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Sam Bradford only completed seven passes in the second half, but two went for touchdowns.

The Sooners pounded Missouri into submission by running the ball and pitching a defensive masterpiece.

Holding Missouri to just one touchdown over 60 minutes qualifies.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables didn’t want to try to rank his unit’s effort.

“We won the Big 12 championship; that’s all I know,” he said. “That’s kind of the beginning and the end of what I judge of what we did. People get caught up too much in the numbers.”

OU’s defense had taken some heat midway through the season for giving up over 400 yards to Missouri, Baylor and Texas Tech.

But in its final two games, the Sooners held the Tigers and Oklahoma State to nearly 200 yards under their game average and half the points.

If OU could have bottled that kind of complete performance, there’s no doubt it would be playing for the national championship in January instead of the Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia.

OU jumped four spots in the final BCS standings of the regular season to No. 4, but still finished .0822 points behind No. 2 LSU.

Those losses to unraked Colorado and Texas Tech were too much to overlook.

Reaching the national championship game is about a body of work of the entire season.

But if it came down to which team is playing the best heading into the bowl season, few could argue the Sooners don’t belong.

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