For those who think the Fiesta Bowl is a bit of a letdown, that it's "just" another conference championship, chew on these facts:

• With the win over Missouri last night, Oklahoma becomes the first team in Big 12 history to win back-to-back conference titles. Really!

• 2007 is the Sooners' first conference championship win in an odd-numbered year in 20 years (1987, when the Sooners won the Big 8 title but lost the Orange Bowl and the national championship to Miami).

• This is the ninth consecutive year that OU has gone to a bowl game, and that's a school record. The Sooners have gone bowling every year that Bob Stoops has been head coach.

The Sooners are the designated home team for the 2008 Fiesta Bowl, so if either band gets to play the national anthem, it'll be The Pride of Oklahoma! Last night, our boys and girls in very red performed Tonight from West Side Story, and the Gnarls Barkley tune Gone Daddy Gone.

The bowl show and schedule is all to be determined in the next several days, of course; we'll post details of public Pride appearances on our Events calendar as we know about them, as we did last year. Our opponents are the Mountaineers from the University of West Virginia—2007 Big East Conference champions, #9 in the final 2007 BCS rankings, and owners of a similar 10-2 record. This will be the first time OU will play WV outside of Norman, and the first meeting between the two schools since 1982 (when WV won). OU holds a 2-1 edge in the series.

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl is a great bowl with a strong tradition of all the trappings of college football: band competitions, a good parade, lots of celebrations for both participating schools, and a New Year's Eve block party that, this year, is headlined by Barenaked Ladies. Everyone had a great time last year right up until the end of overtime (grr), and this year can be even better!

We'll post updates as we have them, but for now, congratulations to The Pride of Oklahoma nearing the end of a spectacular Oklahoma Centennial season, and to the Big 12 champion Oklahoma Sooners!