LINCOLN, NEB. ? Today’s Nebraska-Oklahoma game has been long anticipated by some of the key participants. Oh, and the players are excited about it, too.

Coaches on both sides of the field are gearing up for the game that pits former colleagues against one another.

Nebraska defensive line coach John Blake will be facing the school where he was head coach from 1996 to ’98.

Oklahoma co-defensive coordinator Bo Pelini will be going against the school where he was defensive coordinator last year and where he was interviewed for the head coaching job that Bill Callahan got.

Nebraska offensive coordinator Jay Norvell was on the Sooners’ staff for a month in 2002 before leaving to join Callahan’s Oakland Raiders’ staff.

And former Nebraska head coach Frank Solich attended Oklahoma’s practices in the spring and for a week this fall, and he was on the OU sideline for its win over Texas.

“The game is not about coaches and who went where and who’s mad at who,” Callahan said. “Guys change jobs. Situations are going to change. That adds to the flavor of the game, but I don’t put much stock in it.”

Neither does Kevin Cosgrove, the man who replaced Pelini as Nebraska’s defensive coordinator.

“We’re not playing Coach Pelini,” Cosgrove said. “We’re playing Oklahoma, we’re playing the team. That’s what we’re going to be focused on.”

Nebraska's Cory Ross (4) tries to fend off Iowa State's Steve Paris during the first half of the Cyclones' 34-27 victory. The struggling Cornhuskers will face No. 2-ranked Oklahoma today in a matchup that has lost a little luster due to NU's woes this season.

But Nebraska quarterback Joe Dailey said he thought Oklahoma had an advantage with Pelini’s knowledge of the Huskers’ personnel.

It was the same situation last week at Iowa State, where former Nebraska offensive coordinator Barney Cotton came up with an effective game plan to beat the Huskers 34-27.

“This guy is going to do the same thing Coach Cotton did,” Dailey said of Pelini.

The Huskers are four-touchdown underdogs to the second-ranked Sooners, whom Callahan called the most dominant team in college football the last four years.

“If we play the game we’re capable of playing, anything can happen,” he said. “We’re going to do the best we can, and I believe wholeheartedly that our guys will go down there and fight. They understand the significance of this game and what it means to our goal to try to stay in this divisional race, with the potential of not playing Oklahoma once but potentially twice.”

Oklahoma (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) needs to beat Nebraska to clinch the Big 12 South title and earn a berth in the Dec. 4 conference championship game.

Nebraska (5-4, 3-3) remains alive in the North race but would need help from other teams to reach the title game.

“We’re still in it. That’s the funny thing about it. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it is possible,” Dailey said.