Yet under the wording used Friday to announce the matchup between football champions of the Big 12 and SEC, I couldn’t help but think I saw this game a few months ago.

It was the Cotton Bowl.

The Big 12 champion, Oklahoma State, was busy playing in the Fiesta Bowl. The SEC champion and its runner-up, LSU and Alabama, staged a do-over for the national title.

And that left the Cotton Bowl to take a pair of teams that were among the top eight in the final BCS standings, Kansas State and Arkansas.

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The Kansas Jayhawks had a number of impressive streaks in their favor heading into Friday night’s tilt with the Missouri Tigers (27-25, 9-13).

Freshman starting pitcher, Wes Benjamin, hadn’t allowed a run in 9.2 innings. Kansas pitchers hadn’t allowed a run in 9.0 innings and the Tigers hadn’t scored against Kansas in 17.2 innings.

Benjamin pushed those streaks to 16.2, 14.2 and 23.2 innings respectively in Kansas’ 6-3 victory at Hoglund Ballpark. Kansas (21-31, 6-15) clinched a spot in next week’s Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City.

“We’re starting to kick it into gear right when we need it,” Benjamin said of the strong pitching. “I think we’re just going to keep on rolling through this series and then on to Bricktown.”

The Jayhawks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, scoring in each of the first three innings. Kansas, plagued by good execution throughout the season, executed perfectly in the bottom of the first inning.

Sophomore outfielder Tucker Tharp led off with a walk. Senior shortstop Kevin Kuntz sacrificed Tharp to second on a bunt. Tharp went to third on a wild pitch. Senior catcher James Stanfield walked. Senior designated hitter Alex DeLeon then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Tharp.

Kansas added another two-out RBI the next inning after junior second baseman Jordan Dreiling stole second with two outs. Freshman outfielder Michael Suiter, hit the game winning hit the night before, drove in Dreiling with a single up the middle.

The Jayhawks added two more in the third inning, highlighted by an RBI double by Stanfield down the right field line.

“It was good to get Wes a lead early,” DeLeon said. “It’s great. Our goal is to sweep Missouri before they leave for the SEC. We still have business to finish tomorrow.”

Although the offense came ready, the story of the day was Benjamin (4-7, 3.68), who pitched brilliantly. He allowed only two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out three Tigers in 7.1 innings of work.

The crowd of 1,510, a season-high, took notice of his stellar outing. The crowd gave Benjamin a standing ovation as he left the game in the eighth inning and entered the dugout.

“It was very nice,” Benjamin said. “I was glad I was able to get a good performance for them and walk off happy.”

The Tigers made the game 5-2 in the top of the sixth when they scored on a fielder’s choice to second. They added another in the seventh inning on back-to-back doubles.

Kansas answered in the bottom half of the seventh on another Suiter RBI single.

“It definitely feels good,” Suiter said. “I started off a little bit slow this year, but picking it up at the end is a good feeling.”

Freshman Robert Kahana came on in relief for Benjamin, and closed out the last 1.2 innings. He allowed one run on two hits.

Friday night’s meeting was the 330th meeting between the two rivals since 1894. Despite winning the last two games, Kansas still trails in the series 132-190 overall and 53-74 in Lawrence.

But since 2009 the Jayhawks have dominated the Border Showdown. In the last fourteen meetings, Kansas has won 11 of them.

Kansas coach Ritch Price decided to bring in motivational speakers before each Missouri game to make sure his players are ready to send Missouri to the SEC unhappy. The Jayhawks aren’t just happy with making the conference tournament; they want to send a message Saturday afternoon to their archrivals.

“I’m going to pump my guys up tomorrow,” Price said. “We’re going to play for the past 10 years for any one who has worn a Jayhawk uniform since I’ve been here and we’re going to step on their throat, that’s our goal.”