"We just circled the wagons," said Brown, using an old but functional cliche. "We have some young guys who have been growing up on defense...and we stopped listening to outside sources and just went to work. We just stepped up." [Inside Texas]
Texas is No. 15 in the BCS rankings. [Dallas Morning News]
Women's track and field coach Beverly Kearney on paid leaving pending a review of the program. [ESPN]
Around the Big 12
When you are getting buried, just stop digging. [Times West Virginia]
Are the Mountaineers having player issues? [WV Metro News]
Kansas State is in charge of their own destiny. [Sporting News]
The Sooner D was more lucky than good. [Crimson and Cream Machine]
Yes, but check back after the season. Gary Patterson absolutely, positively denies any rumors about Arkansas. [SB Nation]
Tubbergate continues [Sporting News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal] and the Big 12 Commish is looking into things. [ESPN]
The infamous head slap has now been gifed. [SB Nation]
Why even go here? [Dallas Morning News]
Open Range
Just in case your Tuesday wasn't bland enough. A day in the life of NCAA President Mark Emmert.
FYI.
ESPN is close to securing media rights for the entire college football playoff system, with industry sources pegging the new 12-year BCS package at $500M a year. That means ESPN would own college football's postseason for a total of $7.3B over 12 years, beginning with the '14 season. [Sports Business Daily]
Conference commissioners are working diligently on that college football playoff. [SI]
Embrace it! BCS chaos. [Saturday Morning Quarterback]
The "November Surprise" has changed everything. [CBS Sports]
This is not the Aggie team we know [ESPN Big 12 Blog] and it is now A&M's world. [CBS Sports]
Another in the series of Aggies being Aggies. [Lost Lettermen]
Bowl predictions, anyone? [SI]
Is Alabama's program in decline? [SI]
Is the SEC in decline? [CBS Sports]
But wait... This is the BCS. Anything screwy can, and most likely will, happen. [CBS Sports]
Were you aware that ESPN had an ombudsman, of sorts? [ESPN]
Let's be magnanimous today. Let's give highly dubious Lane Kiffin the benefit of the doubt.
Let's take the USC football coach at his word – that in no way, shape or form did he encourage or condone a student manager deflating footballs before or during the Trojans' game against Oregon on Saturday. That this "rogue manager" simply dreamed up the idea himself to let air out of the six footballs USC used when it was on offense against the Ducks. That this kid, in a low-man-on-the-totem-pole job – and a job in which following orders is a highly prized attribute – would make a unilateral decision to monkey with the rules of the game and try to give his team a competitive advantage completely on his own.
Everything you suspected about ESPN's love of Tim Tebow is true. [Deadspin]
Just another day in the life of Lane Kiffin. [Yahoo Sports]
Most hated college football coaches as James Bond villans. [Lost Lettermen]
And finally...
Just why aren't you happy? An associate professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business studies happiness. [Texas Enterprise]