Much of the water-cooler banter Monday surrounded the Miss Universe Pageant and the mistake of Mountain State native Steve Harvey. (Let's face it, the mistake was indeed a beaut.)
Yet another type of beauty contest is beginning in college football: the bowl season.
Of course, WVU coach Dana Holgorsen is looking for a picturesque finish to the Mountaineers' season. West Virginia finished 4-5 in Big 12 play and 7-5 overall. His job security swayed in the wind after the Kansas State loss, and some in the know say the Cactus Bowl outcome is still important, at least in regard to contract negotiations.
When reached Monday, WVU athletic director Shane Lyons said "we're looking at his agreement to see if anything can be done. At this point, nothing has been done."
Lyons, however, has said Holgorsen is safe for 2016.
Bringing us to the Big 12 as a whole.
If you don't think there are always moving parts within college athletics, you haven't spoken to the proverbial movers and shakers.
WVU president E. Gordon Gee is among them. And among other things, he's on the Big 12 expansion committee.
Here's what he had to say on Monday about possible expansion:
"We're kind of on a hiatus period," Gee said. "We wanted to see how the conference fared in the College Football Playoff this year."
Indeed, beauty is in the eye of the beholders: Gee and others on the committee. They see elegance and refinement this season. That's on the heels of an ugly 2014-15, which saw no Big 12 team make the playoffs.
This season, Oklahoma made the grade. And guess what? Whatever wheels were grinding toward Big 12 expansion has slowed. At least for now.
"Since Oklahoma made the playoffs," Gee said, "some of the impetus for expanding isn't there. I'd say about half the presidents are in favor of expansion and half are not.
"I don't know when the next meeting is, but I know we're still doing a lot of research and will have a vigorous discussion on it. It's just low-key now because of Oklahoma."
He pointed out the league actually fared well this past season, and he's correct. In the Sagarin computer rankings, the Big 12 finished No. 2 to the SEC West. (For some reason, Sagarin sometimes breaks up conferences into divisions.)
Gee also pointed to the early-season Big 12 basketball success. WVU is a part of that success at No. 11 in the Sagarin and in both Top 25 polls.
Overall, the Big 12 is No. 1, according to the latest computer ranking, in front of No. 2 ACC, No. 3 Pac-12, No. 4 Big Ten, No. 5 Big East, No. 6 SEC, No. 7 Atlantic 10, No. 8 American and No. 9 Mountain West.
Anyway, Gee said to expand or not to expand "is really a split decision."
The WVU president, you may or may not know, is a proponent of expansion. Heck, there are whispers he'd be in favor of moving from 10 to 14 - rather than 12 - schools. He went through the process as president of Ohio State and understands the benefits and drawbacks.
But back to the bowls. Last season, the Big 12 couldn't find the glass slipper. Not only were the conference's teams left out of the CFP, the bowl performances were beastly.
The Pac-12 had the best mark of major conferences at 6-2 (75 percent). Marshall's Conference USA actually had the best overall at 4-1 or 80 percent.
Meanwhile, the Big 12 was last at 2-5 (28.6 percent). That was worse than the Sun Belt.
This season?
We'll see, but Las Vegas oddsmakers believe the Big 12 will fare better.
In the Russell Athletic Bowl, Baylor - despite the losses of Seth Russell, Corey Coleman and Shock Linwood - is a 1.5- to 3-point favorite.
In the CFP Orange Bowl, Oklahoma is a 3- to 3.5-point favorite over Clemson. In the Sugar Bowl, Oklahoma State is a 6- to 7-point favorite over Ole Miss.
In the Alamo and Cactus bowls, Big 12 teams TCU and WVU, respectively, are in pick 'em games against Oregon and Arizona State.
The only two games in which Big 12 teams are across-the-board underdogs are the Liberty Bowl (Kansas State against Arkansas) and Texas Bowl (Texas Tech against LSU).
The latter two games could get ugly. The Texas Bowl could get especially ugly.
Yet if the oddsmakers are correct - and you split the pick 'em games - the Big 12 should finish 4-3.
Which would look a lot prettier after last season.