DALLAS -- These days, the Big 12 simply replaces one top-ranked football team with another.

Sounds great, unless you're the coach of the No. 1 team that lost to its biggest rival and now must prepare for the latest in a series of nationally ranked opponents.

Oklahoma's Bob Stoops says the conference is the best it's been in his nine years with the Sooners.

That was probably easy to say after OU fell to fourth with a 45-35 loss to Texas, the new No. 1.

The Big 12 has become a football league of halves -- half the teams are ranked, and the conference fills nearly half of the top 10 nationally.

Missouri fell eight spots to 11th with an upset loss to Oklahoma State, but that's OK. The Cowboys jumped into the top 10 at No. 8. Texas Tech is seventh.

Kansas is No. 16.

Coaches give the credit to the quarterbacks and offenses, which make the national rankings for stats look a little like the polls. Five of the top 11 offenses and six of the top 10 quarterbacks nationally come from the Big 12.

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CAUGHT ON TAPE: Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said it wasn't unusual for him to be focused on the offensive game plan and not watching the game while his defense was on the field in last week's upset of Missouri, as television footage showed.

Gundy says he's always been more focused on the offensive game plan. He says it was noticeable because of the spacious sidelines at Missouri's Faurot Field, as opposed to the cramped quarters at Oklahoma State's Boone Pickens Stadium.

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COLT AND CHASE: Missouri coach Gary Pinkel praised the toughness of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy after the junior engineered the upset of Oklahoma.

It probably reminded him of his own leader, senior Chase Daniel. The two products of Texas high school football will face each other for the first time Saturday in Austin.

McCoy starred for Class 2A Tuscola Jim Ned, while Daniel played in the high school spotlight at Southlake Carroll, the best team in the state's biggest classification (5A) for most of this decade.

Then again, that's just the beginning of Texas schoolboy battles for McCoy, Longhorns coach Mack Brown noted.

In two weeks, McCoy will be gearing up to face Texas Tech's Graham Harrell (Ennis) again. Then it'll be a pair of Austin-area products in Baylor freshman sensation Robert Griffin (Copperas Cove) and Kansas' Todd Reesing (Lake Travis).

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BULLISH ON THE BEARS: Baylor coach Art Briles said his Bears "are past that" when it comes to creating a winning mind-set. Their latest step in that direction was Saturday's victory against Iowa State.

When talk turned to the league's strength, Briles made it clear where he wants the program to go.

Briles says instead of being a looker, the Bears need to be looked at.

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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Texas took two of the three player of the week awards with quarterback Colt McCoy (offense) and receiver/kick returner Jordan Shipley (special teams). The winner on defense was Oklahoma State linebacker Andre Sexton.

McCoy was 28-of-35 passing for 277 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions in Texas' 45-35 victory against Oklahoma. Shipley caught 11 passes for 112 yards and a score and had a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the longest ever for the Longhorns against the Sooners.

Sexton had 13 tackles and an interception that he returned 39 yards.