Sportswriters from Topeka, Kansas City and St. Louis chimed in consecutively on a recent Big 12 conference call. They all wanted Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum's opinion on various matters related to league play or college football in general.

They are the same media members who are caught so off-guard by the swaying of the Kyle Field press box during the playing of the "Aggie War Hymn," that many of them write home in their respective columns about how Kyle Field literally shakes -- as was the case during the Nebraska game.

Five years ago, did any media outlet north of The Dallas Morning News give a flip about Slocum or the Aggies? Maybe, but the cases were isolated at best.

As for visiting fans, they used to come to Kyle Field from their homes near the Village in Houston or the Hilltop in Dallas. They were jaded to the Aggie Band, A&M spirit and, basically, college football in general. Their teams back in the old Southwest Conference were fodder for the Aggies and Longhorns, forcing the Big Two to eventually pack up, take Texas Tech and Baylor along for the ride, and high-tail it to the Big 12.

Now opposing fans are tying up their own ticket office phone lines, hoping the voice on the other end gives them the good news: "Yes, the Aggies are bringing their band."

Or when they do visit College Station, most are taken with the atmosphere of game day at Kyle Field. Last year, while in Manhattan, Kan., for the A&M-Kansas State game, several fans who made the trip to College Station in 1996 told me how unbelievable they thought Kyle Field and the 12th Man were.

It was unsolicited praise and admiration for Texas A&M that would never have been possible if not for the formation of the godsend, the savior, the biggest and baddest league in the country.É

The Big 12.

As the Aggies prepare to step onto the national stage against top-ranked and undefeated Kansas State for the championship of this grand league, take a look around at what's happened to the Aggies in just the third year of existence of the once-maligned league.

A&M has played and beaten No. 2 Nebraska, risen to No. 5 in the Bowl Championship Series and, more importantly, elevated its program to one of national prominence.

Because of the Big 12, the Aggies, in essence, are figuring into the national title picture, at least with a shot to knock off a team squarely in the race.

Does anybody really miss the SWC?

"I think the Big 12 has been great," Slocum said. "I said right from the start that it would be a positive thing. The rivalries would be good, the exposure would be good. I also said we would grow into whatever (level of play).

"There were those early who speculated that we wouldn't be able to compete. I said right up front that whatever competition there was, we would grow to that level if we were not at that level. My argument was that we weren't that far from that level anyway."

Indeed, the Aggies have been doing some growing the last two years. The first year of the Big 12 was a rough one on the A&M program, as the Aggies dipped to 6-6 and did not qualify for a bowl game.

Some former Big Eighters scoffed at the idea of bringing A&M and the other three Texas schools into their little soiree known as the Big Eight.

Two years later, three of the four Texas schools will land in bowl games, with A&M and Texas having both defeated Nebraska. And the Aggies lead the pack, having defeated every team in the Big 12 at least once, with the exception of their opponent in St. Louis.

With the Big 12 title game for the entire nation to see, as well as a big bowl game, the Aggies are poised to end the year ranked in the top 10 or higher.

And with each year like this one, A&M's stock continues to rise. No matter how the Aggies close out the season, they will likely be a top 10 team to start the year again in 1999.

"I knew better," Slocum said as he reflected on the fact A&M has been buoyed by the Big 12. "It's gratifying to see that borne out on the field. I think there's a considerable rise in the perception of our program, the Big 12 and other (conference) programs."

It was just six seasons ago when an undefeated A&M team rose no higher than fourth in the national polls, with undefeated Miami and Alabama and once-beaten Florida State firmly ahead of the Aggies.

Heading into last week's Texas game, a once-beaten A&M team lurked at No. 5 in the BCS rankings. And the Aggies likely wouldn't have sniffed that elite position in the SWC.

Yes, each Saturday has been a grueling one, with no one really knowing if A&M can beat Oklahoma State on the road or Missouri at home. But it has been fun, much like the glory days of the SWC, when A&M faced tough Texas, Arkansas, Houston and SMU teams.

Of course, the game that sealed the Big 12 as A&M's gift from heaven came Oct. 10.

Usually, the Houston Cougars would be in College Station when Texas played Oklahoma on the second Saturday in October.

But this year, mighty Nebraska was in town on a sun-splashed, perfect day for football. Most of the lead Big 12 writers in this state chose to cover the A&M game instead of the game at Fair Park.

A&M then proceeded to shock the Cornhuskers -- a conference opponent -- to become the top story on every national sports broadcast in the country. And no matter if NU lost a few weeks later to Texas, it was an unmatched day for Texas A&M and its football program.

"You're talking about a team that, three out of the last four years, won the national championship," Slocum said. "So you're playing against a pretty good barometer there. When we played them, they had their starting quarterback and their starting tailback. And they had their psyche intact when we beat them.

"We had them 28-7 with nine minutes to go in the ballgame. That gives some credibility to what we had been saying all along. And it certainly gave our players confidence that there's not some big league of teams out there that's at another level."

A&M has been playing at a high level for the last 10 years now. In fact, at no other time in the history of the program have the Aggies racked up this many wins in so few seasons.

Consider:

--  Since R.C. Slocum took over the program in 1989 until the start of this season, the Aggies had won 83 games, averaging over nine wins a year.

-- From 1953-73, it took 21 seasons for the Aggies to win 82 games.

-- A&M has improved steadily over the last 25 years or so, winning 73 games in a 10-year block from 1974-83. The best 10 years of Aggie football came from 1985-1994, as the Jackie Sherrill- and Slocum-coached teams piled up 95 wins, for an average of 9.5 a year.

And yet, with all of those victories, the A&M program did not garner the headlines it is now. It was a victim of the SWC's regional bias and locale.

Now the Aggies are a power in a power-ratings hotbed known as the Big 12.

And to see where A&M's program has landed, it's also noteworthy to consider the Aggies and Slocum have been doing things with a lack of facilities --   at least compared to other national powers. That, too, has changed with the addition of plush practice fields and The Zone at Kyle Field and the amenities it will bring.

"I know the reality of where we are, the reality of where other programs are, what their budgets are and what their facilities are," Slocum said. "I know where we've been. I've been through this process since 1972 and seen how far we've come in the eyes of the country and the bottom line of what we're doing on the field."

What the Aggies are doing on the field is playing for their second straight conference title and BCS berth. They are playing top five teams, it seems, at every turn. And, at least once this year, they have beaten a top five team.

The Big 12, continuing with Saturday's title game, gives Texas A&M another shot at something they could only dream of five years ago.

"On a given day, if we play like we're capable of playing, we can play with any of them," Slocum said of the nation's elite. "I really believe that. I don't think there's a team in college football who we could line up with and not have a chance to beat.