COLUMBIA | An answer roiled in the gut of Chase Daniel. When it poured forth across his lips, it wasn&#8217;t in response to the question he had just been asked about Oklahoma&#8217;s defense.</p><p>&#8220;You want to talk about their guys?&#8221; asked Daniel, the Missouri quarterback, a flicker of fire showing in his eyes. &#8220;How about our guys?&#8221;</p><p>Then, not waiting for a response to his rhetorical challenge, Daniel started reading from a piece of paper he had brought with him to the podium at Monday&#8217;s pre-Big 12 championship game news conference.</p><p>&#8220;Chase Coffman has the most catches in NCAA Division I-A history,&#8221; Daniel said. &#8220;In the history of tight ends, he has the most catches.</p><p>&#8220;Derrick Washington, ranked third in Big 12 rushing, eighth in the NCAA in scoring.</p><p>&#8220;Jeremy Maclin leads the NCAA in all-purpose yards. I don&#8217;t think really anyone&#8217;s really close to him. He&#8217;s third in the Big 12 in receiving yards.</p><p>&#8220;You look at their weapons? Well I want to look at ours, and what we have to bring to the table. I feel good about our guys.&#8221;</p><p>Barack Obama or Sarah Palin could not have done a better job of obfuscation. But Daniel &#8212; who at 7 p.m. Saturday will lead 9-3 Missouri into the Big 12 title game against 11-1 Oklahoma at Arrowhead Stadium &#8212; was just warming up.</p><p>More questions? Well, Daniel was ready with the answers.</p><p>Chip on the shoulder, Chase?</p><p>&#8220;Not necessarily a chip,&#8221; Daniel said. &#8220;We want respect, and it&#8217;s not going to be given to us. We&#8217;ve just got to go out there and get it.&#8221;</p><p>Hey, was that a Missouri player playing the respect card that Oklahoma played a year ago when Missouri came into the 2007 league championship game ranked No. 1?</p><p>It worked for Oklahoma a year ago, when the No. 9-ranked Sooners whipped top-ranked Mizzou 38-17. Why not try that shoe on the other foot with No. 4 Oklahoma heavily favored to beat No. 19 Missouri?</p><p>Daniel even invoked the vision of buddy and Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, with whom Daniel had a one-hour telephone conversation on Sunday after Oklahoma edged Texas in the BCS standings and claimed the South Division berth in the league title game.</p><p>&#8220;He was crushed,&#8221; Daniel said. &#8220;He&#8217;s obviously pulling for us to win, and so are we. We&#8217;re pulling for ourselves to win.&#8221;</p><p>Daniel&#8217;s passionate responses continued when he put much of the blame for two of Missouri&#8217;s three losses this season &#8212; to Oklahoma State and to Kansas &#8212; on mistakes he made.</p><p>Twice down the stretch against Oklahoma State, Daniel threw interceptions that enabled the Cowboys to hold on for a 28-23 victory on Oct. 11 in Columbia.</p><p>On Saturday, Daniel&#8217;s two interceptions and lost fumble played a part in Missouri falling behind early and losing 40-37 to Kansas.</p><p>&#8220;It all starts with me,&#8221; Daniel said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve got to do a better job of protecting the football.&#8221;</p><p>Just moments before, MU coach Gary Pinkel had agreed with the responsibility that weighs on Daniel&#8217;s shoulders as the general of the Missouri offense.</p><p>&#8220;Before you help your team win, you can&#8217;t beat your team,&#8221; Pinkel said, quickly making certain to balance that criticism with praise.</p><p>&#8220;He made some mistakes in this game as you all know, but he also &#8230; put us in position at the end.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s Chase Daniel.&#8221;</p><p>There actually was more than a bit of levity at Mizzou&#8217;s first public media gathering since the Border War loss Saturday.