We've waited a long time for this - Nebraska vs. Oklahoma for the Big 12 title. When this league was formed, no one could have guessed it would be this long before both teams made the championship game in the same year. Of course in the early days of the Big 12 the Sooners weren't very good. Then Bob Stoops came and worked his magic. About that time the Huskers were suffering through the end of the Solich era and the beginning of the Callahan era.

Now we finally get the Huskers vs. the Sooners. It's a tough match up for NU. The Sooner defense started the season slowly, but has been coming on strong late in the season. The offense may not be spectacular without Adrian Peterson and Brett Bomar, but it's still solid.

Hang on. It's going to be fun no matter what happens.

Only one Nebraska sports program won a Big 12 title during the 2005-06 season. Yep. The Nebraska volleyball team was the only one. The Husker spikers can clinch this year's title outright with a win at Kansas Wednesday night. The Jayhawks, who have been hit hard by injuries, have lost eight straight matches. You can bet the ninth in a row is soon to follow.

Saturday the Huskers will face a much tougher challenge when Texas comes to the NU Coliseum. The Longhorns had some ups and downs, but are extremely athletic with freshman Destinee Hooker leading the way. Hooker, who won an NCAA high jump title last spring, was simply amazing in the match earlier this season at Austin. Hooker can jump over any block, even one put up by NU's 6-5 All-American Sarah Pavan.

The key is to get the Longhorns out of system. If their passing breaks down, then they won't be able to get Hooker going. If the Huskers can't take the Longhorns out of system look out. Hooker is a special athlete who will be extremely tough for opponents to deal with for the next four seasons.

John Cook always has something interesting to say. This week he told reporters that he was going to put a picture of a NASCAR in the pits up for the team to see. The idea behind is this: NASCAR teams are always fine tuning their cars to get another mile per hour or so out of it. That's what Cook is trying to do with his Husker volleyball team. The talent is there. It just has to be fine tuned so it's ready when the NCAA Tournament starts in just two weeks.

When you consider the Huskers lost two All-Americans to gradution, including the school's all-time leading blocker, and player of the year Christina Houghtelling to injury, the surprising thing isn't that NU lost a match. The surprising thing is it took until well into November before it happened. This team is certainly a Final Four contender, but it's important to win the remaining three matches in order to get that top seed in the tournament. That could determine if the Huskers make it to Omaha or will be sitting at home watching on TV.

Are they back? That's the question we heard about the Huskers after the narrow loss to Texas. Then they go to Oklahoma State and get waxed in the fourth quarter, and we knew they weren't back - at least back to the level of the 1990s. The truth is, Nebraska has a good team this year, not great by any means, but good. Someday the Huskers will be great again, but don't expect them to be great like they were in the '90s with three national titles in four years. That kind of dominance just doesn't happen very often, and will be even more difficult to achieve in today's college football world.

Today the Huskers get another shot at respect when they play at Texas A&M. It's an important program for the Huskers. A win would clinch the Big 12 North title. A loss would leave them staring at a possible 8-5 record heading into a bowl game. Somehow, 9-4 is just so just light years better than 8-5.