LITTLE-KNOWN FACT: Lincoln, Neb., officials claim their city developed and implemented the nationwide 911 emergency telephone system.

Widely-circulated rumor: The 911 system in Lincoln, Neb., nearly failed last Saturday under the weight of a record number of calls as the hometown football team and state icon, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, was being embarrassed at Missouri, 41-6.

Take heart, Children of the Corn. There are a whole lot of college football fans around the nation who have added 911 to their speed dial in recent weeks.

We've reached the midway point of what has been a bizarre 2007 season. And no where has it been any stranger than around the Big 12 Conference, where perennial powerhouse Texas finds itself tied for last in the South Division at 0-2 with perennial cellar dweller, Baylor.

And while Texas A&M leads the South Division at 2-0, head coach Dennis Franchione is in deep doo-doo after it was revealed he was selling a secretive, insider-information newsletter to big-money boosters. While Franchione may have violated NCAA rules, he definitely ticked off athletic director Bill Byrne, who didn't know about the letter.

Mike Gundy is only in his third year at Oklahoma State. But even if he works another 30 seasons and enjoys huge success, Gundy's head-coaching career will forever be remembered for his out-of-control, screaming tirade at a sportswriter following OSU's biggest win of the season, a 49-45 comeback victory over Texas Tech.

And speaking of Tech, Red Raiders' coach Mike Leach will work the rest of the season with a broken arm after falling off his bicycle (honest). This is nothing new for the eccentric Leach, who once was hospitalized after developing severe shin splints while rollerblading in California when he was supposed to be on a recruiting trip for Oklahoma when he was the Sooners' offensive coordinator.

It was also Leach who booted de fensive coordinator Lyle Setencich one day after that loss at OSU. Officially, Setencich "resigned," but he was fired.

Setencich was the first Big 12 coach to be canned this season, but he won't be the last. Which brings us to Saturday, as the season's second half gets under way with some interesting games around the conference.

There's plenty of intrigue with almost every game. Missouri at OU, Colorado at Kansas State, A&M at Tech and OSU at Nebraska have oodles of storylines. You can even find plenty of interesting reasons to watch Texas at Iowa State and Baylor at Kansas.

As mentioned, it almost seems a certainty that Franchione won't be back in 2008. Other head coaches who have already made the seats in their offices hot include Baylor's Guy Morris and Nebraska's Bill Callahan.

It's no surprise Baylor fans booed the Bears after last Saturday's 43-23 home loss to Colorado. But in another sign of this season's weirdness, Nebraska fans are booing. Athletic director Steve Pederson said he knows the reason for the catcalls as the Huskers barely survived Ball State at home, 41-40.

"We understand the (fans') frustrations," Pederson said on his weekly radio show.

Nowhere in the Big 12 has the season been more surreal to this point than Nebraska. It's that type of situation OSU will walk into today when the Cowboys take on the Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium.

Nebraska's fiercely loyal fans wouldn't publicly acknowledge it, but privately thousands of them wouldn't mind if OSU wins if it helps speed up the exit of both Callahan and Pederson.

"This the most fan anger and turmoil I have seen up here in my lifetime," one veteran Nebraska sportswriter told me this week. "And 99 percent of it is directed at Pederson."

Pederson, of course, fired coach Frank Solich and hired Callahan after an embarrassing coaching search that included at least three people turning down what was one of the nation's most-coveted jobs.

The unrest in Nebraska has reached the point that knowledgeable Husker fans, which means all of them in the football savvy state, know the Huskers are fortunate to be 4-2 instead of 2-4. In addition to escaping Ball State's upset, Nebraska had to rally to win 20-17 at Wake Forest against a Demon Deacons team that was using its second-team quarterback.

At the Big 12 media days in July, Callahan said he didn't think much of the preseason media poll, which predicted Missouri would win the North Division.

"I don't agree with it," said Callahan, who may have changed his mind after last week's 35-point shel lacking from the Tigers. "I love our football team, and I think they're capable of doing some great things."

Of course, it was "Gabby" Gundy who said this at those same Big 12 media days: "We believe we can have a special year. We believe we can win every game."

Chances of greatness are gone at Nebraska. And Gundy's hopes for an undefeated season ended in the season opener at Georgia.

Gundy's job security remains solid. But at Nebraska, many supporters are hoping school officials will place a 911 call to unemployed former coach Tom Osborne, begging him to replace Pederson and Callahan.

Osborne as both AD and coach? Hey, in this goofy season, that one makes a whole lot of sense.

Read Dave Sittler's blog at www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra.