The Cowboys could have beaten just about every team in the country the way they played before a crowd of 49,031 at Boone Pickens Stadium.

Oklahoma was one of the exceptions.

The sizzling Sooners posted a 61-41 victory to keep alive the debate as to who will represent the South in next Saturday's Big 12 championship game against Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

OU has now scored 60-plus in four straight games, something the Sooners have never done in their storied history which includes seven national titles since 1950 and a half-dozen additional misses for the crown.

This could be the most prolific offense in OU history, and the Cowboys went toe-to-toe for as long as they could.

Usually a team throws a victory party whenever it scores 41 points, gains 452 total yards, averages 7.0 yards-per-play, collects 25 first downs and has to punt only twice.

Not so when facing these Sooners. Not right now, anyway.

Had the Bedlam game not been switched a few years back from October to Thanksgiving weekend for television, perhaps the Cowboys could have survived.

Since its 45-35 loss to Texas in Dallas on Oct. 11, the Sooners' offense has become a runaway train, demolishing whoever dares to step on the same tracks.

There were 1,009 total yards, 102 points and 52 first downs in the highest-scoring game in Bedlam's 103-game history.

Please forgive both defenses. When these two offenses get rolling, it's best just to get out of the way.

The country's best offense roosts in Norman.

OSU countered with an almost equally-impressive explosive offense of its own, but it eventually got derailed by too many turnovers.

As if the Sooners needed any help, good fortune also shined upon them with a 73-yard tipped pass for a touchdown and bobbled quarterback sneak for a score from the 2-yard line on fourth down.

Afterward, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy did precisely what he should have done with his team.

He bragged about them.

"I thought our team played extremely hard," Gundy said. "We were down a number of times and fought back, drove down the field and scored.

"They had a little too much firepower for us on offense."

A quality bowl now awaits 9-3 OSU. Here's a vote for the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

The Cowboys would return on the 20th anniversary of their previous appearance there, when they had 1988 Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders, wide receiver Hart Lee Dykes and a quarterback named Gundy.

This year's OSU team offers a slightly smaller version of those Triplets with tailback Kendall Hunter, receiver Dez Bryant and quarterback Zac Robinson.

On any other Saturday, Robinson would have been the toast of the conference with 254 passing yards for three touchdowns and 90 yards rushing with Houdini-like artistry to escape the Sooners' pass rush.

On this Saturday, however, the Cowboys were the second-best team on the field, and there's no disgrace in that.

Not when the other team brings the scariest offense in the country.

John Rohde: 475-3099. John Rohde can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11 a.m. on New JOX 930 (AM).