Biggest blow is yet to come

And it makes two non-conference games in September very relevant to the Big 12 title game in December.

How so? In the event of a three-way tie, if each team has only one league loss, the tiebreaker becomes the BCS standings.

In other words, if Texas loses at Tech, and Tech loses at OU, and OU loses to Texas, and those three teams win all the rest of their games, the BCS will determine the South champ.

The above scenario is completely plausible, with the North and Texas A&M seemingly still down.

That means Texas' home game Sept. 9 against Ohio State and OU's Sept. 16 game at Oregon could play a factor in the Big 12 race. If either wins, they would have a BCS edge on Tech. If either loses, they could fall below Tech in the BCS.

Tech's non-conference has a couple of potential pitfalls -- at UTEP, at TCU -- but nothing in the form of Oregon or Ohio State.

The list: Baseball turnarounds
The remarkable Detroit Tigers are on pace to win 109 games. Only six teams since 1900 have won more. Only 36 teams since 1900 have won two thirds of their games; only 22 since World War I. Before 2006, Detroit had suffered through 12 straight losing seasons and had lost at least 90 games 10 times in 12 years. The five best turnarounds to 100 wins in baseball history:

5. 1965 Twins 102-60: Mediocre in '64 (79-83), Minnesota won AL the next season.

4. 1946 Red Sox 104-50: World War II not kind to Boston, but Ted Williams returned and Sox rallied from 71-83 record.

3. 1993 Giants 103-59: Barry Bonds ignited a rebound from records of 72-90 and 75-87.

2. 1934 Tigers 101-53: In the six previous years, Detroit had only one winning record, 76-75 in 1932.

1. 1969 Mets 100-62: The Amazin's had losing seasons their first seven years. They five times lost 100 games and were just 73-89 before their miracle year.