in the form of growing exposure and revenues for the league

One weekend has already changed the tone of the Big 12.Oklahoma went into this season as the overwhelming favorite to win its 10th Big 12 Conference title, and the Sooners very well might still be that with all the talent back from last seasons College Football Playoff team.But after a fast start against Houston, quarterback Baker Mayfield , running back Samaje Perine and Co. wound up with a 10-point loss to a team from outside the Power Five conferences that shot past them in the new AP Top 25 poll.While still a few weeks from starting conference play, the Sooners have little room for error if they want to return to the four-team playoff. For now, they arent even the highest-ranked Big 12 team.Neither is TCU, which at 24-3 since the start of the 2014 has the best overall record in the 10-team Big 12, the only conference able to tout having half of its teams ranked. But the Horned Frogs had their own issues in scuffling to a victory over an FCS team.Texas is tops among ranked Big 12 teams after rocketing from unranked for more than two full seasons to No. 11 this week after its 50-47 double-overtime win over then-No. 10 Notre Dame, which in last seasons opener beat the Longhorns by five touchdowns.One game doesnt make a season. We know were still rebuilding, said coach Charlie Strong, coming off back-to-back losing seasons to start his tenure with the Longhorns. Youre just hoping this cant be a one-night wonder, and it wont be.The first part of Strongs statement is also applicable to the Sooners, who plummeted from their preseason ranking of third to No. 14 this week. They are a spot ahead of TCU, which slipped two to 15th after a 59-41 win over South Dakota State in a game that was tied midway through the third quarter.Weve got a long season ahead of us, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. Our guys are very aware of that.They also have, no doubt, the toughest non-conference schedule in the Big 12. After the Sooners play their home opener Saturday as six-TD favorites over Louisiana-Monroe, fourth-ranked Ohio State will visit Norman the following week.Overall, the Big 12 went 7-3 on the opening weekend, when even Kansas won to break a 15-game skid dating to November 2014. The only losers other than Oklahoma were Kansas State at top-10 Stanford and Iowa State in its debut for coach Matt Campbell against Northern Iowa.Last season, Oklahoma won the Big 12 title and, even with a loss, became the leagues first CFP team. That setback was to Texas, which went into the Red River rivalry game as a double-digit underdog coming off a 43-point loss at TCU. The years game at the State Fair of Texas is Oct. 1.Oklahoma then scored at least 52 points in four consecutive games, part of a seven-game winning streak before losing to Clemson in the CFP semifinal game at the Orange Bowl.The Sooners probably cant lose again if there is any chance of getting back into the CFP that hasnt had a two-loss team in its brief history. And that could be a tough task with Ohio State and the round-robin Big 12 schedule left to play. Since becoming a 10-team league in 2011, the Big 12 champion has had an 8-1 conference record each season. Oklahomas last six titles included a conference loss.Texas, which still has a non-conference game at Pac-12 team California, stays home to play UTEP a week after a record attendance of 102,315 for the opener against Notre Dame, along with a massive national audience watching on television and online.You always talk about good people that believe in you. You have to give them a reason to believe in you, Strong said. Winning that (Notre Dame) game, it took us at least a step forward instead of going backward.---Online: AP College Football website www.collegefootball.ap.org Yeezy Boost 350 Outlet . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. Yeezy Wholesale Authentic . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. http://www.cheapyeezy350sale.com/yeezy-boost-350/yeezy-350-black.html . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Cheap Yeezy 350 Mens . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. Cheap Yeezy 350 Womens . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. With 1:14 to go in overtime, Davis sixth block also became his 17th rebound. That, along with his 32 points -- which tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to overcome, and the Pelicans held on for their third straight victory, 111-107 on Sunday night. NEW ORLEANS -- Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson wont rule out Big 12 expansion plans affecting his own conference.Still, Benson called the Sun Belts planned membership perfect in terms of geography, and he stressed that he envisions a period of stability in which member institutions will enjoy budding regional rivalries and see their football programs prosper.I truly hope that we can focus on 2016, what we know, what we can control, what we can achieve -- and not get bogged down in speculation and rumors about conference membership, Benson said Monday in his state-of-the-Sun Belt address at the conferences annual preseason football media day. Obviously, if the Big 12 or SEC or ACC made that phone call to a Sun Belt president or chancellor, he or she would be foolish not to have that discussion.However, Ive said more than once that I will know that the Sun Belt has reached a level of sustainability and stability when a phone call comes from the president or chancellor of one of the Sun Belts peer conferences to a Sun Belt president or chancellor, and the answer will be, Thank you very much, but my university is very happy where we are. Thats exactly where I believe the Sun Belt is today.Football-only members Idaho and New Mexico State are leaving the Sun Belt after 2017. Coastal Carolina, now in transition from the NCAAs Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision, becomes a full football member in 2018. At that point, the Sun Belt will have 10 teams in seven Southern states: Alabama (South Alabama and Troy), Arkansas (Arkansas State), Georgia (Georgia Southern and Georgia State), Louisiana (Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe), North Carolina (Appalachian State), South Carolina (Coastal Carolina) and Texas (Texas State).All you have to do is look at the map, Benson said. Its perfect, it works and we believe in long run it will allow the Sun Belt to grow and thrive and prosper.Stability is something the Sun Belt, now entering its 16th season as a Division I FBS conference, hasnt had in a while. Five teams -- North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Florida International, Florida Atlantic and Western Kentucky -- have left the Sun Belt since 2013. Since then, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State have joined, while longtime member South Alabama moved up to FBS in football and Coastal Carolina joined with its football upgrade now in progress.But Benson hopes the Sun Belt will begin a new era of stability by 2018, when the league aalso will host its inaugural championship game.ddddddddddddenson has said the conference likely would be split into two five-team divisions, with each division winner meeting in the title game. But as of Monday, he said the conference still has not decided whether it wants to go that route, or simply have every team play once -- meaning nine league games -- with the top two meeting in what would be a rematch for the championship. The difficulty with the latter option is that it would limit teams to three non-league games.Without finalizing it, it appears that we would be headed toward the divisions just because we have so many game contracts that go beyond 2018 that call for a fourth non-conference games, Benson said. If we made the decision to eventually go to a single division and play nine conference games, it would take several years to phase that in.This season, the Sun Belt will have tie-ins to five bowl games, with the newest being the Arizona Bowl in Tucson. The league also has agreements with the New Orleans, GoDaddy (Mobile, Alabama), Camellia (Montgomery, Alabama) and Cure (Orlando, Florida) bowls.Benson applauded member institutions for financial commitments in the form of stadium and practice facility improvements in recent years, and said those investments have paid off in the form of growing exposure and revenues for the league.While stopping short of getting into specifics, Benson said Sun Belt revenues have increased tenfold in the past three years, meaning that member institutions now receive distributions exceeding $1 million annually from the league.Benson also reaffirmed his commitment to a strategy he stressed a year ago of scheduling fewer non-conference games against BCS programs and more against peer conferences, even though that path effectively reduces individual programs revenues by cutting back on the number of big paydays they could get from playing at BCS schools.This season, the Sun Belt is reducing BCS opponents by two while playing two more non-league games against similar mid-major programs.That strategy is working, Benson said. Thats the model, thats the non-conference strategy that we need, to allow our football programs and our student athletes an opportunity to succeed, an opportunity to achieve, an opportunity to rise in standings, rise in the polls.---AP College Football: http://collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '