This is the third installment of the 2009 Big 12 Roundtable, a weekly feature during the season. Each week, an SB Nation Big 12 blogger will host the Roundtable and submit a series of questions to all Big 12 bloggers. This week, the Roundtable is being hosted by Clone Chronicles. Listed below are I Am The 12th Man's answers.

1. The Big 12 has looked more unimpressive than impressive thus far.  Do you attribute this to early season struggles, or does the conference look to have regressed from '08? Please explain. 

I think it is fairly obvious that the Big 12 North has pretty much fallen off the map. Colorado, Kansas State, and Iowa State are all the three worst teams in the conference thus far, in that order, and I don't think we are seeing regression from '08 as much as we are seeing the first steps of progress in Manhattan and Ames. Both Kansas State and Iowa State have new coaches (although this is Bill Snyder's second term in the Little Apple), so you're going to see some struggles as the teams adjust to new schemes, new coaches, and new personnel. Iowa State's loss to Iowa wasn't shocking inasmuch as they weren't expected to win, it was just the fact that they were blown out that was so surprising. However, when your starting quarterback throws four interceptions, and the team suffers six turnovers in all, a blowout is going to happen. As strange as it sounds, ISU has a reason to feel a little positive; they only gave up four touchdowns on those six turnovers, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Kansas State's loss to Louisiana-Lafayette was expected; I was upset they didn't have the game on the board at Treasure Island where I was staying in Vegas, because it cost me an attempt to make some money. K-State is still learning Snyder's new offensive scheme, and suffers from a lack of an ability to effectively pass the ball; if you can't pass the ball, you're going to struggle to win some games. Colorado is just suffering from another miserable season under Dan Hawkins; anyone who has watched the Buffaloes the previous three years is used to the disorganization and poor play this Buffs squad is displaying. While Kansas State and Iowa State are adjusting to new coaches, Colorado is showing it is time for them to begin pursuing a new coach.

The Big 12 South has been somewhat predictable, in that texas blew out a patsy on the road in a win over Wyoming, Oklahoma State showed they don't yet have a defense in a loss to Houston at home, and Texas Tech destroyed Rice in Lubbock. Oklahoma State suffering a letdown and falling short against a shootout against Houston wasn't totally unexpected; many people made money off that game in Vegas, including me. The upset loss, however, doesn't make Okie State any less dangerous as a team, it just highlights some areas on offense and defense that need to perform better. Oklahoma had a blowout win over an overmatched Idaho State team; this was another game that we can't tell much from, because Idaho State is a I-AA team, and a poor one at that. As I pointed out to wishiwasalonghorn when we talked on the phone following the game, though, despite Idaho State's 44 yards of total offense for the game, they still didn't lose 77-0. OU will get a more realistic challenge and a chance to see where they are when they play Tulsa this Saturday. texas and Texas Tech will play in what should be an exciting game for both teams as they meet in Austin on Saturday. This will be the first step towards finding out if Tech is to be taken seriously as a contendor in the Big 12 South, or if last season was just an aberration, and if texas actually has the pass rush and secondary to make it an elite defense, capable of competing against the Floridas and USCs of college football. Baylor and Texas A&M had their byes this past weekend, so there is no change in their status.

Overall, Missouri's win over a solid Bowling Green team, Nebraska's blowout win over Arkansas State, and Kansas' convincing win over UTEP showed that the Big 12 North has three teams capable of competing for the division title, while the Big 12 South might have as many as six; we'll need to see the results this weekend to make that determination. Having a possible nine teams competing for division championships is much better than last season, when we only had  four making a run at it in the South, while the North was pretty much the Missouri and Kansas show. The Big 12 North is being dragged down by KSU, ISU, and CU, but that will change with more time under their new coaches, and a coaching change in Boulder. We're seeing more early season struggles overall in the conference than a conference-wide regression from '08, because overall, we have more competitive teams in the conference so far in '09.

2. When looking at our team's schedule, sometimes it's hard to get excited about non-conference portion of the schedule, except for maybe 1 game. In general, are you content with your team's non-conference scheduling? Is there an opponent you'd like to see on a regular basis, that you currently do not?

I am mostly content with our non-conference schedule, mainly because we now have a marquee non-conference games against a BCS opponent in a neutral site in the Arkansas game. I'd love it more if the opponent had been LSU, and the neutral site was in Houston to consolidate our recruiting there, but $Bill didn't want to make that move out of fear of helping LSU too much in recruiting. I guess we aren't worried about giving Arkansas a permanent inroad into Texas and Dallas recruiting with the Southwest Classic? In any case, I think you should schedule one or two bought wins at home, one mid-major somewhat competitive program, and one competitive game against a non-conference BCS opponent you might lose to. With games against Utah State and UAB, we satisfy the first criteria, with a game against UNM we satisfy the second criteria, and our game against Arkansas satisfies the third criteria; I'm happy where we are in scheduling. I do think we should be more reasonable on the ticket pricing in order to attract more fans to these early season games against so-so competition at Kyle Field, but "reasonable" and "ticket prices" are two phrases that don't go together when you are discussing $Bill.

3. Over the years we've seen a fair share of teams lose the week they appear on the SI cover. Does the "SI Curse" exist, is it a coincidence, or is it something that we only take notice of when it rings true (but forget when it does not)? Explain.

I think the 'SI Curse' is more a function of media hype and surging emotions than it is a reality. After a big win for the program that gets a player put on the front cover of a national publication, it isn't surprising that a player or team might feel cocky or overconfident going into the next game, which can lead to a letdown and an upset. People forget sometimes that we're dealing with 18-22 year olds here, and they aren't going to handle everything with the utmost maturity. Mistakes will be made, and sometimes those mistakes will lead to an upset loss. It isn't a function of a curse as much as it is a function of human nature. There is also the fact that the media, in an attempt to sell more magazines or more papers, may not look at the weaknesses of a team too deeply, ignoring the Achilles' heel of a team the week before they are exposed by their opponent. This isn't a curse as much as it is media members displaying their ignorance of football.

4. What is the biggest question your team has to answer heading into Week 3?

Are we capable of dominating two teams we should dominate two games in a row? The first weekend of the season, we showed progress from last season, being suprisingly dominant in a game against New Mexico. If we can play similarly well against Utah State, we will know that the UNM game wasn't a fluke, but a sign of change in attitude in our program, ans a step forward in our progress as a team under Mike Sherman.

5. Choose an Offensive Player of the Week (non-QB to make it a little more interesting) and Defensive Player of the Week from Week 2.  Provide solid arguments for each.

Offensive Player of the Week: Well, the no-QB stipulation eliminates Taylor Potts, who rode the Texas Tech system to 7 TD passes against Rice, so I'll go with one of Potts' targets, wide receiver Tramain Swindall. Coming into the season, Lyle Leong was expected to help replace the production of Michael Crabtree, but Swindall's 6 receptions for 123 yards and 2 TDs gives Tech another weapon for defenses to be aware of. More importantly, he gives someone to punish defenses with if they focus on stopping Leong.

Defense Player of the Week: Maxwell Onyegbule, DE, Kansas

Onyegbule, a senior from Arlington, TX, had 6 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 quarterback hurry, and 1 pass breakup in his game against UTEP last Saturday. That is called "making a difference from the defensive end position", and that is why Onyegbule is my defensive player of the week in the conference.

Marlon William's 6 tackle, 3 TFL, 1 INT, 1 sack peformance for Texas Tech against Rice nearly got my vote, but I didn't want to give both awards to the same team, so Onyegbule beats him out.

6. Big 12 Power Rankings! Rank the teams 1-12 (remember, this is based on power i.e., who would win on a neutral field)

1. texas longhorns
2. Missouri Tigers
3. Oklahoma St Cowboys
4. Oklahoma Sooners
5. Nebraska Cornhuskers
6. Texas Tech Red Raiders
7. Texas A&M Aggies
8. Kansas Jayhawks
9. Baylor Bears
10. Iowa State Cyclones
11. Kansas St Wildcats
12. Colorado Buffaloes