Rating the 2012 Non-Conference Slate: Big 12

And now the place where non-conference scheduling goes to die, the Big 12.

1. Oklahoma (0.75 legit, 1 FCS): @Texas El-Paso, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical, Notre Dame. To be fair, though, Oklahoma has scheduled some legitimate opponents over the past decade. Perhaps this year is just a well-deserved break? Or perhaps a sign of things to come with a 9-game conference schedule?
2. Iowa State (0.75, 1): Tulsa, @Iowa, Western Illinois. It's always amusing when Iowa State beats Iowa. Especially since now we'll get the inevitable post-game video with the very, um, enthusiastic Paul Rhodes.
3. Kansas State (0.5, 1): Missouri State, Miami, North Texas. Playing "da U" just isn't what it used to be. Nonetheless, this is a tough slate by Bill Synder standards.
4. Texas Christian (0.5, 1): Grambling State, Virginia, @Southern Methodist. There's no equivalent of Baylor circa last year on this list, but that's okay for the Horned Frogs for their first year in a major conference since the dissolution of the Southwest Conference. I guess the game at cross-town rival SMU is for told time's sake?
5. Texas (0.25, 0): Wyoming, New Mexico, @Mississippi. Texas also usually schedules well. This year is not usually, it seems. Nonetheless, the game in Oxford does provide some intrigue.
6. Oklahoma State (0.25, 1): Savannah State, @Arizona, Louisiana-Lafayette. I don't really have any great insights, rhetorical questions, or other observations about this slate.
7. West Virginia (0, 1): Marshall, N-James Madison, Maryland. West Virginia stays local in what I can guess is an attempt to make up for the travel they're going to have to do otherwise. Also, neutral site games with FCS schools? That's a new one. Also: how many points will WVU score on a Maryland team that can optimistically be described as "moribund"? My guess: a lot.
8. Baylor (0, 1): Southern Methodist, Sam Houston State, @Louisiana-Monroe. If I'm counting Texas full-FBS schools correctly, the only Texas schools Baylor won't play this year are Houston and Rice. Oh, and North Texas. And UTEP. Okay, well, let's limit it to just former members of the SWC then. Yeah, that's the ticket.
9. Kansas (0, 1): South Dakota State, Rice, @Northern Illinois. Speaking of Rice, well, Kansas will be doing to win two of these games.
10. Texas Tech (0, 1.5): Northwestern State, @Texas State, New Mexico. And Texas Tech is again a front runner to awful scheduling, barely getting off the hook because Texas State is transitional. Then again, they scheduled a game at San Marcos. Though even by Texas standards I guess San Marcos qualifies as being less in the middle-of-nowhere than Lubbock does.

Next up, we follow the advice of Horace Greely and go even further west. Stay tuned!