Nine victories and a second consecutive berth in the Dr Pepper Football Championship game produce delirium, not disappointment. But this isn't your father's Missouri football program.

"When you're 9-3 and disappointed, that suggests you made a lot of progress," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "I've talked to other coaches in this league, and if you place all your hopes on going to the national championship, then except for about four teams, you're tremendously disappointed.

"If I could be here at this time every single year I'll be the happiest guy in America."

Expectations can tug at a team like gravity times 10. Entering the 2008 season, the Tigers were in position to build on last season's 12-2 record. Many experts believed Missouri would be a dark horse challenger for the national championship.

Any thoughts of playing in the BCS title game ended with consecutive losses to Oklahoma State and at Texas in mid-October. Even the Tigers' second consecutive North Division title was tempered by Saturday's last-minute loss to Kansas, a defeat that allowed Nebraska to be North co-champs (Missouri owned the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Huskers).

The Tigers will be more of an underdog when they face Oklahoma Saturday night in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium than they were a long shot to win the national championship. The 11-1 Sooners will be playing for a spot in the BCS championship game. Missouri will be trying to earn a trip to the school's first BCS bowl game.

"We still have one game left," Missouri junior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. "We can save our whole season with one game. We started out the season with everybody talking about national championships, but those things are out the window now. We just have to go out and concentrate on winning this next game. We definitely want to go out there and win this game and get a better bowl game."

Pinkel points out that there is a "fine line" between the won-loss records for Oklahoma and Missouri. If so, the Tigers' shortcomings can be found in their defensive statistics and in slightly sub-par seasons from two of their offensive stars.

Missouri returned 10 starters from a defense that was the Big 12's best in conference games last season. Instead of improving, the Tigers' regressed on defense. Missouri dropped from 59th to 91st in total defense and its pass defense is among the worst in Division I-A. Senior safety William Moore, an All-American last season, was slowed in 2008 by a nagging ankle injury.

Senior quarterback Chase Daniel is seventh nationally in passing efficiency but he has thrown 13 interceptions. All but one of those have come over the last seven games. In the first five games, Missouri's offense looked unstoppable.

"We just haven't played as well as we wanted to in games that we should've," Daniel said. "In the Oklahoma State game, we threw the ball game away with three turnovers. Texas beat us fair and squre. They're a really great team.

"But did we want three losses on the year? No, we didn't."

Sophomore Jeremy Maclin led the Big 12 in all-purpose yardage but his ability to be an explosive punt and kick returner was limited by different, minor injuries.

"It's been a little frustrating and we haven't done everything we set out to do this season," said Maclin, who led the Big 12 in all-purpose yards with 205 per game. "But we can change things by winning on Saturday. They (critics) can say what they want about us, but we can do something that we've never done before by winning. We still have a great opportunity."

"If we can go out and win, we can prove we can take the next step," Maclin said. "It's all about what we can do from this point forward in the season rather than what happened before now."

Chase being Chase
Missouri senior quarterback Chase Daniel was answering questions about Oklahoma's defense when he decided enough is enough.

“They’re a great defensive team, but you want to talk about their guys,” he said. “What about our guys? I’ve got some stats right here.”

He proceded to rattle off the numbers produced by Chase Coffman, Jeremy Maclin, Derrick Washington, et. al.

“You look at their weapons. Well, I want to look at ours and what we have to bring to the table,” he said. “I feel good about our guys. ... We want respect, and it’s not going to be given to us,” he said. “We just have to go out and get it.”

Multi-tasking
Dave Christenson is Missouri's offensive coordinator - but only through the Tigers' bowl game. As of Monday, he is now Wyoming's head coach. Both schools agreed that Christenson would stay on and complete his duties with the Tigers before leaving to join the Cowboys.

"I've got a great job here at Missouri, and I'm working for Missouri and that's what I plan on doing," he said. "I have an obligation here to the University of Missouri, to our players, to this program."