Sooner(s) Or Later.... Fifth down.

Kicked ball touchdown.

Tony Van Zant, hurt before he even played a down.

77-0.

73-0.

You can't blame a Mizzou football fan for beginning to twitch with the mention of these events. I'm old enough to have a vague memory of Dan Devine's team playing in the Orange Bowl against Penn State, when the Tigers turned the ball over nine (NINE) times, including seven interceptions, in a 10-3 loss. Mizzou won the Big Eight that year, but I don't remember that--just the horror of all those turnovers on New Year's Night. From there, Al Onofrio led the Tigers to a number of stunning upsets (Ohio State, USC, Alabama among them), with just as many head-scratching defeats. And then there was that albatross around his neck disguised as a Kansas Jayhawk--yep, a 1-6 record against your arch rival is not a high point on the resume.

Warren Powers was next. Boy, did he assemble some talent: Phil Bradley, James Wilder, Kellen Winslow. And the Powers-led Tigers pulled some upsets, too, but they couldn't crack that elite level. Still, knowing then what we know now, that was paradise compared to the football abyss the Terrible Tigers were in the mid-80's through the early 90's.

Woody Widenhofer, who uttered the memorable line, "You've got to take it Saturday to Saturday, because every Saturday is a different Saturday." Bob Stull, who had the opportunity to say something memorable, as in "Uh, when did it get to be fifth and goal?", but didn't--and that summed up his stay here. All right, I'm hitting the fast forward button now.

For two years, Larry Smith gave us Mizzou fans the hope that he was turning the corner with the program, playing in two actual bowl games, but that magic quickly wore off.

And then came Gary Pinkel. He was very impressive when he rolled into Columbia with his list of lofty goals: bowl games, conference championships, the whole deal. He had a great presence, but after a couple of years it looked like another seemingly great coach had met his match with mediocrity in Mid-Misery---er, Missouri. OK, there were bowl games, but after the late collapse against Oregon State last year, how many of you were wondering how many more heartbreaking defeats could happen to one program? And I know there wasn't anybody (all right, anybody outside of the football complex) who could have seen this season coming. It's been like the perfect storm, and as many have pointed out, it rings eerily familiar to what happened with the Rams in 1999.

A great new offense. A collection of thoroughbred receivers, one faster than the next. A quarterback who has conducted this kind of offense since high school, and is making his school's first real bid for the Heisman Trophy since the 1940's! A diver-turned kicker who hasn't missed in a Big 12 game. And the great athletes are now on defense as well---speed being the key ingredient---to be just as good as they have to be. And now, this program, ridiculed and downtrodden for so long, is on the cusp of playing for the national freakin' championship!

Four quarters.

Sixty minutes.

And all that stands in the way is the Oklahoma Sooners.

Now that's a school with a football history. And we don't even have to invoke the name of Bud Wilkinson. Greg Pruitt. Joe Washington. Elvis Peacock (all right, he wasn't an all-time great, but his name was Elvis Peacock for crying out loud.). Billy Sims. A program so good that a future Hall of Famer (Troy Aikman) had to transfer to another school to find playing time. The Schooner. Boomer Sooner!

This is the crossroads the Mizzou program is at. I can't begin to count how many times my fellow sports producer, Larry Thornton, has proclaimed the Tigers to have finally arrived. But then, those Mizzou players remember that the team isn't supposed to win big games, and they revert back to where they've been, instead of creating their own identity. And you could see it happening in Norman back in October. They took the lead heading into the fourth quarter, only to make key mistakes leading to another defeat. 17 losses in 18 games to Oklahoma. It was as if somebody tappped them on the shoulder and reminded them that Missouri doesn't win games against teams like that.

But instead of losing four of its final five regular season games like the '06 Tigers did, this team did something that hasn't been done since Terry McMillan, Joe Moore, and Mel Gray wore the black and gold: they won in November, and kept on winning. Can they do it one more time, but now in the unchartered territory of December?

I think so.

They didn't let the hype get to them against Kansas. KU was a step slow for three quarters, until it was too late. And this Mizzou bunch was workmanlike (if you can say a team with all those burners are workmanlike), and had an attitude. A step on your throat kind of attitude. And I think last week's game will help them this week. No need to get the deer-in-the-headlights look, they've been under the bright lights of national tv. No chance for the hype to get in their ears---they had a week of it and then took care of business.

Plus, they have no reason to fear the Sooners. Aside from the key mistakes that haunted them last time, they hung with OU in their backyard. 41-31 was not 77-0, as it was in 1986. As Bob Stoops pointed out, the Sooners made mistakes, too, but they overcame them and won the game. They didn't get the game handed to them. True, Bob. But this Tiger team over the past six weeks has not been making mistakes or turning the ball over. Pinkel has preached it over and over all season, and his players have listened. You don't turn the ball over, you win games.

And there's that speed. Speed kills---or at least it makes up for a lot of things. And the Tigers have the athletes to keep up with a team like Oklahoma. The question is, can a Sooner secondary that ranks 42nd in the nation against the pass, keep up with Chase and his Tiger Squadron? I don't think so, not with the Oklahoma pass rush only averaging 2.6 sacks a game. Mizzou will score points again. And I think this will be another week that the defense will play with moments of brilliance, with an overall performance that will be just good enough to win.

38 years of mediocrity could be flushed away in sixty minutes.

Can all Mizzou fans stand to hear, "And playing for the national championship, the Missouri Tigers."? They've had a week of getting used to hearing top-ranked Missouri Tigers. Why not?

Missouri 37, Oklahoma 31.

"Almost heaven, (beating) West Virginia..." It could happen. ¶ 12:06 AM