Only one conference in all of college football is home to three of the nation’s top six teams in the most recent BCS poll.

It’s not the Southeastern Conference or the Pacific-10 Conference, the traditional residences for America’s best football programs. Guess again.

Three of the country’s top-ranked teams through 10 weeks of football come from none other than the Big 12 Conference.

The unlikely storyline has surprised media and fans across the nation, but don’t think that the Big 12 coaches feel any shock.

“Surprised? No, I’m not surprised,” Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said. “Who have you been talking to? Not to the people working in these trenches.”

When the season began, the scenario would have been as unlikely as Kansas scoring 76 points against Nebraska or as Notre Dame falling to Navy for the first time in 43 years. Now, it is just another illustration of the downright bizarre nature of the 2007 season.

With Kansas at No. 4, Oklahoma at No. 5 and Missouri at No. 6, the Big 12 has officially infiltrated the BCS’ computer ranking system. The Jayhawks and Tigers are specifically intriguing because neither team even ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll.

“With Kansas being as good as they are and Missouri being as good as they are, I mean these are really good football teams, and I think it’s definitely been an upgrade,” Iowa State coach Gene Chizik said. “There’s a lot more parity that may not have existed two years ago.”

Chizik has a valid point. It’s not that the Big 12 was a disgrace to powerhouse football conferences in the past few years; it’s that it had simply turned into an annual two-team race.

Texas or Oklahoma has won three straight Big 12 championships and one of the two has appeared in three of the last four national championship games. The Longhorns and Sooners, both teams in the Big 12 South division, have outscored their opponents in the Big 12 Championship Game 133-13 the past three seasons.

But their Big 12 North division counterparts, particularly Kansas and Missouri, are catching up in 2007.

“I think it’s a very strong league, and the North, in time, gets better,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “They have in the last few years, and we’ve continued to say as coaches that they’ve got good players and they’re playing well. It’s true now.”

Colorado beat Oklahoma to hand the team its only loss. Kansas State drilled Colorado a couple weeks later. The Wildcats emerged victorious by 20 points against the Longhorns in Austin, Texas, but then lost to the 2-8 Iowa State Cyclones.

The peculiar results make it clear that the transitive property has no bearing on the outcome of Big 12 games this season — not even for Oklahoma and Texas.

Strength and depth exists in a conference that hasn’t had much of either in recent years. Coaches said they were pleased the BCS shared that with the rest of the nation.

“It says we’re a pretty good conference,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “No question.”

—Edited by Chris Beattie