Looking at a Big 12 Conference football stat sheet these days is enough to make you stand on your head.

At the bottom of the major offensive categories are Oklahoma, Nebraska and Oklahoma State.

OU and Nebraska used to be known for hanging half-a-hundred on foes. In Oklahoma’s case, as recently as last season.

Oklahoma State, the school of Barry Sanders and Rashaun Woods, always has put on great offensive shows.

Yet three games into the season, OU, Nebraska and OSU rank 10, 11 and 12 in the Big 12 in scoring offense.

In total offense, it’s OSU, Oklahoma and Nebraska, in that 10-to-12 order. In fact, Nebraska’s average of 271.3 yards a game ranks not just last in the Big 12, but 106th among 117 Division I-A schools.

All three also make up the bottom quarter of the Big 12 in third-down conversions.

Of course, you don’t need a stat sheet to know that once-mighty offenses are struggling mightily. Just look at the results on field.

Oklahoma is 1-2, the worst record in the league. Oklahoma State and Nebraska are 3-0, but haven’t come close to scoring 50 points.

Excuses abound for the offensive struggles of each team, but the only thing that matters is how quickly they can improve.

At Oklahoma, youth and inexperience are combining for a potent cocktail of turnovers and poor execution. Red-shirt freshman quarterback Rhett Bomar has fire in his eyes, but butter on his hands.

However, the OU offensive system is a proven winner. There’s reason to believe the Sooners again will be very good. Not only has OU had great recruiting classes, the same coaches are in place who guided previous Sooner offenses to record levels.

It’s a different story at Oklahoma State, where a new coaching staff is trying to implement a new offensive system. There’s also a new starting quarterback in Bobby Reid, whose play-making ability may one day overshadow his current inconsistencies.

The newness of the OSU offense allows for a grace period. At Nebraska, that grace period may be over.

Coach Bill Callahan has had a full season and three games to implement his West Coast offense. Callahan was supposed to bring the passing game to the heartland, yet 14 games into his administration, Nebraska ranks 114th in the nation in pass efficiency.

After gaining just 267 yards Saturday in a 7-6 victory over Pittsburgh, it’s time to ask whether Callahan’s system – or the way he is teaching it – needs to be revamped.

Cory Ross ran for 153 yards against Pittsburgh, and there are calls to simplify the offense. The Huskers scripted the first 15 plays Saturday and showed all sorts of fancy motion and shifting. Not that it did much good.

New quarterback Zac Taylor can’t be expected to put up big numbers fresh from junior college. It usually takes transfer quarterbacks a full season to get the hang of an offense.

However, Taylor was just 10-of-20 passing for 93 yards against Pittsburgh. Unless you’re blowing people off the ball as the old Nebraska running game once did, passing for less than 100 yards will get you beat most days.

“We’ve got to do a better job as an offense, and we understand that,” Callahan said. “We know exactly where we’re at in order to be the team we want to be.”

Where Nebraska’s at is a long way from being a capable offensive team. Knowing how to get there is what’s important.

Nebraska doesn’t appear to have the talent yet to do what Callahan wants in this offense. Will he shape his offense around the available talent the way Texas shifted to the zone-read to take advantage of Vince Young’s abilities?

To do so might be seen as an admission of error in implementing the West Coast. Callahan’s track record doesn’t suggest he’s a coach willing to bend his principles.

It’s hard to imagine another season without a bowl could pass without consequences. The defensive side certainly seems to be doing the job, but Nebraska’s next two are against Iowa State and Texas Tech.

Unless the offense suddenly starts clicking, this could reach a breaking point. It’s no different at Oklahoma or Oklahoma State, where eventually those grace periods could run out. At least Nebraska’s in good company at the bottom of the stat sheet.