Big 12 Title Game Preview

2010 Big 12 Title Game: Story Lines Abound

Sooners Seek 8th Conference Title

Arlington- After the Oklahoma Sooners thrilling victory in this year’s 105th meeting of Beldam in Stillwater, Bob Stoops and his troops will march south to Arlington, Texas to play in what will be the last Big 12 Championship Title Game under the current league of teams. This will be Stoops’ eighth appearance in the title game in his twelve years as the Sooners head man. He is 7-1 all time in conference championship games, his only loss coming in 2003 when Kansas State knocked off the then number 1 ranked Sooners.

Since then, Stoops has gone on to be, without a doubt, the best coach in getting his players ready to enter play in the conference championship game. Since that loss in 2003, Oklahoma has captured the crown in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008. The 2010 title game will feature an Oklahoma versus Nebraska match-up for just the second time in Stoops’ career, something not lost on the head coach in Norman. 

"I guess I have to say something, of course, the tradition and history of this rivalry is second to none. You look at the number of years it expands and the times we've met over the years in the Big 8 Conference and the Big 12 Conference where we've met when there have been championship implications on this game,” Stoops said in his presser on Tuesday. “[It is] One of the most special rivalries in all of football. It's really fitting that the last time we're in the conference together to have, I like to say, one more go at it. It's really kind of exciting for everybody."

Also fitting is the number of conference championships each school holds respectively. Nebraska has captured 43 conference titles, whereas Oklahoma is right behind the Huskers with 42. Fitting in that the Sooners can match - perhaps - their most storied rival outside of Texas in the game Saturday with a win. 

Another interesting aspect of this game is both head coaches are no strangers to one another. Head Coach Bo Pelini has prior knowledge of the Sooner staff, as they do him due to the time he served as co-defensive coordinator under Stoops in the 2004 season before moving on to LSU and eventually Nebraska. Stoops and both Bo and Carl Pelini grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and attended Cardinal Mooney High School. To say there is an intertwined nature of their relationship would be an understatement. 

And, as Stoops jokingly commented Tuesday, Carol Stoops might have other allegiances during the title game tilt. “Carl lived for I don't know how many months with my wife and I at Kansas State in Manhattan. My wife considers him like a brother. She might be halfway rooting for him. I'm kidding."

Earlier this week, the All-Big 12 Coaches and AP award winners were released and, as usual, many Sooner and Husker players donned the 2010 list. There will be several head-to-head match-ups between All-Big 12 conference selections for bragging rights and bravado Saturday as well. The Coaches Defensive Player of the Year, Nebraska defensive back Prince Amukamara, will try to do what only one team - the Texas Longhorns - has done to Oklahoma AP First Team All-Big 12 wide receiver Ryan Broyles and hold him to 5 catches and under 50 yards receiving, Broyles’ lowest outputs in both categories this season. The Nebraska offense will also have their hands full in trying to protect the quarterback as AP All-Big 12 Player of the Year, defensive end Jeremy Beal, will go up against a Husker offensive line that includes AP and Coaches First Team right guard Ricky Henry. 

Nebraska freshman linebacker Lavonte David, voted the AP Defensive Newcomer of the Year, will also have his hands full in dealing with AP and Coaches First Team kick returner/running back Demarco Murray. Lastly, Oklahoma’s lone All-Big 12 First Team offensive lineman, senior right tackle Eric Mensik, will have to help battle Husker senior defensive tackle Jared Crick, as he attempts to get to Sooner quarterback and AP All-Big 12 second teamer Landry Jones. 

A major point of contention Saturday - for both teams - will be the health and availability of the Husker’s AP Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year, freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez. And, unless you haven’t watched college football this season, you have seen, read and/or heard of the myriad of controversies surrounding the volatile quarterback and his head coach. 

The most memorable moment so far came in the Huskers last loss in College Station to Texas A & M. Multiple reports said that after Martinez was injured in the first half of the game with the Aggies, he was taken into the medical room for evaluation. After the game, it was reported that Martinez retrieved his cell phone and texted his father and did not return to the sideline in a mannerly time. 

What happened next unfolded for the entire nation to see on the sidelines as Pelini became irate, screaming at Martinez, poking him in the chest with his finger, noticeable angered by something the quarterback had done. After re-watching the scene that ensued between the two, and a little help from lip readers, it becomes pretty easy to tell that the two clearly weren’t seeing eye to eye to say the least.

The following day when the Huskers returned to Lincoln, rumors swirled that Martinez was quitting the team, and, after some calming of the waters - on whose side we do not know - Martinez was still on the team, but did not play in Nebraska’s last home game, a rivalry bout with Colorado, ruled out with a right ankle injury. 

If Martinez can’t go, back-up Cody Green will likely get the nod to start the game, with senior Zac Lee backing him up. However, Green likely would not see the field 100% of the time as Pelini has shown a propensity for going to the wildcat formation with sophomore running back Rex Burkhead when Green has started and/or played in place of the injured Martinez. Pelini has also alluded that he may opt to play Martinez and Green if need be, so what’s to come from the Nebraska offense is yet to be determined. 

Oddly enough, Martinez’s health seems to be somewhat of a non-issues to Stoops’ team if senior safety and All-American Quinton Carter is representative of the attitude of the defense as he replied Tuesday to questions of how the defense would game plan not knowing who would start at quarterback for the Huskers, “I don't think it [the game plan] changes at all. We still prepare the same way. Their offense won't change at all, I don't think, just because their quarterback was hurt. They still have been winning games with different quarterbacks."

With so many memorable games between these two storied programs, Saturday’s game may be the penultimate match-up between the programs as Nebraska is scheduled to leave the conference. Earlier in the week, a plan for the teams to play a home-and-home series in 2020-2021 is being considered by both schools, a series that would see new players and could have similar levels of hype the 2010 Big 12 Conference Championship Game is receiving.

The Sooners lead all-time in their storied rivalry with Nebraska at 44-38-3. The two teams met last season in Lincoln, NE where a defensive battle ensued and saw Pelini, Ndamukong Suh and the Huskers prevail with a 10-3 victory. Oklahoma’s Landry Jones - then only a red-shirt freshman filling in for the injured Sam Bradford - tossed 5 interceptions and hampered any real chance the Sooners had at taking home a win. Conversely, the two schools also met in the 2006 Big XII championship game in Kansas City, MO where OU captured its 4th conference crown.

The 2010 season has been much more favorable to these young Sooners compared to their 8-5 season in 2009, especially in regards to Jones as of late. After opening the season on a 4 game win streak this year, defeating all of their out-of-conference opponents, the Sooners took the Red River Rivalry for the first time in 2 years and Oklahoma would jump out to the early number 1 spot in the initial BSC rankings. 

However, stumbling blocks awaited the Sooners in Columbia, MO. and College Station, TX. as the Sooners would drop road games to Mizzou and Texas A & M, giving way to a barrage of questions surrounding the Sooners inability to play consistently on the road and defeat highly ranked teams. 

Now, with wins under their belts against a resurgent Baylor team and a top 10 ranked Oklahoma State squad - both of which were on the road - Stoops and his staff can now focus on being back in that familiar territory of playing for a conference championship. Landry Jones has shown miles of improvement since a lackadaisical outing against Texas A & M and the offensive and defensive lines have progressed into solid groups capable of controlling the line of scrimmage against top-end competition. 

After his team’s 8th straight victory over their in-state rivals, Coach Stoops had the following to say about Saturday’s title game tilt with the Cornhuskers: “What would be more fitting though and how exciting to be able to pair up against Nebraska - not that it’s exciting to play them, they’re an excellent football team - but the tradition there and the history between Nebraska and Oklahoma and with them departing from us, to have one more go at it’s really pretty exciting and special.”

Lastly, Coach Stoops commented on having to play a conference championship game while other teams are able to have their seasons completed. “If you're not in the top one, two or three in the National Championship picture, for instance there have been many other years that we've been looking at the National Championship game after this. So that team that you're going to see won't be playing. They're sitting at home relaxing while you have this huge game in front of you. You don't like it and you think why in the world are we doing this?” Stoops said. “In these kind of years, it's exciting as heck. It's what you want, you really look forward to it and it's a special environment to play in. The players are excited, the fans are. These kind of years you really love it so it's a kind of catch 22 depending on the year you're having."

As Oklahoma State found out last week, a relaxed and excited Coach Stoops isn’t exactly what you would like to see coming into a game of this magnitude. Could Stoops be taking steps back to fans and media being ready to give him back the monicker of “Big Game Bob”? That’s yet to be determined and in all likelihood, Stoops will not only have to win this final conference title game, but also the Fiesta Bowl that would await a victorious Sooner team. 

I for one believe that these Sooners are peaking at the right time in their season and the youngsters that have made some mistakes along the way at losses to Missouri and Texas A & M have vastly matured in their last two road games. If  Landry Jones can keep his interceptions to under 2 and the defense can wreak havoc on whichever quarterback or wildcat running back the Huskers throw at them, I see Coach Stoops carrying back his 8th Big 12 Conference Championship. It would mean that in even numbered years since 2000, the Sooners would have won every title game. My prediction: OU 34, Nebraska 13.

For more, check out my blog at http://footballimp.blogspot.com Saturday evening for my commentary and thoughts during the game or email me at: brett_t_hill@hotmail.com with any questions.