1. We start with a review of your team's non-conference performance. Take the format of my Week 5 Big 12 Report and give us your Offensive MVP, Defensive MVP, and Projected Finish. (Limit 125 words max on each.)

Offensive MVP: It has to go to Sam Bradford! Regardless of what our friends from the “Show Me State” are going to say, Bradford is the best quarterback in the conference. He’s completed 72% of his passed for 1,293 yards with 16 touchdowns to just 2 picks.

 

Defensive MVP: Travis Lewis! Not bad for a guy that we didn’t even think would start game one. With much of the concern in the preseason centering on the linebackers Lewis has been stellar. He leads the team in total tackles (32), has 4.5 tackles for loss, an interception and will just flat out lay the wood on anyone who comes near him with the ball.

2. Oklahoma State is one of two Big 12 teams not represented by bloggers. Don your oversized Cowboy hat for a day and give us your take on Mike Gundy's team. Are they same old same old (above average offense, putrid defense)? Or something else?

I’ll never make a habit of defending Oklahoma State (or anyone else who wears orange for that matter) but the Cowboys do concern me. Of Oklahoma’s road trips the one to the Boone has me the most worried. They are better on offense than last year and seem to be faster. Defense will continue to be their downfall though. Through the cupcake portion of their schedule they gave up an average of 21.8 points per game which makes me wonder what Missouri, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma are going to do.

3. Your team has reached the Big 12 title game, but in a cruel twist of fate, your coach is declared ineligible and you have been asked to select among the other 11 coaches in the conference your team's game day maestro. Who do you select and why?

I would take Mark Mangino without even thinking twice. He is grossly overweight and cusses in such a way that even Texans blush but he gets more out of less better than anyone in the conference. His teams are always prepared and well coached. I would love to see what he could do with the keys to a Ferrari.

4. Same situation, but different replacement: Assume this time that it's your quarterback who can't participate in the Big 12 title game. Which other quarterback from the conference would you select to lead your team for that game?

I’ll stay in Kansas and go with Todd Reesing. He’s tough and plays with heart. Currently he is third in the conference in passing yards and has 11 touchdowns to 2 interceptions.

5. Imagine it is July 2008 and you receive an email from the conference's director of public relations, who informs you that the Big 12 has officially partnered with Austin City Limits Music Festival 2008. To promote the partnership, the conference has asked you to choose one of the festival's participating bands as metaphor for your football team and explain it. Go.

Um, well, I’d pick that one band that sings that one song that makes all the girls and the boys jump up and make some noise. Yeah, that one! They are almost as exciting to watch in person as the Sooners are.

6. Answer all of the following in no more than two sentences:

(A) Conference's best quarterback?
(B) Conference's best offense?
(C) Big 12 South winner?
(D) Big 12 North winner?
(E) Big 12 champion?
(F) Big 12 team you would adopt as your favorite if forced to abandon your own?
(G) One prediction that might surprise the rest of us?

A – Sam Bradford. He’s six tenths of a point behind Colt McCoy in QB Rating but a win over a Top 25 team makes up for that.

B – Oklahoma. Statistically they are third behind Missouri and OSU but once again I have to refer back to the schedule. Buffalo and Missouri State can make a lot of people look really good.

C – Oklahoma. It appears that once again it will come down to the Red River Shootout and recently it has been a series of streaks with 1997 being the last time one of the teams failed to win it in consecutive seasons. After a tie in `95, OU won in `96 and then Texas in `97. History is on our side!

D – Missouri. Really, do I need to explain this?

E – Oklahoma. Kansas City gets very, very cold in December and the Sooners win the Big 12 Championship with a ground and pound offense.

F – Kansas. Yep, I appear to be smitten.

G – Both Oklahoma and Texas will play in a BCS bowl game this season.