THREE BIG QUESTIONS regarding Big 12 football:

1. Did Nebraska interim athletic director Tom Osborne suffer a Freudian slip?

Osborne was asked during a TV interview whether he thinks the Huskers' walk-on program needs to be restored to its former level: "Well, that will depend somewhat on the new coaching staff, because they have to implement (it), and I can't coach from the athletic director's position."

New coaching staff?

Osborne has said he will wait until season's end to evaluate Bill Callahan and other Husker coaches.

Callahan was asked during a Big 12 teleconference Monday if he heard about Osborne's comment.

Said Callahan, "Everyone has told me that his word means quite a bit and he's a man of his word and he's got great integrity. So, I think that you would have to address Tom on that."

A university spokesman described Osborne's words as hypothetical.

2. How far away is Baylor from being competitive in the Big 12? The Bears have lost nine consecutive league games dating to last season. The average margin of defeat during the skid is 29.2 points.

"We haven't just been physically beat up in any game we play in," coach Guy Morriss said in regard to league games this season. "We are our own worst enemy. That's what I'm saying. We've shown flashes of moving and scoring on everybody we have played in the Big 12. Until we stop killing ourself every week, we don't give ourselves a chance to be in the ballgame. But I really don't think it's a physical thing."

3. What was behind Colorado coach Dan Hawkins giving his team the silent treatment?

In the past, Hawkins has provided sound bites that paint him as pleasantly eccentric.

In 2003, his Boise State team scored a late touchdown against Tulsa instead of running out the clock. Hawkins was criticized for the strategy because Tulsa scored a quick TD and attempted an onside kick.

At an ensuing booster luncheon, Hawkins defended himself by saying "If we had knelt on the ball at the end of the game, wouldn't that have been the end of the game? Yeah, it would have been. But Gandhi didn't take a knee, Martin Luther King didn't take a knee, Thomas Edison didn't take a knee, and I sure as hell am not going to take a knee."

When a parent sent Hawkins a letter complaining that players don't get enough time off, Hawkins had a mini-rant last February.

"It's Division I football! It's the Big 12! It ain't intramurals!" he said.

"You've got two weeks after finals, you've got a week off July 4th and you get a week before camp starts. That's a month. That's probably more vacation than you (media) get. And we're a little bummed out that we don't get three weeks? Go play intramurals, brother. Go play intramurals."

Last week, Hawkins placed a gag order on himself. "Even after practices, he would say, like, two words," cornerback Terrence Wheatley told the Denver Post.

Chalk it up to a psychological ploy. By saying next to nothing to players before a game against Texas Tech, Hawkins was trying to force them to take ownership of the team.

Explained Hawkins, "I think just sometimes you can say too much. You can repeat things too many times and you can overdo it and be redundant. I just think there has to be a little freshness to your approach at times."

Fresh was good. Colorado beat Texas Tech for a second consecutive season.