• Here’s something that we already knew but just for the sake of gratification, Pat Forde of ESPN tabbed OU/Texas as the top rivalry in the country.

Why It's Hot Now: Everything picks up where it left off last season -- with the Sooners and Longhorns at each other's throats. Both teams should start this year in the top 5. Both quarterbacks, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Colt McCoy of Texas, should start the season as prime Heisman Trophy candidates. And neither program has forgotten (or forgiven) the back-and-forth hissing over who deserved to win the Great Big 12 South Tiebreaker Debate of '08. At last count, everyone but the Blue Angels had been hired to fly a biting banner over the other team's stadium. More airplanes and acrimony in '09, please!

• TSN has their Top Ten nonconference schedules out and the Sooners check in at #7. Let’s see, where’s Texas…nope, not on the list but they’ll sure complain if someone slides them because of a lame schedule.

1. Georgia: at Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Tennessee Tech, at Georgia Tech

2. Virginia Tech: vs. Alabama (Atlanta), Marshall, Nebraska, at East Carolina

3. Southern Cal: San Jose State, at Ohio State, at Notre Dame

4. Florida State: Jacksonville State, at BYU, South Florida, at Florida

5. Washington: LSU, Idaho, at Notre Dame

6. Oregon: at Boise State, Purdue, Utah

7. Oklahoma: vs. BYU (Arlington, Texas), Idaho State, Tulsa, at Miami

8. Miami (Fla.): Oklahoma, Florida A&M, at UCF, at South Florida

9. Stanford: at Wake Forest, San Jose State, Notre Dame

10. Illinois: vs. Missouri (St. Louis), Illinois State, at Cincinnati, Fresno State

• Top two teams in the Big 12 for `09? Really, do we even need to think about it?

 Well, Oklahoma and Texas return a Heisman Trophy winner and its runnerup in quarterback Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy. Texas should be much stronger on defense this season while the Sooners almost have their entire dynamic offense back.

• Winning the Heisman Trophy will give Sam Bradford a busier schedule but OU has no plans of allowing him to be overloaded.

"You don't realize what that Heisman Trophy really is until you're done with football and you've been removed for two or three years," said Jason White, OU's 2003 Heisman winner. "It's then that you realize that it's a pretty big deal."