Surely, you remember 2011 and the loss by 3 to Texas Tech in Norman, the loss by 7 to Baylor in Waco, and (horror of horrors) the 44-10 loss to OSU in Stillwater. Of course, we rebounded in the Insight Bowl (name the location) by beating the powerhouse Iowa Hawkeyes. 10-3 finish is enough for most of the power players behind the dollars at OU. It's called SETTLE, SETTLE, SETTLE!
On to 2012 with those same high (must be taking drugs) hopes for a national championship. Oops, lost to K-State in Norman, 24-19, got our butts kicked by Notre Dame, 30-13, in Norman, and capped off a ho-hum season with a 41-13 thrashing by Texas A & M in the Cotton Bowl.
Undoubtedly, 2013 would be better. Started off undefeated and then came the shootout in Big D. Texas prevailed easily 36-20 and there went the season and our hopes. Got stomped by Baylor 41-12 in Waco but then pulled out a great effort and game plan in surprising Alabama in the Sugar Bowl 45-31. Probably the best game OU has played in the Stoops era with only Stoops players. Remember the 2000 championship game was played mostly with players recruited by John Blake.
Now back to the 2014 season. Undefeated heading to Ft Worth for TCU. Started out flat (a habit under Bob Stoops) but turned it around by half-time. After the turnover circus, OU is driving with about five minutes left and trailing by four. Stoops can't use his "Let's Kick the Field Goal" strategy so they turn to their bag of tricks after having a third and one around the thirty yard line. Option with the QB - no gain. Fourth and one. Let's fool them. Fullback up the middle. Oops - they weren't fooled - turned the ball over on downs and turned a possible win into a loss. My politics are conservative but my football ideology is play for the win, don't play to not lose.
We'll skip the confidence-building win in Big D. It was as if Texas adopted OU's strategy in the second half and gave the game to the Sooners. Maybe still in the running for post-season playoff possibilities if they can win out. Recall the one-loss teams in the national championship games?
K-State back in town last week. Surely, the previous doormats of the Big 7, 8, 12, whatever the league was called, couldn't beat us at home again. Think again. Forget the missed field goals. Stuff happens when you play for a non-motivating coach like Bob Stoops. He doesn't want his team too pumped up so he pumps them down in my opinion. But, you gotta love that OU defense lead by the other Stoops brother. I don't remember a season where so many touchdown passes were caught by the other team with no defender within 15-20 yards. What defensive schemes are designed to have the defenders run into each other on crossing patterns? OU does it over and over and over. Now back to the reasons for the loss. You don't have an extra point blocked right up the middle if you are a well-coached team, especially when it is to tie the game and you haven't really stopped the other team that well all day.
However, OU did get the ball back and drove to a first down on the four yard line. What did the Sooners do? Threw away the playbook that called for anything other than fullback up the middle. If we don't make it, we kick the field goal and go it front and probably win the game, right? Just a little imagination on that last drive (a forward pass, gasp!) probably would have led to a touchdown. Wouldn't necessarily win the game but would at least have given the Sooners the lead with 3-4 minutes left. Lost yards on third and one so here comes Hunnicutt to be the hero. Nineteen yard field goal, that is shorter than an extra point - piece of cake - WRONG! In golf, we call that a "duck hook". Never have seen an uglier field goal try from inside the twenty yard line.
Well, we can stop them on their next possession because we have our timeouts and strong defense. Oh, we've already used up those timeouts. How many times in the past several years do the Sooners find themselves out of timeouts late in the game? A lot, I assure you. So, K-State makes a first down (on the ground) and runs out the clock. Game over, season over. Who cares about the rest of the season? Not me. I've watched my last OU game of the year. Stoops will probably retire at OU in 20-30 years with this great won-loss record but will never win another national championship. He doesn't have what it takes and should move on, but that is only my opinion.
The below was posted on 10-25-11. None of those thoughts have changed and I have watched my last OU football game for this season (2014).
I think Skip Bayless got it right on his ESPN commentary yesterday when he stated that the loss to Texas Tech on Saturday was the worst loss in the history of the OU football program. How do you lose to a team that you are favored to beat by thirty or so points and on your home field where you have a record of 75-2 during the tenure of your current head coach. I remember the old saying coined by the fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1940s and 1950s. Wait 'til next year! I, for one, am tired of waiting.
Haven't we been through this scenario time and again under Bob Stoops' reign at the helm of the, arguably, best football program in NCAA, Division I. True, he has a 135-32 (.808) record since he took over in 1999 but how many times have we had our hopes raised before the season starts that maybe this is the year of our eighth national championship? Rated number one in preseason, all of those returning starters, no Big 12 championship game, relatively favorable schedule in a conference without Nebraska and Colorado, surely this would be the year. By the way, Switzer and Wilkinson both had higher winning percentages during their tenure at OU.
No, reality has set it again. During Stoops' regime, our disappointments have come at different times during the year, sometimes at the beginning, sometimes during the middle, sometimes at the end, and, oh yes, three times in the BCS Championship game for all the marbles. But you say, we won the 2000 National Championship 13-2 over FSU. But do you forget, those weren't players recruited by Stoops who is undoubtedly one of the best recruiters in the nation.
Let's look at the facts: 6-6 record in bowl games, 3-5 in BCS bowl games, and 1-3 in National Championship games. It is evident that the powers that be at OU are content with 80% winning percentage but not this longtime fan. My first OU game was in 1955 as a Boy Scout usher. I cried the day, November 16, 1957, when Notre Dame defeated OU 7-0 to end the 47-game winning streak. I have endured the lean years under Gary Gibbs, John Blake, etc and then came this unknown, Bob Stoops. Great pedigree, football history better than most, brother included - we were set for greatness. The malaise was past. 7-5 first year - OK, then 13-0 and National Champs. We were back!
Then over the years, the "Can't Win the Big One' label began to rear its ugly head. Let's review the last 12 years and then make up your mind.
- 1999 - 7-5, first year, not too bad.
- 2000 - 13-0, National Champs, could it get any better.
- 2001 - 11-2, lost to OSU in Norman, give me a break. Who is Les Miles?
- 2002 - 12-2, lost to Texas Aggies and OSU - again?
- 2003 - 12-2, lost to KSU in Big 12 Championship but still in BCS Championship game. LSU who?
- 2004 - 12-1, 5 turnovers in 55-19 romp by USC in BCS Championship game.
- 2005 - 8-4, Rhett Bomar ring a bell?
- 2006 - 11-2, Can you say BOISE STATE?
- 2007 - 11-3, Lost to Colorado, Texas Tech (sounds familiar) and WVa in Fiesta Bowl
- 2008 - 12-2, Lost to Texas but still in BCS Championship game. Tim Tebow, anyone?
- 2009 - 8-5, Sam Bradford hurt twice, 'nuf said.
- 2010 - 12-2, lost to Missouri and Texas Aggies but beat that powerhouse of football - UConn.
- 2011 - 6-1 so far, bet the farm that they will lose again before the season ends.
Well, there you have it. Skip Bayless said that Stoops should be fired. I don't necessarily agree with that but some changes need to be made. Perhaps get rid of Venables and bring back Mike Stoops. I hear he is looking for a job. As Bob Stoops said after the game, "We were out-coached and out-played". Who shares the burden of the blame for the loss? The buck stops with the head coach. Are we getting the best bang for our buck ($4M per year at least), I think not.
The crimson-and-cream bleeders will always say that we are so much better than most programs and defend the poor coaching decisions to the end but I say we should expect more and when our championship dreams are spoiled year after year after year, changes should be made. I'm not smart enough to know exactly what but we have to figure out why the second quarter performance was the worst that I have ever seen. Perhaps our motto should be "Three and Out, OU no doubt!
In baseball, good pitching usually stops good hitting. In football, good defense usually stops good offense. LSU is a great example of this. Skip said he would trade Bob Stoops to LSU for Les Miles. I would not but Miles' teams are usually not out coached as badly as OU. OU could end up 7-5 or 8-4. Who would be satisfied with that? I have no problems when OU loses to an opponent that is better than they are but this was not the case in Norman last Saturday.
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