Sooners, Wildcats prepare for Big 12 title game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Oklahoma is back. And nobody is prouder than the players who put a stop to a decade of coaching chaos and on-field failure. <br><br>``It's a good feeling for Oklahoma to be

Monday, November 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Oklahoma is back. And nobody is prouder than the players who put a stop to a decade of coaching chaos and on-field failure.

``It's a good feeling for Oklahoma to be back on the map,'' said Damian Mackey, one of quarterback Josh Heupel's bevy of outstanding receivers.

``It's one of the outstanding programs in college football. For me, it's a special occasion.''

Unbeaten, ranked No. 1 and hoping for their first national championship since 1985, the Sooners will meet No. 8 Kansas State in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium Saturday for the Big 12 championship.

If they win, then they're off to the Orange Bowl and the BCS national championship game. If they lose, they'll be the third Big 12 team in five years denied a shot at a national title because they got upset in the conference championship match.

It happened in 1996 when Texas upset Nebraska. It happened in 1998 when Texas A&M rallied for an overtime victory over Kansas State.

The Sooners are determined not to let it happen to them.

``I just think it's exciting,'' said Bob Stoops, who coached the Sooners to a 41-31 victory over then-No. 2 Kansas State on Oct. 14.

``It's another game to play. We're fired up about it. I don't have any part of setting up the BCS game so I'm not going to worry about it. Let's go play and have fun with it.''

The Sooners certainly had fun with Kansas State in their first meeting. Heupel hit 29-of-37 passes for 374 yards and two touchdowns and Oklahoma bolted to a 17-point halftime lead en route to its 10-point victory.

That was the day that knocked the Wildcats out of national contention and put Oklahoma squarely in the thick of the fight.

By exacting revenge against the team that dashed their dreams, the Wildcats (10-2) could get a bid to a BCS bowl, possibly the Fiesta.

A loss might doom them to the Alamo Bowl for the second time in three years.

``Obviously, we're going to have to play much better than we did in the initial game,'' said Kansas State coach Bill Snyder.

``I don't think we could make a lot of wholesale changes defensively. We have to do what we do. But I do know this _ whatever it is, we'd certainly have to do it better. Josh completed 78 percent of his passes. We had a very difficult time. We're going to have to be a heck of a lot better.''

This time, the Wildcats might take a cue from a few teams that slowed Heupel with a zone defense.

``We've just got to correct the mistakes we made,'' said defensive end Chris Johnson. ``If we do that, we'll be fine. We made many mistakes playing that (first) game. When you play a team like (Oklahoma), you just can't make mistakes like that.''

A key could be the pass rush up front.

``You have to get a great four-man pass rush,'' said Johnson. ``It will be very important. That goes with any game. Maybe we didn't do it as well as we did in other games.

``It will be very vital to get him out of rhythm. We'll put our defensive backs in a bad position if we give him all day to throw the ball.''