of the Callahan’s regime was a switch to a more modern offensive attack. Joe Ganz, who many felt should have started from the get-go last year, returns after throwing for 1,435 yards and 16 scores in just about three games.

Talented back Marlon Lucky will be the focal point to the offense, but will be pushed by several other willing candidates.

The Cornhuskers have never been afraid to schedule some tough OOC opponents, and this year they tackle Virginia Tech at home (before venturing to Blacksburg in 2009). Nebraska also gets Missouri in Lincoln, along with Kansas and Colorado, while hitting the road to visit Oklahoma.

Player to Watch:
Barry Turner was a freshman All-American in 2005 after recording six sacks along the defensive line. Since that time, though, Turner has registered just 4.5 sacks and was regulated to back-up status. Pelini should be able to get the ’05 form out of Turner this year.

Key Games: vs Virginia Tech; vs Missouri; at Oklahoma; vs Kansas

Prediction:
11-1 (7-1 South)

No matter how many players leave for the NFL, nothing really seems to ever change around Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma program.

The Sooners won another Big XII title last year – their fifth since the inception of the league and second in a row – but left their fans in agony by being humiliated at the hands of West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl – the fourth BCS bowl loss for Stoops and company.

In Norman, that just doesn’t cut it.

Sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford hopes to erase those memories as he leads an offense just busting at the seams to score. Bradford, who set numerous NCAA freshman records a year ago, will have DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown and incoming freshman Jermie Calhoun to work with in the backfield.

Murray posted 764 yards and 13 scores before suffering a knee injury, while Brown added 611 and nine. Calhoun comes into camp as one of the nation’s top recruits.

Juaquin Iglesias is Bradford’s favorite target after catching 68 passes for 907 yards.

Oklahoma’s most troubling areas are linebacker and secondary, but Stoops seems to always have capable fill-ins for those spots on the field year in and year out.

The schedule also could play into factor, as an in-state showdown in Stillwater against Oklahoma State awaits the Sooners on Nov. 29.

Player to Watch:
If Murray can remain healthy for the entire season, that will keep pressure off Bradford and allow the gunslinger to be more precise when he goes to the air. Murray has difference-maker capabilities with his elusiveness and speed, but must stay on the field to take advantage of those traits.

Key Games: at Washington; vs Texas (Dallas); Nebraska; at Oklahoma State

Prediction:
8-4 (4-4 South)

Is this the year the Cowboys finally make that climb up the Big XII South pecking order? Head coach Mike Gundy hopes so.

After needing to secure bowl wins to finish with winning records each of the past two seasons, Oklahoma State shouldn’t have that much trouble ending the year on the plus-side of the .500 line.

Junior quarterback Zac Robinson will have no one to take snaps from him this time around after racking up nearly 3,700 yards of total offense and 32 touchdowns, including three 100-yard rushing games in OSU’s no-huddle, spread attack.

Robinson has several choices to get the ball to in running backs Kendall Hunter and Beau Johnson, along with receivers Dez Bryant and Artrell Woods, and tight end Brandon Pettigrew.

Being able to make back-to-back defensive stops, though, has been a problem for the Cowboys. The defensive line and linebacker crew return just one starter each, but three of the four members of the secondary are intact.

If Oklahoma State can avoid getting stuck in neutral with tough road dates against Missouri and Texas on the docket, the Cowboys could set themselves up for a pivotal showdown with rival Oklahoma in the annual “Bedlam” game.

Player to Watch:
Woods thought he would never be able to walk again, let alone get on the gridirion after suffering a summer weight-room accident that resulted in him undergoing back surgery. But, after rehabbing for a year, the blazing wideout is set to recapture his spot on the field for the Cowboys this season.

Key Games: at Missouri; at Texas; vs Oklahoma

Prediction:
10-2 (6-2 South)

For Texas, the season is measured by one thing: did you beat Oklahoma?

And, until last year, the Longhorns had been able to say yes, they did beat the hated Sooners. But that short streak came to an abrupt end, as a seventh straight 10-win season was overshadowed by the Oklahoma defeat, a 41-21 loss at the hands of Kansas State and a second consecutive setback to Texas A&M.

So, Mack Brown went and made a few changes, namely, bringing in Will Muschamp to coach the defense and Major Applewhite to work with the offense.

Applewhite shouldn¿t have to put too much emphasis on the quarterback position, as seasoned signal-caller Colt McCoy returns. McCoy threw for 18 touchdowns despite an inexperienced offensive line. Applewhite and Brown have also said they will work sophomore speedster John Chiles into action even more this year.

Muschamp has some large holes to seal up on defense, as the 'Horns surrendered nearly 278 passing yards per game and allowed 25.3 points. Texas was strong vs. the run, but the main cogs to that attack have moved on.

All signs point to Oct. 11 and Dallas for the Longhorns, as that is when they collide with the Sooners. The winner will have the inside track to a spot in the Big XII title game, but Texas must avoid road hiccups at Texas Tech, Kansas and Texas A&M in three of the final four weeks even if they do get by Oklahoma. The 'Horns also welcome North favorite Missouri to town on Oct. 18.

Player to Watch:
Chiles will not unseat McCoy this year unless the veteran goes down with an injury, but by putting Chiles on the field with McCoy, Texas could solve its problem at running back where no clear-cut favorite has emerged. Chiles averaged 5.3 yards per carry a year ago out of the shotgun-option offense.

Key Games: Oklahoma (Dallas); vs Missouri; at Texas Tech; at Kansas; at Texas A&M

Prediction:
3-5 (5-7 South)

Mike Sherman hopes to do exactly what Bo Pelini is trying to accomplish at Nebraska, and that is return a once proud and glorious school to prominence.

Sherman, the former head coach of the Green Bay Packers, was hired last year to replace Dennis Franchione. Sherman is a former assistant under Aggie legend R.C. Slocum, so he is familiar with the tradition-rich aspects of Texas A&M.

But, going from the pro ranks back to college can take some time, leaving little room for an adjustment period with a group of students and faculty members just itching to be back inside the Top-10.

Senior quarterback Stephen McGee is a nice incentive for Sherman, as McGee has quickly picked up the new offense. While McGee is a dual-threat, he has come to understand the aspects of Sherman’s plan, which involves more pro-style sets similar to a playbook found in the NFL.

Jorvorskie Lane and Mike Goodson are the definition of power and speed, as Lane brings a 285-pound frame to the backfield. Goodson, in contrast, is an explosive back that broke off 13 plays of 20 yards or longer a year ago.

The schedule isn’t all that difficult for the Aggies, as no Missouri or Kansas appears. But, as usual, A&M must contend with Oklahoma, Texas Tech and rival Texas, who they have beat twice in a row. The good part – all three of those South showdowns come in front of “The 12th Man.”

Player to Watch:
Bradley Stephens could be the right combination of Goodson and Lane that Sherman is looking for. The redshirt freshman running back racked up almost 8,000 yards in high school and could help spell Goodson while allowing Lane to remain at full back this season.

Key Games: vs Miami; vs Texas Tech; vs Oklahoma; vs Texas

Prediction:
9-3 (5-3 South)

Some feel this is the year for Mike Leach’s Red Raiders to break out and onto the national scene.

Heisman candidate Graham Harrell is back for his senior campaign after racking up video game-like numbers a year ago. Also returning is record-setting wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

In terms of plain numbers, it is easy to see why Texas Tech feels like they receive no respect. They have gone to eight straight bowl games under Leach, winning five of the last six, have won 65 games since 2000, and have won at least eight games six straight seasons.

But, the Red Raiders have been unable to keep from suffering letdowns against foes they should beat, and have remained unable to get continued stops on defense.

This year, the schedule sets up very nicely for Leach and crew, as the first real test doesn’t come until Oct. 11 when Nebraska comes calling. Tech also gets to play Texas and Oklahoma State at home, while a date with Oklahoma in Norman on Nov. 22 could be important to both the Big XII South race and BCS party.

Player to Watch:
Harrell and Crabtree are the best quarterback-to-wide receiver combination in college football. Harrell’s strong arm has allowed him to throw for over 10,000 yards the past two seasons. He completed nearly 72 percent of his passes and could be a Heisman favorite if Texas Tech can manage its schedule right. Crabtree, who redshirted his first year on campus, burst like a lightning rod onto the national radar by catching 134 passes for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Key Games: vs Nebraska; at Kansas; vs Texas; at Oklahoma