Kansas City, Mo ? Notes and quotes from Wednesday’s Big 12 Conference football media session while wondering if league fathers are mulling whether to ask the ACC to join up and form the Big 24 …

Coaches and media types alike have been buzzing about Kansas State coach Bill Snyder’s decision to stay in Manhattan today instead of showing up for his scheduled session. Snyder demurred because the Wildcats have already begun preparations for their Aug. 23 meeting with California at Arrowhead Stadium.

Snyder is the fifth league coach to bail on the league’s annual preseason media event. The first was former Kansas University coach Glen Mason, who begged off because of his wedding to Lawrence dentist Kate Wilkerson.

Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said he talked to KSU athletic director Tim Weiser about Snyder’s absence and considered it an unfortunate anomaly.

“But if it begins to happen on a regular basis,” Weiberg said, “we might have to pass a conference rule.”

Snyder and two KSU players — quarterback Ell Roberson and safety Rashad Washington — won’t be in Kansas City, but they’ll be available to the media via a satellite TV hookup from Manhattan.

“The number one reason was to be with my teammates and be in the city of Austin,” Williams said. “I don’t think I was ready for the NFL.”

Said Texas coach Mack Brown: “I thought he might go, but he never wanted to go. Roy’s just different. He’s a different guy.”

• Oops: According to the composite schedule in the Big 12 football media guide, Kansas will play back-to-back home-and-home games with Colorado in October — the first in Boulder Oct. 11 and the return game Oct. 18 in Lawrence. It’s a typo, of course. Kansas will play in Boulder Oct. 11, but the Buffaloes will be at Kansas STATE Oct. 18.

• KU-MU on TV?: So far, not a single Kansas football game is scheduled for television. In fact, the Jayhawks haven’t been on the tube since the 2002 season-opener at Iowa State. That should change, however, when Kansas entertains Missouri Sept. 27.

KU-MU is a virtual TV lock because it’s the only conference game scheduled that day. Five league teams are idle that weekend, and the best of the nonconference games that Saturday is probably Pittsburgh at Texas A&M.

When would the KU-MU game start if it’s on TV? Take your pick. Kickoff would be either 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. or 6 p.m.

• Don’t Knock Mock: Texas coach Mack Brown will replace graduated quarterback Chris Simms with junior Chris Mock, who threw only eight passes as Simms’ caddy last season. Brown isn’t worried, though. “There are 20 million people who coach quarterbacks in Texas,” he said.

• Chilly Finale: Bet you can’t guess who’ll meet in the league’s last regular-season game. Usually, Nebraska-Colorado and Texas-Texas A&M play on the final day, the Friday after Thanksgiving. Not this year. Iowa State and Missouri will collide in Columbia the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 29). Advice to MU fans: Stock up on blankets and hand-warmers now. Avoid the late-November rush.

• Just Play, Baby: Oklahoma is No. 1 in the majority of preseason publications, but OU coach Bob Stoops vows he isn’t caught up in prognostications. “To be honest, if they called off the season and we were No. 1, I’d be disappointed because we want to play.”

• Why, Bob, Why?: No one can accuse Stoops of emulating former boss Bill Snyder, the poster boy for marshmallow preseason schedules. Stoops agreed to play UCLA and Alabama this fall. Asked why he would schedule two traditional powers, Stoops replied cryptically, “Hey, that’s the way it goes sometimes.”