Sooners Look to Play Spoiler Against Missouri

Last Saturday against Oklahoma State, Bob Stoops had a plan:

Oklahoma ran it, ran it, and ran it some more.

For maybe the first time all season, the vaunted OU offensive line showed what it was capable of, thoroughly dominating OSU’s front seven and enabling another Bedlam blowout.

The defense also did it’s part—perhaps the obligatory momentum-shifting goal-line-stand-cum-Zac Robinson-fumble will become an annual feature of this game.

In the end, it was undoubtedly a satisfying 49-17 win for OU fans. But why does this one feel different than before, just a little more hollow?
 
Oklahoma’s back in the Big 12 Championship Game. That’s not the surprise.

But perhaps what has many Sooner fans off guard this time around is that OU is the one looking to play the spoiler.

It’s an unfamiliar role for the Sooners, who are used to being the hunted, but rarely the hunters at this time of year. It’s been that kind of season in Norman, full of what-ifs and coulda-shouldas.

What if Reggie Smith doesn’t muff it in Boulder?

What if Halzle finds his rhythm just a few passes earlier?

This was an OU team that had it’s share of question marks at the beginning of the year—namely who would emerge at quarterback—but a few games was all it took for Sooner Nation to anoint this team the same “special” status accorded to so many squads of past glory.

Things haven’t really turned out that way, but in this craziest of football seasons, Bob Stoops still has his team right to where we’re used to seeing them: playing for a championship.

Sure, it might not be for all the marbles, but when was the last time someone won back-to-back Big 12 titles?

That’s right, it’s never been done.

This has been a season of ups and downs for the Crimson and Cream, yet here they are once again, on the verge of doing something special.
 
It wont be easy though.

Missouri—#1 Missouri—promises to give OU everything they can handle. Chase Daniel, ignored by the top schools in his own state as a high school standout, has all but locked up an invitation to New York. And while OU has looked dominant at home, their record away from Norman also speaks for itself. 

In the end, it should come down to which team can forget about who they were supposed to be and focus on what they actually are.

Mizzou fans have been all too quick to say how they gift-wrapped us our win earlier this season—how they should have won. Quite possibly, but we’ll take all the gifts we can get.

Especially this holiday season.
 
Prediction: OU 31, Mizzou 27