re: The next time someone says Big 12 is smarter than SEC,

Here's a comparison using the same data I pulled for the AAU discussion here.

In brief, an NSF survey for FY2009 indicates that there was a total of about $55 billion in total R&D expenditures for all universities and colleges, so percentages below are of $55B.
Also, In 2005 the Carnegie Foundation removed the "Research I" nomenclature and modified the classification methodology, instead classifying Doctorate granting Universities as RU/VH (Research Universities / Very High research activity), RU/H (Research Universities / High Research activity), and DRU (Doctoral / Research Universities). So that's what the RU or DRU tags mean.
The #rank is ranking of total R&D expenditures from the NSF (links in the AAU thread linked above).

So, this comparison looks more at the research investment of each institution, and in my mind is probably more objective than the US News rankings. Anyway, check it out...

The list comparing the SEC to the Big 12-2-1+1-1+1 is as follows:

The percentage of total R&D funding going to SEC schools (plus Mizzou) is:
#20 TAMU - 1.148% ($631M) - RU/VH
#23 Florida - 1.078% ($592M) - RU/VH
#39 Vanderbilt - 0.786% ($432M) - RU/VH
#43 LSU - 0.731% ($401M) - RU/VH
#49 Kentucky - 0.680% ($373M) - RU/VH
#55 Georgia - 0.637% ($350M) - RU/VH
#70 Tennessee - 0.519% ($285M) - RU/VH
#78 Mizzouri - 0.446% ($245M) - RU/VH
#86 Mississippi State - 0.395% ($217M) - RU/VH
#99 USC(e) - 0.340% ($187M) - RU/VH
#114 Auburn - 0.261% ($144M) - RU/H
#128 Arkansas - 0.192% ($105M) - RU/VH
#140 Mississippi - 0.165% ($91M) - RU/H
#197 Alabama - 0.066% ($37M) - RU/H

The SEC is averaging $292M per member institution in R&D expenditures.

The average expenditure ranking is 81.5 for the SEC.

The percentage of total R&D funding going to the (alledged) Big 12-2-1+1-1+1 schools for R&D expenditure is:
#32 Texas - 0.922% ($506M) - RU/VH
#79 Kansas - 0.411% ($226M) - RU/VH
#81 Iowa State - 0.408% ($224M) - RU/VH
#94 Oklahoma - 0.358% ($197M) - RU/VH
#112 Kansas State - 0.266% ($146M) - RU/H
#116 WVU - 0.254% ($140M) - RU/H
#121 Oklahoma State - 0.219% ($120M) - RU/H
#146 Texas Tech - 0.146% ($80M) - RU/H
#278 Baylor - 0.021% ($11M) - RU/H
#353 TCU - 0.008% ($4M) - DRU

The Big "12" is averaging $165M per member institution in R&D expenditures.

The average expenditure ranking is 141.2 for the Big "12". (NOTE: TCU brought the average ranking down a LOT).