Houston ? The Big 12 Championship game between No. 12 Colorado and No. 8 Oklahoma could feature a battle of running backs. Chris Brown just won’t be a part of it.

Brown, Colorado’s unanimous All-Big 12 running back, will miss today’s game with a bruised sternum that kept him out of the Buffaloes’ regular season ending 28-13 victory over Nebraska.

Still, the Buffaloes have weapons such as Marcus Houston and Brian Calhoun to balance Oklahoma’s Quentin Griffin, also a unanimous Big 12 running back selection. Calhoun had a surprising 137 yards in the victory over Nebraska.

Colorado coach Gary Barnett doesn’t seem too worried.

“We are not going to change who we are, and I am not going to lose any sleep,” Barnett said.

Houston was Colorado’s top recruit in 2000 but he missed the first four games last season recovering from a partially torn adductor muscle. He also had a sprained ankle.

“I normally don’t look back,” Houston said. “I usually look forward and take it from there. Right now, Oklahoma is ahead of me. So, I’m ready for that game and ready to go out and perform if I’m called upon to do that.”

Calhoun will get plenty of playing time for Colorado.

“I knew I had it in me, but I didn’t know when I was going to do it,” Calhoun said. “I’m just happy that I came out playing like that and had a total team win.”

Griffin ran for at least 100 yards in every conference game. Billy Sims and Steve Owens are the only other Sooners to do that. Griffin had 128 yards on 21 carries against Colorado in the first meeting.

“He’s so quick and elusive,” Barnett said. “I think the best way to stop him is to not let him get started and somehow corner him in the backfield. That’s not easy to do in their scheme. I think it will be interesting see how they see our defense.”

Griffin will finish his career ranked No. 4 on Oklahoma’s career rushing list behind only Joe Washington, Owens and Sims. Griffin rushed 1,552 yards this season, third on the single season list.

“Were talking about one of the greats, now,” OU running backs coach Cale Gundy said.

Brown is a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. He has rushed for 1,744 yards and scored 18 touchdowns this season.

The Sooners beat the Buffaloes on Nov. 2, capitalizing on costly Colorado errors.

“I don’t know that it much matters,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “They’ve got to play us twice, too. You make your adjustments – they’ll make some, we’ll make some – try to make some changes and go after it again.”