More than four months ago, Nebraska coach Bill Callahan took three of his players by Arrowhead Stadium during Big 12 football media days – an attempt to motivate the guys into wanting to come back for the postseason.
Well : they’re back.
Big 12 North champion Nebraska (9-3) will play Oklahoma (10-2) in the Big 12 Championship game at 7 p.m. today at Arrowhead. It will be the fourth time the Kansas City Chiefs’ home stadium will play host to the conference title game in its 11-game history.
“We’re just proud of the fact that we’ve taken this to the point where we’re getting better,” Callahan said. “We’re improving.”
Oklahoma enters a slight favorite, but today’s matchup is expected to feature something missing from championship showdowns in recent years.
Competitiveness. An amazing concept.
Remember last year’s matchup? It was the nadir of lopsided conference title games, re-hashing the question of “Why do we even play these stupid things?”
Texas beat Colorado, 70-3, in a pasting that would make the 1995 Cornhuskers blush. The year before that, Oklahoma beat Colorado, 42-3. The year before that was a stunning upset, but still a lopsided game. Kansas State beat No. 1 Oklahoma, 35-7.
One has to go back to 2001 to find a Big 12 title game worth talking about. That year, Colorado stopped No. 3 Texas, 39-37, in Irving, Texas, led by running back Chris Brown’s three touchdowns.
Needless to say, competitive football is in high demand, and this showdown may finally provide some drama conference football fans have craved.
This actually was the matchup pundits predicted over the summer. But the journey these two teams took to come back to Kansas City couldn’t possibly have been foreseen.
Oklahoma had the most bizarre ride, losing quarterback Rhett Bomar and lineman J.D. Quinn right before the season for committing blatant NCAA extra-benefits violations. A quarterback-turned-receiver, Paul Thompson, became a quarterback again. Outsiders’ expectations of OU dipped, and were confirmed with a controversial loss to Oregon and a no-doubt loss to Texas.
The second blow came on Oct. 14, when star running back Adrian Peterson broke his collarbone diving into the end zone, further throwing doubt in OU’s aspirations. At the time, the Sooners were 4-2.
Remarkably, they haven’t lost since.
“It’s real gratifying,” said Thompson, who has 2,167 yards and 18 touchdowns. “Just seeing how this team has come together. Everyone has pulled together with the adversity we faced.”
Oklahoma locked up the Big 12 title game berth as late as it possibly could. When Texas A&M beat Texas, 12-7, last week, the window was cracked for the Sooners. And OU barged through, beating Oklahoma State, 27-21, to lock up the Big 12 South.
Now comes the old-school rival. Nebraska did what was expected – win the Big 12 North – without a whole lot of competition. Iowa State nosedived, Missouri stumbled late and Kansas State tripped coming out of the gate.
But the Huskers ducked under some sharp swords to get to today’s game. It squeaked past Kansas University, 39-32, in a thrilling Big 12 opener in September, then lost back-to-back games to Texas and Oklahoma State in October to give Missouri a shot at taking over the North race.
But a 34-20 victory over Missouri on Nov. 4 put Nebraska back in the driver’s seat, and the North was clinched the next week with an impressive 28-27 victory at Texas A&M.
It’s a big reward for two years of patience while Nebraska remodeled its attack under Callahan. Not just for Nebraska faithful, but for Big 12 fans finally ready to see a good game with the conference crown on the line.
“Both programs are back at the top right now,” Thompson said, ” and the drive to get a Big 12 Championship is one of the biggest drives you can have in a season.”
