COLUMBIA | Contrary to what might have been the anticipated reaction, confirmation of Missouri&#8217;s third meeting with Oklahoma in football in less than 14 months was not greeted by groans.</p><p>Mike Kelly, master of ceremonies at Mizzou&#8217;s Sunday football banquet, was at the rostrum when he got the news that Oklahoma had edged ahead of Texas in the BCS standings.</p><p>He relayed the news to more than 450 people gathered at the non-media banquet, and, according to athletic director Mike Alden, there was an expectant murmur of reaction.</p><p>&#8220;To a T, pretty much everybody was excited,&#8221; Alden said.</p><p>Coach Gary Pinkel?</p><p>&#8220;He had already finished his remarks by then,&#8221; Alden said, &#8220;and he had a special-teams meeting to go to, so he left pretty quickly after that.&#8221;</p><p>Missouri did not play Oklahoma in the 2008 regular season. The Tigers lost at Oklahoma in the &#8217;07 regular Big 12 season, 41-31 on Oct. 13.</p><p>The teams were rematched on Dec. 1 in the Big 12 championship game in San Antonio. Tied 14-14 at the half, Oklahoma rolled thereafter, beating Missouri 38-17 and limiting Missouri&#8217;s possession of the No. 1 national ranking to one week.</p><p>On Saturday, the Sooners and Tigers will meet again at 7 p.m. in the 2008 Big 12 championship game, this time at Arrowhead Stadium.</p><p>The Tigers, after a 40-37 Border War loss to Kansas on Saturday in Kansas City, were well-aware they would probably not be given a competitive chance to beat Oklahoma, Texas or Texas Tech, the three South division powers whose regular-season tie was ultimately broken by the BCS standings.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t really have a preference,&#8221; nose tackle Jaron Baston said. &#8220;All three teams are great teams.&#8221;</p><p>Unlike many Missouri fans, at least some of the MU football players seemingly were quickly able to slough off the pain of Saturday&#8217;s loss to KU because of the reality that &#8212; no matter how improbable it seems for the 9-3 Tigers &#8212; a victory in the Big 12 title game would land Mizzou in the Fiesta Bowl, a BCS postseason slot.</p><p>&#8220;That was a great game,&#8221; Baston said of Saturday, even though Missouri lost it on a fourth-and-7, 26-yard TD pass from KU&#8217;s Todd Reesing to Kerry Meier, in the final half-minute.</p><p>&#8220;I would rather lose any game like that any day,&#8221; Baston said, as opposed to the 56-31 blowout loss to Texas on Oct. 18.</p><p>&#8220;I mean, a game like Texas, that&#8217;s a game I hated being a part of.&#8221;</p><p>Now it is on to Oklahoma, a team Missouri hasn&#8217;t beaten in its last six tries, since MU won 20-6 in Columbia in 1998.</p><p>That victory is MU&#8217;s only one over Oklahoma, in fact, in the last 19 meetings.</p><p>History &#8212; both recent and past &#8212; is something Missouri will have to move beyond if it wants to have a chance at its first league football title since the 1969 Big Eight Conference championship.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll right ourselves,&#8221; QB Chase Daniel said. &#8220;If you don&#8217;t, you&#8217;re going to get embarrassed by a great team.&#8221;