This is the sixth time in eight years that a Bob Stoops Oklahoma team has played for a Big 12 championship. His 4-1 record is pretty impressive.

     There have been a couple of wins over Colorado, and one over Kansas State and Nebraska. In  between some of those was the embarrassing defeat to K-State in 2003 when people at that time were talknig about OU being one of the greatest football teams of all time.

     Is this Missouri team the best of the bunch that OU has faced in the Big 12 title games?

     There’s no doubt the Tigers are the best offensive team that the Sooners have gone against in these Big 12  encounters. Chase Daniel is a big-time quarterback. This guy is hitting over 70 percent of his passes.

     I hear a lot of people saying that the OU defense is the key to this game. I disagree. Hey, the Tigers are going to score points. And don’t get all over Brent Venables when they do. It’s a fact of life when you go against a spread offense like the Tigers employ, you’re not going to shut them down.

     What Oklahoma needs to do is slow them down. Make them punt a few times and when they are driving hold them to field goals. I think Missouri can score 40 points and Oklahoma still wins the game.

     That’s why I think it’s the Sooner offense that is the key in the game. The Missouri defense isn’t that good. The Tigers aren’t terrible on defense, but you can score a bunch of points.

     Sam Bradford has to be accurate like he has been just about all of the season. OU can’t turn the ball over. Long drives would be nice.

     Let’s see how OU runs the ball. There’s no doubt Stoops got the attention of his offense the week of the Oklahoma State game when he worked them hard to improve their running game. The offensive line played its best game of the year.

     The Tigers did a good job of shutting down the Kansas run game last week. Let’s see if they can do it two weeks in a row. I don’t think so. If Oklahoma can have success in the running game it can keep the clock moving and more importantly keep the Missouri offense off the field.

     Both teams have terrific offenses. But OU is the better defensive club. I’m going with OU, 42-35.