By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent

It has been quite the newsy first week of the college football season. BYU announced its independence, Jeremiah Masoli's end run from Oregon to Ole Miss was stopped for no gain by the NCAA, Alabama's Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram will miss the season opener and the expanded Big Ten Conference made its long-awaited announcement regarding its division into six-team divisions for next season.

No news, though, from Lincoln, Neb. Who will be the starting quarterback for Nebraska when the Huskers open the 2010 season against Western Kentucky Saturday? Bo knows.

"I have a decent idea (who will start)," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said. "But a lot can happen between now and Saturday."

If Pelini was keeping his cards any closer to his vest they'd be stuck to his spine. Asked about the QB starter Monday, Pelini said the three-man competition was ongoing. Asked about the quarterback situation Tuesday, Pelini said the Huksers might play 10 quarterbacks Saturday.

OK, coach, so who is No. 10? "It's a lefty who's a head coach," Pelini joked. "I might be able to come back."

The candidates: Senior Zac Lee, last year's starter; sophomore Cody Green, who started two games last season when the offense was sputtering; redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez, whose impressive running and throwing skills have had Huskers fans buzzing since the spring game.

"I think with (Martinez), I think he's just a baller," offensive coordinator Shawn Watson told the Lincoln Journal-Star. "He just wants to play football. All this stuff doesn't bother him. He'd sooner be away from it and he just wants to show up and play. That's his mind-set. He's just a different dude. That's his strength, actually, a real strength. ... He just simply came to work every day with his lunch pail and has done really well."

Your Humble Correspondent knows considerably less than Pelini but here's a guess: In the first two nonconference games leading up to a huge game at Washington in Week Three, Lee will start and Martinez will play. He's too talented to keep off the field. The mystery man is Green.

Nebraska was one of five Big 12 teams that went into preseason practice needing to find a starting quarterback. Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State and Texas Tech have all named a starter for this week's opening game. You might notice that none of those four teams are ranked. The Huskers are a top 10 team with championship aspirations and - apparently - no clear-cut depth chart at quarterback.

Pelini said this week that he didn't "want it to become a circus" when depth charts were released. Good point. A starter is named and the two competitors who are listed behind the starter get peppered with questions about their roles.

"We went into this thing saying when we felt like we were clear-cut, it was defined and separated and it was clear, we would (announce a starter)," Watson said. "The good thing is and the reason why it isn't clear is they've all three played so well.

"Bo and I have a plan … But we're not going to tell you."

Kindergarten quarterback
Texas A&M senior quarterback Jerrod Johnson is majoring in kinesiology and education. To complete his course work last semester, he had to spend six weeks as a physical education teacher at an elementary school in the College Station area.

He would have rather spent six weeks escaping the Big 12's top pass rushers.

"Those kids wore me out more than any football practice could," Johnson said.

Johnson interacted with between 80 to 90 kindergarten through fourth grade students every day. Some only knew him as "Mr. Johnson." Others knew that they were being tutored by the Aggies' senior quarterback.

"Some of the kindergarteners knew, because they'd come in and say, 'My dad wants to know who our new defensive coordinator wants to be,'" Johnson said. "I'm like, you can't even spell 'defensive coordinator.'"

Scheduling debate
A year ago, Oklahoma opened the season against BYU. The Sooners lost, 14-13, and also had quarterback Sam Bradford go down with a shoulder injury that wrecked his and OU's season. While Oklahoma opens against Utah State Saturday, the Sooners have challenging nonconference games ahead against Florida State and at Cincinnati.

Coach Bob Stoops was asked if it was worth it to play such a challenging nonconference schedule.

"It's only good if you win and you don't get your quarterback hurt," he said. "If you lose and get your quarterback hurt like we did a year ago with Sam Bradford then it isn't any good. In the end that's the bottom line. It's high risk. Anymore it's fairly low reward.

"When things are all said and done at the end of the year you're not really rewarded for it as much as you used to be for playing a tough schedule. Pretty much everybody gets ranked depending on wins and losses."

Asked if he would soften OU's schedule in the future Stoops said: "I'd like to but our schedule is made out pretty far in advance. I think the next football coach here might have a better chance than me."

Coach speak
* Colorado's Dan Hawkins on how his defense has adjusted to a system installed a year ago: "It was a lot newer last year. Newer schemes, all of that. We basically changed some things before camp last year. We've been in this obviously since last season and you saw the defense kind of get better as the season went on there. We're just a lot more confident in what we're doing. Guys can play faster, a little more confident in what they're doing."

* Texas A&M's Mike Sherman on improving special teams play: "Last year was my fault that we weren't good on special teams. We've put a huge emphasis on it. Because we were so young last year … we weren't able to put some of the key players on special teams because they were playing (so many) snaps. We're going to put the best on special teams, because we cannot afford to lose games that way. The players understand because of last season just how important special teams results are."

* Oklahoma's Bob Stoops on the season opener against Utah State: "I want to see us play with some discipline. Not having mental errors. Taking care of the ball. Don't have foolish penalties. Execute cleanly. That's what we're looking for."

* Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy on senior running back Kendall Hunter: "He obviously can make a lot of plays with the ball in his hands. He's experienced and has competed in big games. He's had a very good offseason, had a good spring, had a good preseason camp. I think Kendall's ready to go back to work. As long as he's in there and touches the football, he has a chance to make a big play."

Short yardage
* Mike Hugenin of Rivals.com ranked all 120 quarterback duos (starter and backup) in Division I-A football. The Big 12 had four out of the top 19: No. 8 Texas A&M (Jerrod Johnson, Ryan Tannehill), No. 12 Texas Tech (Taylor Potts and Steven Sheffield), No. 18 Baylor (Robert Griffin and Nick Florence) and No. 19 Missouri (Blaine Gabbert and James Franklin).

* Cameron Bell was a linebacker at Iowa State before he decided to transfer to Northern Illinois. He is eligible to play this season but he won't play against the Cyclones Thursday. That's because when he transferred to NIU, the schools agreed that he would not play when the teams met. The 6-2, 242-pound Bell has been moved to linebacker and is expected to be in the four-man rotation for the Huskies.

* Texas' top three returning receivers - James Kirkendoll, John Chiles and Malcolm Williams - combined to catch 121 passes last season. The departed Jordan Shipley had 116 receptions last season.

* Tommy Tuberville at Texas Tech and Turner Gill at Kansas are new coaches in the Big 12 this season. Previously, the Big 12 has had 23 first-year coaches (at least one each season). Eight of those first-year coaches compiled overall winning records while five of the 23 finished with winning records in Big 12 play.