Eric Gay / AP

Oklahoma running back Allen Patrick and quarterback Sam Bradford celebrate Patrick's third quarter touchdown against Missouri on Saturday. The No. 9 Sooners beat the No. 1 Tigers 38-17 in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday night.

Stoops nickname is "Big Game Bob'' and he's 5-1 in Big 12 title games. His team approached this one with "been-there-done-that'' swagger, knowing that had already beaten Missouri once this season and 17 of the last 18 meetings.

"We took care of the football (and) played physical,'' Stoops said.

The Sooners defense took control in the second half. Daniel was popped hard on screen pass and several plays later was jawing with Lofton after he was tackled for a loss to kill what had been a promising Tigers drive.

The Sooners then drove to the go-ahead touchdown when Patrick ran 40 yards to set up his own 4-yard TD run that made it 21-14.

Then the Tigers made the key mistake that would crush their title hopes.

Daniel zipped a pass to tight end Martin Rucker who tipped the ball high in the air. Lofton picked it off and returned it to the Missouri 7. Two plays later, a simple play-action pass from Bradford to Jermaine Gresham made it 28-14.

After the interception, Daniel went to the sideline holding his arms out to ask "what happened?'' a question the Tigers will be asking themselves for a long time.

"I would like to think that if you're 11-2 it's somewhat a success,'' Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "Our players are disappointed.''

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