Football

Missouri vs Oklahoma -- Big 12 Championship Postgame Quotes

Dec. 1, 2007

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Miscellaneous Notes

  • Tonight's loss by Missouri marked the fourth time that a team that would have qualified for the national championship game was knocked out by a loss in the Big 12 Championship.
      (1996 - unranked Texas def. #3 Nebraska; 1998 - #10 Texas A&M def. #1 Kansas State; 2001 - #10 Colorado def. #3 Texas)

  • Teams carrying a No. 1 ranking into the Big 12 Championship are now 1-3 all-time.
      (1998 - Texas A&M def. #1 Kansas State; 2000 - #1 Oklahoma def. Kansas State; 2003 - Kansas State def. #1 Oklahoma; 2007 - Oklahoma def. #1 Missouri)

  • The South representative is now 8-4 all-time at the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship.

  • The South representative has won the last four meetings by an average score of 42.8 to 7.5.

  • The team winning the toss is now 4-8 all-time at the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship. (Mizzou won the toss).

  • The team scoring first is now 8-4 all-time (Mizzou took the initial lead on a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter).

  • Tonight's attendance was 62,585 (96.2% capacity), which ranks third in Big 12 Championship games played inside the Alamodome.
      (1999 - 65,035, Nebraska vs. Texas; 1997 - 64,824, Texas A&M vs. Nebraska)

  • The combined 3 first-quarter points (Mizzou 3, OU 0) matched the lowest first-quarter offensive output in title game history.
      (Oklahoma 3, Kansas State 0 - 2000 in Kansas City).

  • Tonight marked just the second time that a championship game was tied at halftime (2000 - Oklahoma vs Kansas State).

  • Tonight marked the sixth time in league history that the championship game opponents had met in the regular season.
      (season sweeps three times: 2000 - Oklahoma over Kansas State; 2002 - Oklahoma over Colorado; 2005 - Texas over Colorado; 2007 - Oklahoma over Missouri)
        (twice a team has avenged a loss from earlier in the season: 1999 - Nebraska def. Texas; 2001 - Colorado def. Texas).

  • Average starting field position: Oklahoma - own 36; Missouri - own 19.

  • Missouri won the toss and elected to receive on the north goal.

  • Mizzou became just the second team in the game's history to win the toss and choose to receive (Texas A&M, 1997, San Antonio).

  • OU now leads the series between the schools 65-23-5. The Sooners have won six straight and 18 of the last 19.

  • Missouri and Oklahoma played their first games in the Alamodome, which opened in 1993.
  • Next year's Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship will be played in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium for the fifth time.

    • Oklahoma Notes

  • Oklahoma won its 41st conference title and fifth Big 12 Championship (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007).

  • With 38 points tonight, OU has scored 164 points in Big 12 title games, more than any other school in league history (27.3 avg).

  • OU coach Bob Stoops is now 96-21 in his ninth season in Norman, 5-1 in the Big 12 title game and 28-4 vs. Big 12 North teams.

  • OU was 5-for-5 in the red zone (4 TD, 1 FG).
  • OU is now 3-0 this year vs. ranked opponents (def. #16 Texas, def. #11 Missouri, def. #1 Missouri).

  • OU's 38 points were the second most allowed by Missouri this season (OU scored 41 in the teams' meeting earlier this year in Norman).
  • Oklahoma became the first team to hold Missouri to under 30 points in a game this year. Mizzou had been the only team in the country to score 30+ points in every game.
  • Oklahoma is now 5-2 all-time in domed stadiums (last game in a dome was in 2003, Sugar Bowl, New Orleans).

  • With its third-quarter interception, the Sooner defense has forced at least one turnover in 107 of 118 games under Coach Bob Stoops, and at least one interception in 79 of the last 104 games.

  • Mike Knall's 66-yard punt in the first quarter was the second longest in Big 12 Championship game history.
      (record: 67 yards, Texas A&M's Shane Lechler vs. Nebraska, Dec. 6, 1997 in San Antonio).

  • Knall's 66-yarder was a career long. His previous best was a 60-yard effort at Texas Tech on Nov. 18, 2007.

  • Sam Bradford (Fr-RS) is the first freshman quarterback to start or play in a Big 12 Championship game.

  • Tonight marks just the fourth time that Oklahoma has played an opponent twice in the same season.
      (2007 - def. Missouri twice; 2002 - def. Colorado twice; 2000 - def. Kansas State twice; 1978 - split with Nebraska)

  • The Sooners began conference play in 1915 and have been conference members for a total of 92 years, including 2007.
  • Oklahoma made its sixth appearance in the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship game (5-1 all-time, won last two trips in 2004 and 2006).

  • OU captains were #16 Lewis Baker, #19 Joe Jon Finley, #21 Jacob Gutierrez, #24 Marcus Walker.

    • Missouri Notes

  • Mizzou played its first-ever game as a BCS No. 1-ranked team and just the second all-time as an Associated Press No. 1 (1960).

  • Mizzou is now 3-2 this year vs. ranked opponents (def. #2 Kansas, def. #21 Texas Tech, def. #23 Nebraska; lost at #5 Oklahoma).

  • Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel is now 48-37 in his seventh season in Columbia and 121-74-3 overall in his 17th year as a head coach.

  • Mizzou was 4-for-4 in the red zone (1 TD, 3 FG). Two of the field goals were kicked after 1st-and-goal situations.

  • Mizzou made its first appearance in the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship game.

  • Mizzou captains were #4 Jason Ray, #13 Cornelius Brown, #82 Martin Rucker and #99 Lorenzo Williams.

  • Junior kicker Jeff Wolfert's three field goals brought his consecutive kicks made in 2007 to 58 (15 FGs, 43 PATs). His last miss came on a field goal against Illinois State on Sept. 22. He is also a perfect 90-for-90 in his career against Big 12 opponents (26 FGs, 64 PATs).

  • Missouri became just the second team to hold OU scoreless in a quarter in 38 tries this season (Utah State, 4th quarter, Sept. 15).

  • WR Jeremy Maclin eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark with his 8-yard catch late in the second quarter. He became just the third Tiger in school history to reach the mark. (season 1,023 yards on 77 receptions, 69 yards on 8 catches tonight).

  • Maclin's eight catches ranked tied for second all-time in championship game history. (record: Malcom Kelly, OU - 10 catches in 2006).
      Maclin shares second place with a trio of former Sooner receivers (Trent Smith, 2000; Mark Clayton and Will Peoples, 2003; Clayton, 2004).
  • Jeremy Maclin's extra-point pass to Martin Rucker in the second quarter was the second successful 2-point conversion in the game's history. (1998 - Texas A&M's Sirr Parker caught a pass from Branndon Stewart in the 4th quarter)