NCAA Football texas a&m Aggies

There is nothing new about Bob Stoops matching coaching wits with old mentor and boss Bill Snyder. They've done plenty of that over the years in Big 12 cross-divisional play.

But that doesn't mean Stoops isn't a little surprised to see Snyder, 70, back on the Wildcats sideline. The longtime Kansas State coach retired four years ago to pursue opportunities outside coaching, but was lured out of retirement last winter.

Stoops, whose 22nd-ranked Sooners host the Wildcats on Saturday, admits it's a little unexpected to be going up against his old boss again, but he was stunned when Snyder was no longer there, too.

It's just three weeks into the full-swing of Big 12 play but the North Division is looking like any of the six teams could win the race.

That doesn't necessarily bode well at all for the weaker half of the two-division league.

Nebraska and Kansas came into the season as the presumed favorites to represent the North, but after two weeks of inconsistent play neither seems as powerful. The same can be said for two-time North champion Missouri, which started the season a surprising 4-0, but has dropped its first two games of the Big 12 season.

Former Texas A&M assistant and ex-Green Bay coach Mike Sherman returned to the Aggies nearly two years ago vowing to restore Aggie pride, dignity and accountability to the once proud program.

But in less than two complete seasons, Sherman doesn't seem close to his promise.

This will certainly be a tough week in Aggieland after A&M fell asleep against Kansas State and did not wake up until the mediocre Wildcats had pulled off a 66-14 rout in Manhattan, Kan., Saturday. And as crazy as it sounds, the score wasn't anywhere as close as it appears.

It's not like Texas and Oklahoma ever needed a reason to make their annual Red River Rivalry game in Dallas any more intense.

The tradition of the two programs, the bordering states and the fight for superiority in fertile recruiting ground of Texas use to be enough. Who knew this early season game would take on so much more meaning when both teams joined the Big 12 in 1996?

This game has become about so much more than school pride and bragging rights, as one of these two teams has won the South each of the last 10 years, and it has sometimes set the stage for the national championship picture.

We all knew the Kansas Jayhawks offense had a chance to be lethal this season with quarterback Todd Reesing and wide receivers Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier setting the pace.

Well, the trio took it to a ridiculous level Saturday as the receivers bested each other during the Jayhawks' 41-31 win over Iowa State. First Briscoe set the school record for career receptions, then Meier jumped ahead of him. Meier, a converted quarterback, has 167 career catches while Briscoe sits at 165 after making 12 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns Saturday.

Maybe it's premature to start trumpeting the return of the Big 12 North, but if the non-conference success of the big-three North teams is any indication this could be an interesting season.

Nebraska and Kansas were expected to dominate the weaker of the league's two divisions, but it appears they will have company. Missouri, which is supposed to be in a rebuilding mode after back-to-back North titles, is off to a surprising 4-0 start that catapulted the program into the Top 25 this week at No. 24.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- It didn't seem to make sense for Texas A&M to have starting quarterback Jerrod Johnson still in the game late in fourth quarter with Arkansas well on the way to a 47-17 win Saturday night the Cowboys Stadium.

So imagine the concerned looks on the Aggies sideline when Johnson took a hard blindsided hit from Tenarius Wright that caused a fumble to pop out in Arkansas territory on the final real play of the game. Johnson stayed on the ground for a moment before popping back up.

Afterward, A&M coach Mike Sherman even questioned himself for leaving Johnson in so long.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- By no means had Texas A&M been as perfect this season as its 3-0 record coming into Saturday night's Southwest Classic against Arkansas might suggest.

It's just that the Aggies hadn't come up on a team strong enough to make them pay for their flaws.

But that changed Saturday night in front of an evenly divided crowd of 71,872 fans at the new Cowboys Stadium. The Razorbacks, a so-so SEC team, punished A&M for every misstep on the way to a 47-19 rout during the renewal of an old Southwest Conference rivalry.

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ARLINGTON, Texas -- It might have seemed like the Texas A&M Aggies had come a long way in their first three games this season against a mediocre group.

Well, facing a middle-of-the-pact SEC team in Arkansas, the Aggies found out how far they still have to go to return to respectability as the Razorbacks ran away with a 47-19 win in front of 71,872 fans at the Cowboys Stadium on Saturday night.

After jumping out to a surprising 10-0 lead in the first quarter, the Aggies received a reality check as quarterback Ryan Mallett and the Razorbacks scored the next 30 points in the opening half and never looked back.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- After a bumpy start to the Mike Sherman era at Texas A&M last season, the Aggies are off to a surprising 3-0 start to begin the season.

But after running through lightweights New Mexico, Utah State and Alabama-Birmingham, we will find just how real the Aggies are tonight when they face their first real test against Arkansas in a battle of old Southwest Conference rivals at Jerry Jones' new Cowboys Stadium.