Kansas City, Mo. ? Back in the days of Len Dawson and Ben Davidson, Ken Stabler and Willie Lanier, hardly anything was bigger than a Raiders-Chiefs game.

My, how times change.

Now it’s Brodie Croyle and Kolby Smith, and Daunte Culpepper and Justin Fargas. The Chiefs (4-6) are on a three-game losing skid, while Oakland (2-8) has lost six in a row overall and nine straight to Kansas City.

A once-great NFL rivalry has been reduced to second billing to a college game, for this week at least.

Dominating water cooler conversation and sports radio all week in Kansas City has been the Big 12 showdown in Arrowhead Stadium last night between No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 Missouri.

Chiefs coach Herm Edwards understood.

“They both deserve the attention they’re receiving right now,” Edwards said Friday of the two Big 12 teams. “It’s good for college football.”

It’ll be a long, tiring night for the grounds crew and cleanup squad. The Missouri-Kansas game probably won’t be over until about 11 p.m. Almost 80,000 people will be in the stands and the place will be a mess.

In their 98th game against Oakland, the Chiefs will start a third-team running back. Smith, a rookie fifth-round draft choice, has carried 10 times for 19 yards. It’ll be Smith taking the handoff from Croyle, who’ll be making his second NFL start.