As a toddler, Heupel used to shadow his dad Ken, a longtime coach who is at Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D., to two-a-days. He now spends his downtime studying film and the Bible.

In fact, Heupel processes more film than a one-hour photo shop. While others spent their recruiting visits club-hopping, Heupel spent his fast-forwarding and rewinding. On his recruiting visit to Oklahoma, the All-American from Snow (Utah) Junior College, spent six hours mesmerized by videotapes of the Air Raid offense that was being set up by coach Bob Stoops and then-offensive coordinator Mike Leach.

Heupel said the coaches' secretaries felt sorry for him, sitting there so long. But Leach said that focus in the film room sets Heupel apart.

"He's as good a quarterback from the neck up as anybody in the entire country," said Leach, now coach at Texas Tech. "He's an extremely smart quarterback. He's great at analyzing defenses. He gets rid of the ball quickly. Definitely, he's the biggest key and factor to the offense there at the University of Oklahoma."

Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder said Heupel is so cool and collected that he's reminiscent of former Iowa star and longtime pro Chuck Long, who is now quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma.

"Josh is just an absolutely outstanding quarterback," Snyder said. "He reminds me a great deal of Long, who we had at the University of Iowa. Chuck was such a tremendously talented and poised young quarterback. I can see that in Josh Heupel as well."

Snyder can see it in on his own sideline, too.

North Texas Coach Darrell Dickey, a former Kansas State quarterback who faced the Wildcats this year, said Beasley might be K-State's best quarterback ever -- a list that includes Heisman runner-up Michael Bishop and former pro Lynn Dickey.

	Beasley vs. Heupel
	Name	Comp. Pct.	Pass Yds.	TD	Rush Yds.	TD
	Beasley	62.3	1,359	10	225	12
	Heupel	66.5	1,520	9	61	4

Colorado linebacker Jashon Sykes said the only difference between Bishop and Beasley is that Beasley does his job without a lot of flair.

While Bishop is flash, Sykes said, Beasley is cash.

"He brings a lot to the table," Sykes said. "He's a very smart quarterback. He calls most of their plays right there on the line of scrimmage. He can beat you running the ball. He can beat you throwing the ball. He's a total quarterback."

Both Heupel and Beasley must show that they can execute in a big game against a penetrating defense. Allen said Heupel is more susceptible to being rattled because of Oklahoma's wide-open offense. In last year's 41-15 loss to Nebraska, Beasley completed just 3 of 19 passes before giving way to backup Adam Helm.

But with every snap since then, Beasley has grown into a complete quarterback who pays attention to every detail.

And he's a mirror image of Snyder. In fact, early this week, K-State's web site mistakenly ran a picture of Snyder with Beasley's name under it.

It may have been a fitting faux pas. Like his coach, Beasley doesn't get rattled -- on or off the field. In the interview rooms, both Snyder and Beasley are about as dry as a presidential debate.

But that leads to a sort of calm on the field.

"Growing up, I saw people who would get mad over the silliest things and they could not calm themselves down after that," Beasley said. "I said to myself, 'Hey, this is something I don't want to do.' I just try not to show any emotions regardless of what is going on on the field. I think people will appreciate that more."

What a concept. On Saturday, fans will have a chance to measure two quarterbacks by their actions, not their accolades.

Todd Cooper is a staff writer for the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald.