It is the first program in history to defeat the Nos. 2 and 1 teams in consecutive games and its quarterback, Josh Heupel, is the Heisman frontrunner on many ballots right now.

Now the Big 12 wants the Sooners to really prove they are worthy.

Such is life in one of the three Division I-A conferences to stage a league championship game. The Mid-American and SEC are the others. But only in the Big 12 has the game become a snake pit for national title contenders.

Steve Spurrier's Gators knocked off No. 3 Alabama in the '94 SEC title game.(AP)

In two of the four years the game has been played a potential national champion (Nebraska in 1996 and Kansas State in 1998) has been upset in the league title game. The conference got its lucrative television and ticket money. The Huskers and Wildcats got the shaft by having to play an extra game.

"There's a lot of good in it," said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops who coached in the 1996 game won by Florida. "I guess the only part of it is you look around and if no other conference is doing it outside the SEC are you really advantaging yourself for the national championship? There's give and take there."

The give and take is one way. The Big 12 takes money from fans and TV networks and gives it back to the schools. Each conference school cashes a check for $600,000 each year because of the title game. That comes in handy when funding women's sports and building new facilities.

Conference coaches voted unanimously against a playoff when the Big 12 was formed. Athletic directors voted in favor of a playoff but the vote split down competitive lines. The so-called "haves", Texas, Nebraska and Texas A&M, voted against a playoff because they saw the potential competitive disadvantage.

The MAC playoff hasn't been involved in the national picture. The old 16-team WAC collapsed under the weight of itself after staging a playoff for a couple of years.

For whatever reason, the SEC has been wildly successful with its game. It has used the game to its advantage producing three national champions (Alabama, 1992; Florida, 1996; Tennessee, 1998).

The only upset was a minor one. No. 6 Florida beat No. 3 and undefeated Alabama in the 1994 title game 24-23. Alabama could have conceivably played for the national championship had it won. That was the year Penn State and Nebraska were also both undefeated but couldn't play each other in the bowls. Nebraska beat Miami in the Orange Bowl to claim the title.

Still, the advantage is with non-playoff leagues like the ACC where Florida State is 68-2 since joining in 1992. The Seminoles have won their only two national titles while playing in the ACC. "They're in the ACC, which they go right through every year," Florida coach Steve Spurrier said before the season. "They don't have a conference championship game. When Bobby Bowden joined the ACC in 1992, he said, 'This is our best path to the national championship,' and he's right. They've been in the title game almost every year. "I'm not saying SEC teams can't get there, but our paths are more difficult." Since the Big 12 started it has claimed only a share of the national championship. Nebraska raced up to No. 1 in the coaches' poll in 1997, Tom Osborne's final season. Big Ten champion Michigan finished first in the final Associated Press poll after winning the Rose Bowl.

Nebraska was ranked No. 3 coming into the first Big 12 title game against Texas in 1996. The Longhorns pulled off the upset 37-27, sending the Huskers to the Orange Bowl and setting up a Florida-Florida State rematch in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship. Two years later, Kansas State came into the Big 12 game ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll but lost to Texas A&M in double overtime.

The Sooners might have more to lose than either '96 Nebraska or '98 Kansas State. If Oklahoma makes it to the Big 12 title game it will likely remain a consensus No. 1. But it will probably be asked to beat Kansas State or Nebraska for the second time this season. Last year Texas learned about paybacks in Nebraska's 22-6 title game victory. The Horns beat the Huskers earlier in the season in Austin.

Who needs the aggravation? The game could come down to a field goal worth $10 million -- the difference between Oklahoma winning and playing in the Orange Bowl or losing it and playing in a non-BCS New Year's Day bowl.

"If everyone else isn't going to do it when you look at national picture something probably needs to be adjusted," Stoops said. "They need to figure a way out to either have everyone play a game like that or have a playoff system so that you're not handicapped for playing in a game like that."

The main reason the Big 12 became the Big 12 was to reap the financial reward of playing the extra game. There was no sense in adding the four Texas schools to the old Big Eight and split into two divisions, if the conference wasn't going to take advantage of the NCAA rule allowing a playoff for conferences with 12 or more teams.

Any more conference playoff proliferation isn't likely in the near future unless it would be tied to a national playoff. The Big Ten has stepped up the edge of the cliff with 11 teams but hasn't jumped off by formally inviting a 12th member. Notre Dame's non-interest in joining the league put the issue on the back burner.

There have been rumblings about the Pac-10 adding one or two members (Colorado and/or Texas) but those have died down.

Other conferences have seen the high-risk, high-reward nature of putting title hopes on the line in what amounts to a highly paid exhibition game. Their reaction is still "no thanks."

"It's a money deal," said Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson who won two national titles at Miami. "If we're going to have a money deal, let's have a playoff. I think it hurts them. Obviously, they get publicity, money and all that stuff. But it hurts them as they try to go win a national championship."

Buffaloed

The situation at the University of Buffalo proves that the pressure to win exists even in college football's basement.

Buffalo's Bulls came into the season ranked by SportsLine.com as the worst I-A program in the country. The outcry was nil. The Bulls were coming off an 0-11 season in their first season in I-A.

There was reason for optimism with former Penn State assistant Craig Cirbus fighting what on Monday became a lost battle. Cirbus was fired Monday, effective at the end of the season, after the Bulls (1-7) lost 73-10 at Northern Illinois, the program's worst defeat in 68 years.

Cirbus' 18-45 record in six seasons was misleading. He came back to his alma mater in 1995 to run a successful I-AA program. In Cirbus' second year, the Bulls went 8-3, their first winning season in a decade. Three players from that team made NFL rosters. Cirbus was named the I-AA independent coach of the year.

But in 1996, Buffalo president William Greiner decreed that the program was making the move to I-A. The 154-year old school founded by former president Millard Fillmore could no longer get along by being the flagship school of the State University of New York system. Its world-class law and medical schools weren't good enough.

Greiner thought Buffalo could become a Michigan or Florida State in football. One problem: Greiner's plan was a surprise to Cirbus.

"I can't sit back and complain that we should have waited," Cirbus told SportsLine.com earlier this year. "I was asked to build a I-AA program. The president decided to go I-A. I had to scrap the plan and do it on a I-AA budget and I-AA coaching staff."

Cirbus did lead Buffalo to a victory over Bowling Green on Sept. 23, the school's first victory over a Division I school in almost 30 years. His situation was a little like a pro coach being handed a first-year expansion team and told to be successful. At least in the pros, there is the draft and free agency. Cirbus was handed an impossible situation -- some might say deceived -- and told to succeed.

Some of the blame should fall on Greiner who, like a lot of presidents and athletic directors, has unrealistic expectations. The difference is Michigan had a 110,000-seat stadium and seven decades of tradition. Buffalo has 19 games of experience in I-A.

The coach who won the only game in that span is being blamed.

Tailgaiting among the tall firs

For all of the Pac-10's accomplishments this season it seems that the main one is out of reach. A conference team won't win a national title.

The two highest ranked teams in the Bowl Championship Series poll are No. 7 Oregon and No. 8 Washington. Both are 7-1. A lot would have to happen for either team to get a sniff at the Orange Bowl. The Ducks, for example, are 5.32 points behind No. 6 Florida.

What maddens Pac-10 types is that Washington beat No. 5 Miami in the second week of the season but is way behind the Hurricanes in both the human polls and BCS poll. The Huskies are ranked seventh in the coaches poll and eighth in the AP. Miami is third in both.

The Pac-10 can claim a shift of power to the Northwest. The top three teams in the league, Oregon, Oregon State and Washington, are a combined 21-3 this season. Four of the remaining seven Pac-10 schools are below .500.

The most noticeable change is in the Los Angeles schools. Former power Southern Cal is last (0-5) and should be looking for a new coach. UCLA (2-3) has slumped since beating both Alabama and Michigan.

"The population of the state of California is such that there are enough players for everybody," Washington coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Because of the scholarship numbers, USC and UCLA can't keep them all."

Quick hits

• It's somewhat of a dubious record but Cal's Nick Harris needs 151 punting yards this week against Oregon State to break the NCAA career record for punt yardage.
• Which Brown brother would you rather be? Texas' Mack Brown is 6-2 and still dealing with embarrassing losses to Oklahoma and Stanford. Brother Watson Brown is 6-2 at Alabama-Birmingham where the Blazers are bowl eligible in only their fifth year in Division I-A.
• Brace yourself: Notre Dame lost its first fumble of the season Saturday against Air Force. The Irish have turned it over only five times all season, once in the last four games.
• You have been warned: Florida State is on its third kicker of the season. Freshman Brett Cimorelli will start Saturday against Clemson. It's never a good thing when your kicker is named Chance (Gwaltney). Cimorelli has replaced the sophomore who replaced Matt "Wide Right" Munyon.