Midweek miscellany while wondering if a mythical USC-LSU national football championship game would be sponsored by SBC and IBM and be dubbed the Acronym Bowl. …

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In the eight years the Big 12 Conference has fielded football teams, the league’s overall record in bowl games is a paltry 24-30. This year’s 2-6 record was the worst the league ever has had in the postseason. The lone Big 12 bowl winners were Nebraska and Texas Tech. Hard to believe Big 12 teams won two of their first three bowls, then dropped five in a row. Curiously, the conference had its best bowl year ever (5-3) after the 2002 season.

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Strange stat of the young basketball season: Kansas guard Jeff Hawkins drilled five of seven three-point attempts against TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, but in the Jayhawks’ other 10 games, Hawkins has made only three of 32 three-point tries.

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Carl Reese, the Texas defensive coordinator who resigned Tuesday, can claim a unique distinction. Reese, a former Missouri linebacker and fullback, is the only former Mizzou football player who ever has coached football at Kansas. Reese was on Bud Moore’s staff in 1975 and 1976.

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Good grief. How low can the roster go at Baylor? The Bears’ scandal-ridden men’s basketball program is down to five scholarship players after senior starters Terrance Thomas — the team’s leading scorer and rebounder — and R.T. Guinn were declared academically ineligible last week. How many players will first-year coach Scott Drew have left Feb. 18 when the Bears visit Kansas?

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Kevin Verdugo, the former Kansas and Colorado State quarterback, has left Fort Scott Community College after three seasons as head coach. Verdugo, who coached KU’s Bill Whittemore for one season at Fort Scott CC, has joined the staff at Akron University. Verdugo, 35, also has been an aide at Southeast Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Northern Michigan.

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Nebraska men’s basketball coach Barry Collier must be breathing easier these days. The Cornhuskers recorded their ninth victory last week and athletic director Steve Pederson didn’t fire him.

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Bill Bayno, a one-time graduate aide under Larry Brown at Kansas, resigned the other day as head coach of the CBA’s Yakima Sun Kings. Bayno cited burnout after the Sun Kings had dropped their 10th straight game. Trivia question: Who were the Sun Kings before they moved to Yakima? Answer: Anybody remember the Topeka Sizzlers?

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In the final NCAA football statistics — bowl games count now, you know — Heisman Trophy winner Jason White of Oklahoma finished seventh in pass efficiency ratings at 158.1. Two notches back at 154.7 was KU’s Whittemore.

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Speaking of NCAA stats, you’d think Kansas would have tumbled drastically in scoring defense after surrendering 56 points to North Carolina State in the Tangerine Bowl. Not really. In fact, five Big 12 teams — Colorado, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Baylor and Texas A&M — surrendered more points per game than KU did.

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Is Glen Mason really a viable candidate for the Nebraska football vacancy? Or is Mason’s agent simply trying to feather the former KU coach’s nest by suggesting the Cornhuskers should consider him? I suspect the latter. Still, Mason has been a head coach for 18 straight years at NCAA Div. I-A schools, and how many head coaches can you name who have lasted that long?

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What do Pete Rose, Rose Kennedy and Gypsy Rose Lee have in common? A Rose by any other name has a better chance of being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame than they do.

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Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I wouldn’t be at all displeased if Royals’ GM Allard Baird traded newly-signed two-time AL MVP Juan Gonzalez for a proven starting pitcher, or even a proven starting pitcher to be named later.