KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Next week college football will hold its annual awards show in Orlando, Fla. The top players from throughout the land will be there to pick up some of the nation’s most valuable hardware.

Oklahoma’s lone representative will be kicker Garrett Hartley. The junior is a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, which goes to college football’s top kicker.

Other than Hartley, the national awards lists are void of Sooners.

That’s what makes No. 8 OU’s berth in tonight’s Big 12 championship game against No. 19 Nebraska (9-3, 6-2 Big 12) so odd; or, perhaps, eye-opening. Usually, when the Sooners (10-2, 7-1) play for conference titles, they bring enough star power to light up Times Square.

But this collection of Big 12 South winners is known more for its team deeds than individual achievement.

“The sum of all our parts are greater than any one individual, is what I’ve been saying a lot,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “And it’s very true with that, with the way we’ve been as a team.”

The map drawn by previous Sooner squads hasn’t exactly been followed.

OU venturing to Arrowhead Stadium in search of a conference title for the fourth time. But unlike those first three teams, there isn’t that one individual player who stands out above all others.

In 2000, quarterback Josh Heupel (now the Sooners’ quarterbacks coach) claimed multiple national awards, including the Associated Press Player of the Year and was runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

In 2003, the Sooners featured the Nagurski Award winner in cornerback Derrick Strait, the Butkus Award winner in linebacker Teddy Lehman and the Lombardi Award winner in defensive tackle Tommie Harris. And, of course, there was Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jason White running the offense.

A year later, OU returned to Arrowhead with Outland Award winner Jammal Brown anchoring the offensive line, White still engineering the offense and Heisman Trophy runner-up Adrian Peterson setting freshman rushing records.

The Sooners have set virtually no records this season. Their claim to fame is overcoming obstacles.

Plowing ahead despite the preseason dismissal of Rhett Bomar, the heartache of the Oregon loss and going 6-0 after Peterson was lost to a broken collarbone are this season’s impressive feats.

“I think it comes with us doing good, staying together as a team, being tight and winning games,” safety Reggie Smith said. “That’s what we’ve been doing since the very beginning of the year.”

The Sooners enter tonight’s game averaging 188.7 rushing yards a game and Peterson has played in only half the games.