Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder has not made a final decision on how to fill the Wildcats’ open defensive coordinator position, but he is currently leaning toward promoting from within his staff, according to two sources with knowledge of the hiring process.

Sources said the current front runner for the job is Tom Hayes, a veteran with 30 years of coaching experience who joined K-State last season as the team’s secondary coach.

Missouri has found another non-conference opponent for the upcoming football season.

According to the University of Central Florida - which recently announced its 2012 schedule on its website - the Knights will host Missouri on Sept. 29 at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando.

Missouri must now schedule two more non-conference games, thanks to its decision to join the Southeastern Conference for the 2012-13 athletic year.

Here's how Missouri's schedule shapes up, as of now:

Sept. 8: GEORGIA
Sept 15: ARIZONA STATE
Sept. 22: at South Carolina
Sept. 29: at Central Florida

Ricardo Ratliffe's big week continues.

Just one day after he was named the Big 12 player of the week, Ratliffe - Missouri's 6-foot-8 senior forward - was named the Lute Olson national player of the week.

Ratliffe, who averaged 22 points and seven rebounds in two of Missouri's win last week, is the first Tiger to take home the award this season. His performance on Saturday against Baylor - in which he outdueled a bigger frontline by scoring a career-high 27 points - drew praise, both nationally and locally.

Rich Zvosec, who was in some of the most entertaining TV spots while he coached UMKC basketball and before he turned to hoops commentary, came up with an interesting opinion on 610-AM with Bob Fescoe on Tuesday morning.

Zvosec said of Missouri's loss for the season of Laurence Bowers to a knee injury: "It's a weird dichotomy. It's addition by subtraction.

"Losing Laurence Bowers I think may have been the best thing for Frank Haith and this team.

"They certainly wouldn't be as good an offensive team with Bowers in there as opposed to the extra guard."

Kansas has picked up a pair of football commitments according to Rivals.com.

Greg Allen, a defensive back from Alief Taylor in Houston who originally committed to Utah, said he will sign with the Jayhawks. Allen, 5-11, 190, was named the 18-5A defensive player of the year.

Defensive lineman Chaquil Reed, who played at Butler County Community College, said he was joining Kansas. Reed played at Wichita East.

For the first time all season, a Missouri player has been named Big 12 player of the week.

And it's senior forward Ricardo Ratliffe, who was dominant in both of the Tigers' wins against Texas A&M and Baylor.

Ratliffe had 17 points and six rebounds in a 70-51 win over Texas A&M on Monday, but really earned the award Saturday, when he bullied a bigger, talented Baylor frontline to the tune of a career-high 27 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in Missouri's 89-88 win in Waco.

Brock Berglund says he just wants to get his college football career started, and isn’t sure why Kansas won’t grant him permission to speak to other schools, which starts the transfer process.

“There’s no grudge, I just want to move on,” Berglund said. “I want to go my own way and pursue my career elsewhere.”

New Kansas coach Charlie Weis said Monday that Berglund, a quarterback who didn’t suit up for Kansas as a freshman last year, was one of six players dismissed from the team.

DeMontie Cross is now on the other side of the Border War.

Cross, a former Missouri safety, will join Kansas' football staff as a linebackers coach, the school announced on Thursday.

Cross spent last season as special teams coordinator and safties coach at Wisconsin.

He had served as a defensive and special teams assistant for the Buffalo Bills from 2006-2010, outside linebackers and special teams coach at Iowa State from 2001-2005 and defensive backs coach at Sam Houston State in 2000.

Though not yet official, it appears Kansas State defensive coordinator Chris Cosh is headed to South Florida, where he will hold the same position under head coach Skip Holtz.

A source close to the situation said the deal is all but done, and expects South Florida to announce his hiring at some point today. Neither South Florida nor K-State have confirmed the move. A spokesperson for the K-State football team said there was nothing to report on Cosh at this time.

Day after thoughts of Kansas’ 92-74 victory over Baylor on Monday

The game’s turning point came late in the first half. Baylor overcame an eight-point deficit and took a 27-22 lead. What happened over the next few minutes changed the game.

The Jayhawks started an inevitable flurry, with Tyshawn Taylor doing most of the damage. But a couple of Baylor baskets would have stemmed the tide. Instead, the Bears lost their offense purpose and started taking quick shots without ball movement. On KU’s 17-2 to end the half, Baylor missed eight of nine shots and turned it over three times.