With at least one prediction already made, more sports publications are following suit in releasing their pre-season college football picks. Not surprisingly, Conference Call Sports Magazine chose Iowa State to finish first in the Big 12 North.

“Beats the heck outta being picked last,” said head coach Dan McCarney. “Rankings mean a hell of a lot more at the end of the season than they do at the beginning of the season.”

Conference Call is a new publication, launching its first edition in March, dedicated to covering all sports and teams in the Big 12 Conference.

In its picks, Conference Call predicted the Cyclones would take on Big 12 South winner Texas in the conference championship. They feel the Longhorns will come away with a victory, however, and go on to play for the national title in the Rose Bowl.

“The first thing we have to do is win the North,” McCarney said. “We’re not worried about the end of the season yet.”

As with The Sporting News — they were among the first to predict the Cyclones’ division title — Conference Call released their own player selections.

With every school in the conference having at least one player appear on either the offensive or defensive list, Iowa State secured two — one on each list.

Runningback Stevie Hicks was one of two backs selected — Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson, one of last year’s Heisman candidates, was the other — and defensive lineman Nick Leaders was one of four lineman to make the defensive list.

“I’m proud of both those kids,” McCarney said. “Its not the yards Stevie racks up or the tackles Nick makes, those are two of the classiest kids on this team, not just this year, but in the 10 years I’ve been head coach.”

“For Stevie to be mentioned with Peterson is an amazing thing. If you remember, he received Heisman votes as a true freshman last year.”

Peterson highlighted the predictions as Conference Call’s pre-season Player of the Year.

In addition, Texas head coach Mack Brown, with five players appearing on the two lists, has been shouldered with great expectations as their pick for Big-12 Coach of the Year.

McCarney didn’t have much to say about that prediction, simply stating the conference is full of great coaches.

“Anything that brings positive recognition to our program is a good thing,” he said. “Hopefully, it’ll inspire some of my guys or all of my guys.”