quarter of an NCAA college football game in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

With one week of Big 12 football games complete, I feel a sense of utter perplexity when trying to make sense of how the conference’s week 1 performances will translate to the rest of the season.

Allow me to elaborate:
• Oklahoma, to me, was the most complete team in the Big 12 entering the season. Surely, then, the Sooners and their 30-game home winning streak would pummel lowly Utah State. After all, the spread was 34 points.

quarter of an NCAA college football game in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

OU may have won and pushed the country’s best home winning streak to 31, but the Sooners only prevailed, 31-24. One possession against Utah State at home? You can’t be serious. Utah State’s quarterback passed for 341 yards. In Norman. Against a defense I thought stood up to any in the country. Bizarre.

• Texas is next on the perplexity list. Oddsmakers appropriately pinned the Longhorns as 30-point favorites against Rice, a team that won a whopping two games last year. UT held off Rice, but only 34-17.

I’m not really as confused/concerned about Texas, whose defense created two turnovers, returned one for a touchdown and forced Rice to trot out three different quarterbacks. With coach Mack Brown’s new outlook on running the football considerably more often — Texas had 46 rushing attempts on Saturday, a number it reached one time all of last season — UT may not blow every team out this season.

• Maybe UT gets a pass for week 1. Kansas, which tipped the perplexity scale to an all-time high on Saturday with a 6-3 loss to North Dakota State, will receive no such pardon.

OK, new coaches, new regime, new quarterback, new skill players, new this, new that. It will take time at KU.

But it’s North Dakota State. It’s not like there was a Ben Woodside sighting anywhere, either. The Bison have inferior talent. They are a Football Championship Subdivision school. This game had the feeling of a high school contest on a Friday night.

With Texas Tech’s victory over SMU on Sunday, the Big 12, minus Kansas, won all of its games this weekend. Check out the latest edition of Conference Chatter TV for more analysis from the first week of action. I really should have had that perfect score:

As is tradition with Conference Chatter, let’s get into Big 12 awards for the first week of 2010. I’ve switched up the award categories a bit again this season. Time to roll out the red carpet:

Player of the week: Kendall Hunter, RB, Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State's Levy Adcock (73) signals touchdown, following teammate Kendall Hunter (24) run for a score during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Washington State in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010.(AP Photo/Brody Schmidt)

This should be a consensus pick, as Hunter carved up the Washington State defense for 257 rushing yards and four touchdowns. He only received 21 carries, so his 12.2 yards per attempt qualifies Hunter for full beast mode against a clearly inferior Cougars defense.

Hunter was limited much of last season with an ankle injury and only played in eight games, of which he started two. He led the Big 12 in rushing in 2008, however. Looks like the senior could be well on his way to reverting to his sophomore form or maybe better.

Kansas call of the week: Quarterbacks Kale Pick and Jordan Webb didn’t look great, but they need more help from the offensive line.

Each week, I’ll make a KU observation in this spot from the Jayhawks’ previous game. Offensive line was supposed to be a strength of the Jayhawks in 2010 with 85 returning starts, good for third in the Big 12. North Dakota State pressured KU quarterbacks into four sacks. I’m nervous to see what happens when FBS schools apply similar pressure.

Furthermore, take away Daymond Patterson’s three rushes for 63 yards and KU running backs totaled 20 attempts for 46 yards (2.3 yards per rush). Either the O-line has to create more lanes or the running backs have to hit more proper lanes. My guess is the O-line has to create more room. Running lanes should be obvious to the casual observer against North Dakota State.

Poll shakeup award? None.

Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska should stay in the top 10. Missouri and Texas A&M could be the next Big 12 schools to see the top 25 and take this award, but not until they pile up a few more victories against more quality opponents.

Looking ahead/Game of the week for upcoming weekend: No. 20 Florida State at No. 7 Oklahoma, 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Reason: This one’s easy. Florida State demolished Samford, 59-6, and will be a true threat to break OU’s home winning streak of 31 games.

I’m excited to debut a third season of the Sorrentino Scale, where I rank Big 12 teams on a weekly basis. The rankings will typically appear in this blog on Mondays. Here we go:

1. Texas (1-0): ‘Horns will stay at No. 1 until proven otherwise.
2. Oklahoma (1-0): DeMarco Murray looked great (35 carries, 218 yards, two TDs).
3. Nebraska (1-0): Red-shirt freshman Taylor Martinez (263 total yards, three TDs) gets nod at QB.
4. Texas A&M (1-0): Could be most balanced offensive team in conference.
5. Texas Tech (1-0): Look out for WR Lyle Leong (11 catches, 141 yards, three TDs against SMU).
6. Missouri (1-0): WR T.J. Moe (13 receptions, 101 yards, TD) plays much like Wes Welker.
7. Oklahoma State (1-0): I may have made mistake predicting Cowboys last in South this season.
8. Kansas State (1-0): Daniel Thomas (234 rushing yards, 2 TDs) torched UCLA.
9. Baylor (1-0): QB Robert Griffin (301 total yards, three TDs) looks like he’s back.
10. Iowa State (1-0): QB Austen Arnaud needs to cut down on INTs.
11. Colorado (1-0): See what happens when Tyler Hansen starts?
12. Kansas (0-1): Sorry, guys. Can’t put ’em anywhere else.

That should be all for now, friends. As always, discuss.