As usual, I had an enjoyable chat with the Night Shift crew from 610 AM in Houston. And I mean that: Whereas most radio appearances tend to be rather banal events, Adam and Danny read BON, always ask insightful questions, and without fail prompt an enjoyable Friday night chat.

Audio is after the jump for those interested.

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BON Live returns to preview Saturday night's game with SB Nation's Missouri bloggers at Rock M Nation. Ross Taylor explains the breakdown in the Tigers' line play which led to Missouri's offense becoming one dimensional and lays out the recipe for an upset in Austin.

Audio after the jump.

(For PB's answers to RMN questioning, visit here.)

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The week in Big XII football.

THE RUNDOWN

• Texas 45  Oklahoma 35  [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
  
  Texas' 45 points tied for the most ever scored by the Longhorns in the series, matching the 2005 national title winning squad. And the last time Texas defeated a #1 ranked team in the regular season? That would be 1963, when the 'Horns took down Oklahoma 28-7 en route to Darrell Royal's first national title. Time to celebrate? No! But... still, you might be as surprised as I was to discover that 10 of the 20 teams ranked in the top two of the initial BCS standings went on to play in the Title Game:
  
  

  YEAR	BCS WEEK 1	BCS TITLE GAME
  2007	(1) Ohio State, (2) South Florida	(1) Ohio State, (2) LSU
  2006	(1) Ohio State, (2) USC	(1) Ohio State, (2) Florida
  2005	(1) USC, (2) Texas	(1) USC, (2) Texas
  2004	(1) USC, (2) Miami	(1) USC, (2) Oklahoma
  2003	(1) Oklahoma, (2) Miami	(1) Oklahoma, (2) LSU
  2002	(1) Oklahoma, (2) Miami	(1) Miami, (2) Ohio State
  2001	(1) Oklahoma, (2) Nebraska	(1) Miami, (2) Nebraska
  2000	(1) Nebraska, (2) Oklahoma	(1) Oklahoma, (2) Florida State
  1999	(1) Florida State, (2) Penn State	(1) Florida State, (2) Virginia Tech
  1998	(1) UCLA, (2) Ohio State	(1) Tennessee, (2) Florida State

  
  Still, Longhorns fans would be wise to keep things in perspective: We're still a week away from the release of the first BCS Standings, with an exceptionally dangerous Missouri team coming to Austin Saturday night. Win that one and Texas fans can start to evaluate the odds of making the national title game. Until then, Texas is just the latest team with a big red "#1" target on its back. The Tigers will come gunning.
  
  
• Oklahoma State 28  Missouri 23  [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
  
  The difference in this game was Missouri's inability to run the football: Though they entered the game averaging nearly 5.9 yards per carry, the Tigers (after adjusting for sacks) managed just 81 yards rushing on 16 carries. Consider that Chase Daniel picked up 63 of those yards on 5 rushes and Mizzou's rushers picked up just 18 yards on 11 attempts. In that regard the Tigers have simply proven themselves to be the North Division's version of Texas Tech when Mike Leach forgets (or is unable to establish) the running game: Without a credible rushing presence, Daniel took to the air 52 freaking times, and though he completed 39 of those attempts for 390 yards, 3 of his completions went to the wrong team.
  
  Contrast that with Oklahoma State, which saw its theretofore unstoppable rushing game nearly halved in production (4.7 yards per attempt), but hammered away nonetheless, amassing 200 yards on 42 attempts. If Missouri did a nice job of keeping the Cowboys from running wild, Mike Gundy's commitment to the rush paid off most impressively: Kendall Hunter broke one long (68 yards) for a score, and OSU's final two scores came off beautiful play action pass plays that freed WR Damian Davis wide open or in single coverage where he could use his 6-5 height to go get the ball.
  
  I was a bit surprised watching the game by how impressive Mike Gundy's game plan was. He coached a near-perfect game.

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The week in Big 12 football.

One of my favorite activities each week is my Friday evening chat with The Night Shift crew from Sports Radio 610 AM in Houston--a conversation which forces me to crystallize a week's worth of thoughts into a coherent Saturday narrative. After talking specifics about Texas-Colorado, Adam and Danny asked me on Friday to comment on the Big 12's other conference games, prompting me to emphasize that I thought the opening weekend's main storyline was whether the conference's five heavyweights (Missouri, OU, Tech, Texas, and Oklahoma State) would prove their worthiness by convincingly taking care of business on the road against Tier 2 Big XII teams. (Audio of this Friday's chat here.)

All five passed with flying colors, while Kansas justified my excluding them from the conversation:

Oklahoma 49  Baylor 17
Texas Tech 58  Kansas State 28
Texas 38  Colorado 14
Oklahoma State 56  Texas A&M 28
Missouri 52  Nebraska 17
Kansas 35  Iowa State 33

If I was thrilled to see the contenders hold serve in week one, now the real fun begins as heavyweights are forced to butt heads. Click through the jump for thoughts on handicapping the race.

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