Each week, Curt McKeever takes a look at Big 12 football:

BUY: Texas A&M

Missouri must have gotten some inside information on last week’s hot commodity, Texas Tech. This week, the Tigers head to the exchange in College Station and will face a 5-1 team that used a late surge at Kansas to recover from its loss to Tech the previous week.  Consider the Aggies a moderate risk who can reward with across-the-board defensive balance.

SELL: Iowa State

With a game at Oklahoma on Saturday, the Cyclones are about to be 0-3 in the Big 12 for the fourth straight season. Unlike the past two, don’t count on them rallying to be in position to win the North Division. During “Golden Rules Night” against Nebraska, ISU proved it’s not likely to abide by the first Golden Rule of Big 12 football success: Defend the run.

BLUECHIPPER: C.J. Ah You, Oklahoma

The senior defensive end made a career-high eight tackles, including two for loss, and batted down a pass against Texas. In passing situations, OU coaches moved him inside to nose tackle.

INSIDER TRADING

North Division

Colorado: Senior wideout Blake Mackey, who led the Buffs in receiving yards in 2004 and then missed 2005 with a knee injury, has no catches this season. … Rather than go through their normal conditioning Sunday, the 0-6 Buffs played a ultimate Frisbee-like event with footballs.

Iowa State: Coach Dan McCarney has asked the conference to interpret two rulings made by officials on passes into Nebraska’s end zone Saturday. The first, an offensive-interference call against Todd Blythe before he caught a pass, is not reviewable. McCarney also wants an explanation for a pass that receiver Austin Flynn was ruled to be bobbling as he went out of bounds.

Kansas: Blaming part of his team’s sluggish offensive showing against Texas A&M on players missing too much practice time, Mark Mangino now says players who don’t practice won’t play. Quarterback Adam Barmann spent most of last week working behind Kerry Meier, who on Thursday was ruled out with continued shoulder soreness. One week after piling up 574 yards on Nebraska, the Jayhawks were held to 288. Saturday’s loss was KU’s first at home in 10 games.

Kansas State: Making his first start, Leon Patton produced a school  freshman-record 301 all-purpose yards (151 rushing, 33 receiving and 117 kickoff return) against Oklahoma State. … K-State might have lost second-team cornerback Joshua Moore for a while. Moore was carried to the locker room after appearing to injure his left knee on the final play of Saturday’s win.

Missouri: The Tigers showed Texas Tech they have a defense worthy of its No. 2 national ranking entering Saturday’s game in Lubbock. In addition to forcing Red Raider quarterback Graham Harrell into five turnovers, Mizzou recorded four sacks. Tech had given up just five in its first five games.

Nebraska: In six games, the Huskers have produced 34 plays that have gained at least 20 yards. In 12 games last year, NU had 39 such plays. Twelve of those plays came on the ground. Last year, Nebraska had only six running plays go for at least 20 yards.

South Division

Baylor: Senior quarterback Shawn Bell is 5-8 as a starter in Big 12 games. The Bears are 5-64 in league games started by another quarterback. … Until Saturday, fifth-year senior Nick Myatt had never played for Baylor. But when deep snapper Jonathan Weeks came down with mono, Myatt was called to fill in, and he responded like a veteran on four punt snaps, four extra points and two field goals.

Oklahoma: Adrian Peterson had 213 all-purpose yards against Texas, but the number that is likely to weigh heavier on the minds of  Heisman Trophy voters is the 38 rushing yards he had in the second half after the Sooners had built a 10-7 lead.

Oklahoma State: True freshman Keith Toston could be making a bid to become the Cowboys’ starting running back. Toston rushed for 109 yards on just 14 carries against Kansas State. Mike Hamilton, who had 50 yards, still leads OSU with 377 yards and is averaging 6.3 per carry. Toston has 293 yards, with a 5.8 per-carry average.

Texas: Right guard Cedric Dockery missed the second half against Oklahoma after hurting his right knee. Longhorns linebacker Drew Kelson also played sparingly. He’s recovering from an ankle injury.

Texas A&M: Running back Courtney Lewis, who rushed for 60 yards on 13 carries against Texas Tech after being sidelined for nearly three full games with an injury, was back on the sideline for Saturday’s contest at Kansas.

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders’ loss to Missouri was their first at home in 12 games.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee, Texas cornerback Aaron Ross and Kansas State kick returner Leon Patton are the Big 12 offensive, defensive and special-teams players of the week, respectively.

McGee completed 25 of 40 passes for 240 yards and drove the Aggies for two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a win at Kansas. Ross had two interceptions and returned a fumble for a touchdown in the Longhorns’ win against Oklahoma. Patton returned a kickoff 95 yards for a score in the Wildcats’ win against Oklahoma State.

MARKET QUOTE

“If we were a bad team, I wouldn't care as much. But we're a good team and it's just frustrating." — Colorado senior cornerback Lorenzo Sims to the Boulder Daily Camera, on the Buffs being 0-6.

"I said this after our bowl game (last year): You’ve got to win big games to advance your program. Well, this is one. And by the way, we’ve got half a season left." — Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, after his Tigers beat Texas Tech to improve to 6-0.