Remember the Alamodome

First of all, congratulations to the Oklahoma Sooners. They beat Missouri in Norman. They soundly defeated the Tigers Saturday night in San Antonio. They have bigger, stronger and faster athletes -- just better football players.

They wore down Mizzou in the second half. They were better coached and better prepared. Coach Bob Stoops and staff showed Gary Pinkel and crew, that while they've made considerable progress up the mountain, there's a long way to go to get to the summit.

Oklahoma is, by far, the best team Mizzou has played this season. They could make a convincing case they're the best team in the country. If it wasn't for an injury to quarterback Sam Bradford against Texas Tech, the Sooners would probably be playing for a national championship next month.

As for Missouri, there came a point last night -- I think right around the time they kicked a field goal for their only second half points-- when ABC showed the stats for the contest. Mizzou had more rushing yards, more passing yards, dominated time of possession and had something like double the number of first downs.

The Tigers led in every single category except the one that mattered -- the scoreboard. Oklahoma led 28-17 en route to their 38-17 victory. A couple of things stood out to me. First of all, big plays. The Sooners had them -- the Tigers didn't.

Oklahoma's first scoring drive featured a 47-yard pass. Their third touchdown was keyed by a 40-yard run. Their fourth touchdown came after an interception and a 26-yard return.

Just like OU, Missouri had scored four times, but three of those drives ended in field goals. They pulled off only two plays of more than 20 yards during any scoring drive. Their longest play during that stretch -- in fact, their longest play of the night - went for 22 yards.

Credit the OU defense for a strong performance. The same can't be said for the other side. Think back to the darkest days of Mizzou football. I'm talking Woody Widenhofer, Norman Conquest era. Defensive back Darnell Terrell would have felt right at home on those teams. He had no business being on the field Saturday night.

The Tigers needed to break a big play because they couldn't execute inside the red zone. Before their first field goal, Mizzou had first and goal at the nine yard line. Three plays produced a negative two yards. The Tigers kicked their second field goal after being stuffed inside the one on back-to-back plays. Would it kill Mizzou to actually have Chase Daniel line up under center and take a hike when they're that close to the end zone?

Before their third field goal, the Tigers again had the ball on the nine-yard line and again succeeded in going backwards. A handoff to Tony Temple lost three yards. A screen pass to Derrick Washington lost six more.

On nine plays inside the 10-yard line, across the three different field goal drives, the Tigers gained a net total of minus three yards.

Did Scott Linehan sneak into the Alamodome and start calling plays Saturday night?

A few other thoughts before making my New Year's Day reservations for Dallas.

What's happened to wide receiver Will Franklin this year? He had two catches for 19 yards on Saturday night. Against Kansas State- one catch for nine yards. No receptions against Iowa State. One grab for 14 yards against Texas Tech. This from a guy who considered entering the NFL draft after his junior year. I realize the Tigers have a lot of receiving options, but his role has really been diminished while other players, like Tommy Saunders, have emerged as the year has progressed.

Injuries play a role in any game. The Tigers missed Chase Coffman last night. Danario Alexander's knee injury in the first half took away a major threat.

Whatever chance Chase Daniel had for the Heisman Trophy evaporated after Saturday night. The stats weren't awful -- 23 for 39 for 219 yards - but they weren't great, either. And he needed great to have a chance.

Just like 1960, the Tigers perch at the top of the national rankings lasted all of one week. I hope it's not another 47 years before we see this again.

The Tigers should be just as good -- maybe even better -- next season. But so should Oklahoma. We could very well see these teams in a rematch in the conference championship game. Mizzou and Oklahoma don't play in the regular season in 2008. Let's hope the Tigers have better defensive backs and the red zone offense figured out by then.