Things to watch in the Big 12 Conference during the opening week of the season, when the league has three games against top-15 opponents.GAME OF THE WEEK: No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Houston, in the Texas Kickoff Classic at NRG Stadium, home of the NFLs Texans. Oklahoma went to the College Football Playoff last season and is the overwhelming preseason favorite to win its 10th Big 12 title. The Sooners face a tough opening nonconference challenge in a game featuring top quarterbacks. The Cougars went 13-1 last season in the debut of head coach Tom Herman, who was coming off a national championship as Ohio States offensive coordinator when he got to Houston. Baker Mayfield threw for 3,700 yards and 36 touchdowns for the Sooners last season, while Houstons Greg Ward Jr. was 13-0 as a starter and accounted for 38 touchdowns. Ward was one of only two FBS quarterbacks with 2,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing.BEST MATCHUP: No. 10 Notre Dame at Texas, the same matchup that was a 38-3 wipeout for Notre Dame over the Longhorns in South Bend in last years opener. Despite that lopsided score and Texas coach Charlie Strong coming off consecutive losing seasons to start his tenure with the Longhorns, theres hope for Texas because this opener is in Austin. These are two teams needing a positive start -- the Irish are expected to contend for a playoff spot -- and both have quarterback options. The Longhorns did beat Oklahoma and Baylor away from home last season, and three of their losses were by a field goal or less.INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Kansas takes a 15-game losing streak into its opener against Rhode Island, an FCS team that went 1-10 last season. ... The Big 12 returns four 1,000-yard rushers from last season -- Oklahoma junior Samaje Perine (1,349 yards), Iowa State sophomore Mike Warren (1,339), Baylor senior Shock Linwood (1,329) and Bears junior Johnny Jefferson (1,000). ... The only three active FBS coaches with 143 wins or more at their current schools are all in the Big 12, Kansas States Bill Snyder (193), Oklahomas Bob Stoops (179) and TCUs Gary Patterson (143). ... Oklahoma State has 18 starters back, including an offensive line with a combined 101 career starts.LONG SHOT: Kansas State at No. 8 Stanford. K-State is a two-touchdown underdog Friday night when the Wildcats play the highest-ranked nonconference opponent they have ever faced in a season-opening road game. It is only the seventh time they have a true road nonconference game against a Power Five school since 1989, coach Bill Snyders first season.IMPACT PERFORMER: Defensive end Noble Nwachukwu has started 26 of his 35 games at West Virginia. He had 8 1/2 sacks and 13 tackles for loss last season for a Mountaineers defense that will open the season at home against SEC team Missouri, which was in the Big 12 before WVU joined the league.---Compiled by AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins in Fort Worth, Texas.---AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Stitched Jerseys . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Cheap Jerseys From China .com) - The red-hot Los Angeles Kings will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Sundays clash at Rexall Place. http://www.wholesalejerseyssupplycheap.com/ . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Wholesale China Jerseys . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg. Clearance Jerseys . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. When JP Duminy first travelled to Australia in 2008 he was, by his own admission, just a kid. There were few expectations on him - he only had an outside chance of playing in the three-Test series - until he exceeded all of them. Thats when he began to understand how severely responsibility could rest on his shoulders. With that, came intense pressure to perform.The difference [from then] is that I was a young kid, playing my debut Test against guys like Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden. It was quite intimidating, Duminy said on the eve of South Africas first tour game under lights in Australia. Now I am more established than I was then. I am coming into a Test series with a little bit more confidence and a little more stability in my role in the team and how I play Test cricket.To say Duminy has under-performed in the eight years since his debut is neither cruel nor critical. The numbers back it up.To date, he has played only 36 Tests, added only three more centuries, and has an average of 32.44. He spent a period out of the side with injury - sustained when he returned to Australia in 2012 - but was also dropped twice. The current sentiment in South Africa is that he is a placeholder until someone more capable comes along.Australia could be the place for Duminy to prove he can fulfill the potential he once showed. In the absence of AB de Villiers, South Africa need senior batsmen to step up. In the context of Duminys own career, he needs to step up. He has gone 11 matches without a century since the Galle Test in July 2014, when he got an unbeaten 100 at No. 8.Though his opportunities are sometimes limited by a heavyweight top-order, he also went 11 innings in 2015 without passing 35 and was dumped for the Newlands Test against England last summer.Duminys response was to score a double-hundred in a franchise match and force a return, but it was only when he struck an unbeaten 88 against New Zealand in South Africas last Test that he was reconsidered. Faf du Plessis, South Africas stand-in captain because AB de Villiers is injureed, went as far as to say that Duminys best was yet to come.dddddddddddd Some remain skeptical because Duminy has often threatened without following through, and with an in-form Rilee Rossouw in the squad, an immediate replacement is available if Duminy bombs.Thats why, for Duminy, the lead-up to this series is more important than most and he said he could not have asked for better. Its the best preparation weve had on any tour, to be honest. I cant recall this amount of time before a Test match on any tour, he said. Weve got 10 to 14 days of training leading up to the first Test. South Africa arrived in Adelaide on Tuesday, 16 days before they take on Australia in Perth. They have two practice matches before the first Test - including a day-night game - and one between the second and third Tests. Their preparation is focused on the pink ball and playing under lights because this trip will be their first encounter with day-night Test cricket. Duminy said they will need some time to adapt to that difference in colour and in light, which will take a few training sessions.The concerns for South African fans may be that with all the emphasis on Test cricket under lights, the team could forget that the first two matches will be played in normal conditions and if they dont compete in those, the outcome of the day-night game could be redundant. Duminy allayed such fears, stressing South Africa were using the ample time they had to do as much as they can to win a third successive series in Australia.We are concentrating on staying in our bubble, he said. We are coming into this series with a bit of confidence on the back of our one-day series but we understand that its a clean slate. This is Test cricket. We are not looking at what the expectations are. We are looking to concentrate on our preparations. There might be a lot of banter being thrown around in the media but thats not something we want to focus on. ' ' '