Welcome to the 2011 college football season! BCS Know How will be taking you through the six automatic-qualifying BCS conferences and five non-AQ conferences with profiles of each conference. We continue with the Big 12. Scroll down to see our profiles of the other 10 conferences.

Conference: Big 12 Conference (Big 12)

Active Since: 1996

Current Member Schools: Iowa State Cyclones, Kansas State Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Missouri Tigers, Baylor Bears, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Longhorns. (10)

Bowl Affiliations: Fiesta Bowl (BCS), Holiday Bowl, Alamo Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Insight Bowl, Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl, Cotton Bowl. (7)

2010 Results:
Conference Champion – Oklahoma
Conference Runner-up – Nebraska
BCS Bowl Results: 2011 Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma 48 vs. Connecticut 20
Overall Bowl Record: 3-5
Heisman Vote Recipients: Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon (Fifth Overall)

2011 Outlook: With conferences adding and shuffling teams left and right, the Big 12 seems to have been left behind and somewhat forgotten.

A conference with just 10 teams (although they kept the ‘Big 12′ moniker) might seem destined to fall back into the second-tier of automatically qualifying BCS conferences, but the Big 12 seems ready to pick up right where they left off as a BCS power conference.

In the process, the Big 12 is now a single-division conference and no longer will hold its traditional conference championship game.

Gone might be Nebraska (to the Big Ten) and Colorado (to the Pac-12) but traditional powers Oklahoma and Texas are ready to lead a stacked 10-team conference into the future.

But who will stand up in 2011? Could it be one of those traditional Big 12 powers, or can Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Missouri show what it takes to make the next step in the smaller conference?

2011 Heisman Hopefuls: Oklahoma QB Landry Jones; Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon, Baylor QB Robert Griffin, Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez.

BCS Know How’s 2011 Predictions:
Conference Champion – Oklahoma Sooners
Conference Runner-up – Oklahoma State Cowboys
BCS bids – One: Oklahoma – BCS National Championship Game
Heisman Finalists – Oklahoma QB Landry Jones

Welcome to the 2011 college football season! BCS Know How will be taking you through the six automatic-qualifying BCS conferences and five non-AQ conferences with profiles of each conference. We continue with the Big Ten. Scroll down to see our profiles of the other 10 conferences.

Conference: Big Ten Conference (Big Ten)

Active Since: 1896

Current Member Schools:

Leaders Division: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Michigan Wolverines, Iowa Hawkeyes, Northwestern Wildcats, Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota Golden Gophers
Legends Division: Illinois Fighting Illini, Indiana Hoosiers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions, Purdue Boilermakers, Wisconsin Badgers.

Bowl Affiliations: Rose Bowl (BCS), Little Caesars Bowl, Insight Bowl, Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl, TicketCity Bowl, Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Gator Bowl. (8)

2010 Results:
Conference Champion – Wisconsin
Conference Runner-up – Ohio State/Michigan State
BCS Bowl Results: 2011 Rose Bowl – TCU 21 vs. Wisconsin 19; 2011 Sugar Bowl – Ohio State 31 vs. Arkansas 26 (Vacated)
Overall Bowl Record: 3-5 (Ohio State’s victory was later vacated)
Heisman Vote Recipients: Michigan QB Denard Robinson (Sixth Overall)

2011 Outlook: If you were to ask a college football pundit to describe the Big Ten’s offseason in a single word, some variation of the word “tumultuous” would likely come up.

That’s what conference realignment, NCAA violations and coaching changes will bring you.

But with a newly redesigned conference (and logo) the 12-team Big Ten seems ready to move on, and move on with what they know how to do best — play some hard-nosed football.

Wisconsin, who surprised some with their Rose Bowl run last season, returns with an opportunity to stake their claim as a true power in the new conference, while teams like Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Penn State look to return to BCS glory of the past.

Ohio State will look to move past the off-season turmoil, and work toward the new Big Ten Conference Championship Game — possible because of the conference’s expansion to 12 teams.

The conference’s new power, Nebraska, will look to make a big statement in its first year in the conference while trying to fight off the best the “Leaders” and “Legends” have to offer to the Huskers.

2011 Heisman Hopefuls: Michigan QB Denard Robinson, Wisconsin RB James White, Wisconsin RB Monte Ball, Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins

BCS Know How’s 2011 Predictions:
Conference Champion – Wisconsin Badgers
Conference Runner-up – Michigan State Spartans
BCS bids – One: Wisconsin – Rose Bowl
Heisman Finalists – None

Welcome to the 2011 college football season! BCS Know How will be taking you through the six automatic-qualifying BCS conferences and five non-AQ conferences with profiles of each conference. We continue with the Big East. Scroll down to see our profiles of the other 10 conferences.

Conference: Big East Conference (Big East)

Active Since: 1979

Current Member Schools: Cincinnati Bearcats, Connecticut Huskies, Louisville Cardinals, Pittsburgh Panthers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Syracuse Orange, South Florida Bulls, West Virginia Mountaineers. (8)

Bowl Affiliations: BCS Bowl Bid, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl, Belk Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, New Era Pinstripe Bowl, BBVA Compass Bowl. (7)

2010 Results:
Conference Champion – Connecticut
Conference Runner-up – West Virginia
BCS Bowl Result – 2010 Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma 48 vs. Connecticut 20
Overall Bowl Record: 4-2

2011 Outlook: The Big East has taken a back seat to many of the other automatic qualifying conferences these past few years, and with turmoil, overhaul and unpredictability characterizing the Big East’s off-season, we might see more of the same this year.

Last year’s surprise Big East BCS bid went to Connecticut, but after losing their coach and their star players, nothing is guaranteed to the Huskies.

West Virginia saw turmoil matched only by that of Ohio State’s this off-season, and the traditional Big East power might have trouble re-acclimating themselves to the football landscape.

Could all of that open the doors for recently dormant Pittsburgh or Cincinnati? Or could unheralded USF or Syracuse take advantage?

2011 Heisman Hopefuls: West Virginia QB Geno Smith

BCS Know How’s 2011 Predictions:
Conference Champion – South Florida Bulls
Conference Runner-up – West Virginia Mountaineers
BCS bids – One: South Florida Bulls – Orange Bowl
Heisman Finalists – None

The Big Ten will welcome its 12th (yes, 12th) member Friday in the Nebraska Cornhuskers, marking the official start of the newly reorganized and restructured power conference.

Nebraska will join the conference after leaving the Big 12, which the university had called home since 1996.

The planned move was agreed upon in June 2010, but the school played out the 2010 season as part of the Big 12.

The addition of a 12th team allows the Big Ten conference to hold a college football conference championship game and for the conference to break into two divisions.

The divisions are as follows:

Leaders		Legends
	Illinois Fighting Illini		Iowa Hawkeyes
	Indiana Hoosiers		Michigan Wolverines
	Ohio State Buckeyes		Michigan State Spartans
	Penn State Nittany Lions		Minnesota Golden Gophers
	Purdue Boilermakers		Northwestern Wildcats
	Wisconsin Badgers		Nebraska Cornhuskers

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The regular season champions of the Leaders and Legends divisions will play in the inaugural Big Ten Conference Championship Game, which will be played December 3, 2011 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy will be given to the winner of the game.

The winner of the game will also be guaranteed a spot among one of the five BCS Bowls, as part of the Big Ten Conference’s automatic agreement with the BCS.

With the release of tonight’s BCS standings, the Oklahoma Sooners have officially claimed the Big 12 South title, and will play next weekend against Nebraska for the Big 12′s automatic BCS bowl bid.

After Saturday’s results, the Big 12 South had a three-way tie atop its ranks, with Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M all tied at 6-2 in conference play.

The tiebreaker in the situation came down to BCS standings — the highest ranked team in today’s BCS standings would be the South’s representative in Cowboys Stadium next weekend.

A clause added this year added some intrigue — if the top two teams had been separated by one spot in today’s BCS rankings, the head-to-head result of the two teams’ game would be used to break that secondary tie — however Oklahoma was more than a spot clear of both teams at No. 9.

Oklahoma State (BCS No. 14) and Texas A&M (No. 18)  will now await their postseason fate at home, with the Cowboys holding out slight hope for a BCS bowl bid and the Aggies likely headed to a high quality Big 12 bowl game, such as the Holiday or Insight Bowls.

With Oklahoma’s victory over Oklahoma State in the Bedlam game, the Sooners, Cowboys and Texas A&M have tied atop the Big 12 South.

With the three-way tie, the tiebreaker that will be enacted will be the BCS rankings. The highest ranking team among the three 6-2 teams will be awarded a berth in the Big 12 Championship Game against Nebraska to be held next weekend.

The Sooners are in the best position to claim the upper hand in the tiebreaker, as they beat the one team ahead of them — Oklahoma State — and were well clear of Texas A&M in last weekend’s BCS standings.

Next weekend’s edition of the Big 12 championship game will be the final edition, as both Colorado and Nebraska will be leaving the conference next season.

With Wisconsin’s blowout 70-23 victory over Northwestern on Saturday afternoon, the Big Ten’s conference title will officially be split between the Michigan State Spartans, Wisconsin Badgers and Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Badgers’ victory followed a 37-7 victory by Ohio State over Michigan and a 28-22 Michigan State win over Penn State. All three teams finish the season at 11-1 overall and 7-1 in conference.

Although all three will be credited with a Big Ten conference championship for this year, only one can be named to the Rose Bowl as the “Big Ten Champion” and that tie will be broken by the BCS standings.

The team which finishes the season ranked as the highest team among the three in the final BCS standings will be given the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the Rose Bowl.

Last weekend, Wisconsin was the highest ranked among the three teams at No. 7. Ohio State was right behind the Badgers at No. 8 and Michigan State was at No. 10.

With a few losses by top teams this weekend, the BCS standings are sure to shuffle at least slightly tomorrow, which will likely give us the clearest picture of which team will be on top come the final BCS standings.

Wisconsin seems to be in the driver’s seat for the bid, however all three teams will be powerless to change their fortunes as all three are done with their seasons, and will only be able to watch the final BCS release to know their final fate.

With their 45-17 victory over Colorado on Friday night, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have clinched a spot in next weekend’s Big 12 Championship Game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The Cornhuskers leaped out to a 17-3 halftime lead over the Buffaloes at home and did not look back, finishing off Colorado with a balanced attack throughout the game — outscoring the Buffs 28-10 in the second half.

With the victory, the Cornhuskers eliminated the Missouri Tigers in the Big 12 North race, rendering the Tigers’ meeting with Kansas on Saturday meaningless in the division race.

This will be Nebraska’s second-straight berth in the Big 12 Championship Game, following last year’s classic in which the ‘Huskers lost a heart-breaker, 13-12 to the Texas Longhorns.

Nebraska will now await the result of tomorrow’s Bedlam game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, which will likely decide their opponent in next weekend’s Big 12 title game.

If Oklahoma State wins, they will win the Big 12 South outright. With an Oklahoma win, a logjam at 6-2 in-conference would be created at the top of the South division, which would leave the decision to the BCS standings.

Despite the possibilities that the BCS standings tiebreaker method create, it is likely that Oklahoma would still be in the best position to win the South’s bid to the Big 12 title game.

Big Ten

Conference Leader: Wisconsin (10-1, 6-1)

Lurking: Ohio State (10-1, 6-1)

Game of Last Week: Ohio State 20 vs. Iowa 17. The Buckeyes struggled, but they did just enough to stay alive in the three-team Big Ten title race, that will likely come down to positioning in the BCS standings.

Game of Next Week: Ohio State vs. Michigan. Ohio State will need some help to claim the Big Ten title, but a victory in their traditional rivalry game with the Wolverines is as important as ever.

Bowl Eligible Teams: Michigan State Spartans, Ohio State Buckeyes, Wisconsin Badgers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Northwestern Wildcats, Michigan Wolverines, Penn State Nittany Lions, Illinois Fighting Illini.

Big 12

Conference Leaders: Nebraska (9-2, 5-2; North Division) and Oklahoma State (10-1, 6-1; South Division)

Lurking: Missouri (9-2, 5-2; North Division) and Oklahoma (9-2, 5-2; South Division)

Game of Last Week: Texas A&M 9 vs. Nebraska 6. A victory here would have given the Cornhuskers the North title, instead the Aggie victory opened both division races and left it to the final weekend to decide who will fight for the Big 12′s BCS bid.

Game of Next Week: Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State. Bedlam will have an extra important feel this year, as a victory for the Cowboys would give them the Big 12 South title, while an Oklahoma victory would likely give the Sooners that crown — by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker.

Bowl Eligible Teams: Missouri Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Baylor Bears, Kansas State Wildcats, Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Big East

Conference Leader: Pittsburgh (6-4, 4-1)

Lurking: Connecticut (6-4, 3-2)

Game of Last Week: Pittsburgh 17 vs. South Florida 10. If the Bulls could have won on Saturday, they would have had a surprisingly good shot at the Big East title, but a Panther victory ended most of those hopes while keeping Pitt a game clear of the rest of the Big East race.

Game of Next Week: West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh. The Backyard Brawl has added meaning as a victory for Pittsburgh would help them get to the BCS, while a West Virginia victory could spell a variety of possible Big East conference champions.

Bowl Eligible Teams: Syracuse Orange, South Florida Bulls, West Virginia Mountaineers, Connecticut Huskies, Pittsburgh Panthers.

Big Ten

Conference Leader: Wisconsin (9-1, 5-1)

Lurking: Michigan State (9-1, 5-1)

Game of Last Week: Northwestern 21 vs. Iowa 17. A last minute drive — which would prove to be his last of the season — engineered by Wildcat quarterback Dan Persa gave Northwestern the upset victory, their fifth win over Iowa in six tries.

Game of Next Week: Ohio State vs. Iowa. The game has slightly less importance after Iowa’s loss to Northwestern, but the test will be just as still for the Buckeyes in Iowa City.

Bowl Eligible Teams: Michigan State Spartans, Ohio State Buckeyes, Wisconsin Badgers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Northwestern Wildcats, Michigan Wolverines, Penn State Nittany Lions.

Big 12

Conference Leaders: Nebraska (9-1, 5-1; North Division) and Oklahoma State (9-1, 5-1; South Division)

Lurking: Missouri (8-2, 4-2; North Division) and Texas A&M (7-3, 4-2; South Division)

Game of Last Week: Texas A&M 42 vs. Baylor 30. A meeting between two surprise contenders in the Big 12 conference proved to be an affirmation of the Aggies victory over Oklahoma the week before.

Game of Next Week: Nebraska vs. Texas A&M. A victory here would assure Nebraska of the Big 12 North title and a berth in the Big 12 Championship Game, while a victory for the Aggies would keep them in the race for the South.

Bowl Eligible Teams: Missouri Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Baylor Bears, Kansas State Wildcats, Texas A&M Aggies.

Big East

Conference Leader: Pittsburgh (5-4, 3-1)

Lurking: Syracuse (7-3, 4-2)

Game of Last Week: Connecticut 30 vs. Pittsburgh 28. UConn running back Johnathan Todman ran for 222 yards and the Huskies converted a fourth down in their own territory to give the Panthers their first Big East loss and reopen the Big East title race.

Game of Next Week: Connecticut vs. Syracuse. Although no game seems to be a “knockout game” in the Big East race this year, victories by either team would certainly help their aspirations for a Big East conference title.

Bowl Eligible Teams: Syracuse Orange, South Florida Bulls, West Virginia Mountaineers.