AkronBuckeye
Banned
[font=verdana, sans-serif]USC Trojans might have shown OU Sooners' true colors [/font]
<MCC story="">MIAMI -- As a die-hard Oklahoma Sooner fan, I can't think of anything that has been worse than watching the total dismantling of the Oklahoma football team Tuesday night. It was pretty obvious early that there was nothing that the Sooners were going to be able to do to slow, let alone stop, the Southern California Trojans from blowing them out. </MCC>
I've spent several days pondering the game, something that's easy to do when you are on a 24-hour drive from sunny Florida back home to Oklahoma. Several things have come to mind that make me wonder if maybe we've over-ranked our home team.
When coach Bob Stoops lead the Sooners back to national prominence with a 13-2 victory over Florida State in the 2001 Orange Bowl, he was immediately considered an Oklahoma prodigy. He was put in the same category as Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer, coaches that have each added three national championships to the Owen Field scoreboard.
Stoops was classified as a coach that could win the big game. A coach that, if given over a week to prepare, was unbeatable. But in the past two years that persona has sure taken a major hit.
If you take away the Texas wins the past five years, Stoops hasn't won a really big game at all. Sure, he has defeated cross state rival Oklahoma State, but then again he has lost two of those when there was no doubt who was the better athletic team.
Losses to Nebraska and OSU in 2001 kept the Sooners from a national championship game. In 2002, Texas A&M and OSU shut down the OU title hopes. Then, in 2003, the Sooners lost their two biggest games of the year, the Big 12 Championship against Kansas State and the Sugar Bowl for the BCS championship against LSU.
I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that any of the above mentioned teams have better players than the Sooners. I guess that only leaves preparation and coaching as the culprit.
The Sooners' defensive woes in big games have become really evident ever since brother Mike Stoops left for Arizona. One has to wonder if little brother might not have been the spark plug -- and not been given the credit he deserved.
When the Sooners defeated Kansas State, Texas, Nebraska and Florida State in 2000, each of them were highly ranked. They all said the same thing that OU disguised its defenses so well that the opponents never knew what they faced until the ball was snapped.
I'm sorry, but I can tell you for sure that USC knew exactly what the Sooner defense was doing on every play Tuesday night. It was evident on the first play of the game when Trojan quarterback Matt Leinart started under the center, and every defensive back on OU's secondary started backpedaling. He promptly found Reggie Bush for a big gain on the first play.
Obviously, the secret is out. Leinart and the Trojans lit up the Sooners at will. At times, it looked like the Sooner secondary had no clue what it was supposed to do. On one play, safety Brodney Pool is in man-to-man coverage, and turns his back to the receiver and begins running towards the middle of the field. Leinart connected with uncovered receiver Dewayne Jarrett for a 54-yard touchdown.
Offensively, OU sure didn't look like a team with two of the top three Heisman candidates. I'm still amazed that a team marches 92 yards on its opening drive, only to fall on its face from that point on. Obviously, one of the teams on the field figured out how to make adjustments, and that team wasn't from Oklahoma.
My last observation from the "Dade County Debacle" was this. Maybe during this off-season, the Sooner staff can do some research into finding a pair of football cleats that the OU players can wear so they don't spend all their time slipping and falling.
The slipping and sliding the Sooners did in Pro Player Stadium wasn't something new. In the Big 12 Championship game against Colorado, the Sooner players were constantly loosing their footing.
After the Sooners' opening drive for a score, I saw a couple of USC trainers run back to the tunnel only to return with handfuls of football cleats. The Trojans then began changing shoes -- and the rest is history.
Gee whiz, the National Football League plays on this field. Couldn't someone have made contact with them, and asked them what the best type of shoe for this field might have been?
In closing, as I drove back from Miami, I heard several comments on radio stations regarding the Sooner fans early departure from the Orange Bowl. Well, they were right. The Sooner faithful hit the tunnels early. Who could blame them?
Yes, Oklahoma fans will be laughed at for leaving early. But what's the difference form being laughed at for leaving or being laughed at for being there period. It's all the same.
But when you consider than many in attendance paid greater than $300 for a ticket, not to mention money for motels, transportation and food, those in attendance sure enough deserved a much better product than the Sooners were providing.
Don't get me wrong, I think Stoops and his staff are great coaches, and are great ambassadors for the state of Oklahoma. But reality means more than hype.
Coach Stoops, the honeymoon is over. The 2000 season can only take you so far. Undefeated seasons won't be enough if you don't, as was the motto for the team this year, "Finish."
Editor's Note -- Brad Black may be e-mailed at [email protected]
<MCC story="">MIAMI -- As a die-hard Oklahoma Sooner fan, I can't think of anything that has been worse than watching the total dismantling of the Oklahoma football team Tuesday night. It was pretty obvious early that there was nothing that the Sooners were going to be able to do to slow, let alone stop, the Southern California Trojans from blowing them out. </MCC>
I've spent several days pondering the game, something that's easy to do when you are on a 24-hour drive from sunny Florida back home to Oklahoma. Several things have come to mind that make me wonder if maybe we've over-ranked our home team.
When coach Bob Stoops lead the Sooners back to national prominence with a 13-2 victory over Florida State in the 2001 Orange Bowl, he was immediately considered an Oklahoma prodigy. He was put in the same category as Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer, coaches that have each added three national championships to the Owen Field scoreboard.
Stoops was classified as a coach that could win the big game. A coach that, if given over a week to prepare, was unbeatable. But in the past two years that persona has sure taken a major hit.
If you take away the Texas wins the past five years, Stoops hasn't won a really big game at all. Sure, he has defeated cross state rival Oklahoma State, but then again he has lost two of those when there was no doubt who was the better athletic team.
Losses to Nebraska and OSU in 2001 kept the Sooners from a national championship game. In 2002, Texas A&M and OSU shut down the OU title hopes. Then, in 2003, the Sooners lost their two biggest games of the year, the Big 12 Championship against Kansas State and the Sugar Bowl for the BCS championship against LSU.
I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that any of the above mentioned teams have better players than the Sooners. I guess that only leaves preparation and coaching as the culprit.
The Sooners' defensive woes in big games have become really evident ever since brother Mike Stoops left for Arizona. One has to wonder if little brother might not have been the spark plug -- and not been given the credit he deserved.
When the Sooners defeated Kansas State, Texas, Nebraska and Florida State in 2000, each of them were highly ranked. They all said the same thing that OU disguised its defenses so well that the opponents never knew what they faced until the ball was snapped.
I'm sorry, but I can tell you for sure that USC knew exactly what the Sooner defense was doing on every play Tuesday night. It was evident on the first play of the game when Trojan quarterback Matt Leinart started under the center, and every defensive back on OU's secondary started backpedaling. He promptly found Reggie Bush for a big gain on the first play.
Obviously, the secret is out. Leinart and the Trojans lit up the Sooners at will. At times, it looked like the Sooner secondary had no clue what it was supposed to do. On one play, safety Brodney Pool is in man-to-man coverage, and turns his back to the receiver and begins running towards the middle of the field. Leinart connected with uncovered receiver Dewayne Jarrett for a 54-yard touchdown.
Offensively, OU sure didn't look like a team with two of the top three Heisman candidates. I'm still amazed that a team marches 92 yards on its opening drive, only to fall on its face from that point on. Obviously, one of the teams on the field figured out how to make adjustments, and that team wasn't from Oklahoma.
My last observation from the "Dade County Debacle" was this. Maybe during this off-season, the Sooner staff can do some research into finding a pair of football cleats that the OU players can wear so they don't spend all their time slipping and falling.
The slipping and sliding the Sooners did in Pro Player Stadium wasn't something new. In the Big 12 Championship game against Colorado, the Sooner players were constantly loosing their footing.
After the Sooners' opening drive for a score, I saw a couple of USC trainers run back to the tunnel only to return with handfuls of football cleats. The Trojans then began changing shoes -- and the rest is history.
Gee whiz, the National Football League plays on this field. Couldn't someone have made contact with them, and asked them what the best type of shoe for this field might have been?
In closing, as I drove back from Miami, I heard several comments on radio stations regarding the Sooner fans early departure from the Orange Bowl. Well, they were right. The Sooner faithful hit the tunnels early. Who could blame them?
Yes, Oklahoma fans will be laughed at for leaving early. But what's the difference form being laughed at for leaving or being laughed at for being there period. It's all the same.
But when you consider than many in attendance paid greater than $300 for a ticket, not to mention money for motels, transportation and food, those in attendance sure enough deserved a much better product than the Sooners were providing.
Don't get me wrong, I think Stoops and his staff are great coaches, and are great ambassadors for the state of Oklahoma. But reality means more than hype.
Coach Stoops, the honeymoon is over. The 2000 season can only take you so far. Undefeated seasons won't be enough if you don't, as was the motto for the team this year, "Finish."
Editor's Note -- Brad Black may be e-mailed at [email protected]
