CNNSI Mythbusters: Bob Stoops is a big-game choke artist

[colleyvillesooner]

Pretty good article...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/sioncampus/10/03/mythbusters/index.html


The fact remains: Only a select few schools have crystal footballs in their trophy cases, and even fewer have managed to play in more than one title game. Thanks to Stoops, Oklahoma is on both of those short lists. There are probably 115 teams in college football's big leagues who'd gladly trade for a "choke artist" like him.

[SbOrOiNaEnR]

Some have even started calling Oklahoma the "Ohio State of the Big 12."

Hey, dammit! We were choking in national title games long before Ohio State made it fashionable. If anything, they're the "Oklahoma of the Big Ten." ;)

[Dio]

SI still sucks

[sooner94]

Hey, dammit! We were choking in national title games long before Ohio State made it fashionable. If anything, they're the "Oklahoma of the Big Ten." ;)

Ha! Good one. And I hate to say it, but you are correct.

Good article. It did raise some good points. Loved the comment about The Clapper. So true.

[the_ouskull]

The only reason to read SI, Reilly, went to ESPN. If that's not a "...for whom the bell tolls" moment, I know not what is, sirs.

the_ouskull

Edit: My bad... I didn't comment about the thread: I kind of agree. I don't think that Bob's been the same since Mike left. Yes, winning Big 12 Championships is nice, but we've also played for all of the marbles and let it slip away a couple more times, and we've ended the season on some pretty sh*tty notes a few more.

Or, in terms that anger me to even say...

Since the 2005 season doesn't "doesn't count," this year's seniors could possibly graduate without ever having won a bowl game.

I wouldn't trade Stoops for any coach in the country. Not now, not in 10 years...

...but it's not my call, and seeing entire classes go without winning a bowl game is downright Blakeian.

Big 12 Championships are nice, but what's the point of winning those if we're going to turn around and lose the next game in which we play? THAT'S the one that sticks with us all summer long.

If OU personally kept the money for all of these BCS games in which we're playing, then losing wouldn't be quite so bad. But, all we've gotten to keep the past few years is the notoriety of losing said games. It's time for the drought to end.

[Salt City Sooner]

'05 counts. That ruling was overturned.

[MiccoMacey]

Sorry, skull. I'll respectfully disagree.

According to you, if we went 13-0 and won the conference championship yet lost the NC, it's "Blakeian".

You obviously don't remember the Blake years. Blake never got us to a bowl in order to win.

Nothing about Stoops reminds me of Blake. I understand your intent...I just disagree with it. Wholeheartedly.

[the_ouskull]

I'm only saying that, for a coach the caliber of Bob Stoops, losing in four consecutive bowl games and allowing an entire class of players to graduate without a bowl win - or if preferred, since this is Oklahoma, truth be told, a MAJOR bowl win - is unacceptable.

I was in school, or (literally) a block away from the stadium for the entire Blake era. I remember it all too well, despite multiple attempts in conjuncture with Jack Daniels to forget. Many, many attempts. I'm not just spouting to go along with the spouters. I've discussed it before. Stoops' teams just don't seem as "hungry." The individual players as a collective unit just don't seem as focused on the college game as players were in the early part of the Stoops era, and I attribute a great deal of that to the influence of Mike Stoops.

Bob was 3-2 in bowl games at Oklahoma with Mike Stoops on the staff. He's 1-3 since, counting the Oregon win at the Holiday Bowl.

Total opinion here, but hear me out...

With Bob's early success, he was able to start recruiting a higher caliber of player; of athlete. However, with that kind of recognition also often comes a misguided sense of entitlement. Not in EVERY player, but in enough of them to matter over the course of a season.

- I loved Clint Ingram. I love Ryan Reynolds. (The actor and the linebacker.) But none of those three is going to return an INT for a TD in College Station to preserve a National Championship run.

- Nobody on this team is going to start talking smack to Matt Sanchez during the coin flip and getting deep in his head by backing it up with their play on the field.

- On offense, we've got 3-4 NFL prospects on our offensive line, including two first-day guys, yet we can't finish blocks, even against an undersized Cincinnati or TCU squad?

People are beating us in bowl games the way we used to beat teams, before our talent caught up to Bob's coaching... We outworked them, Bob out-coached them, and our players simply wanted it more.

- Matt McCoy wouldn't sniff the field with our current roster, but he played a big role in a limited role while he was a Sooner. We don't have enough players like him; like a Rocky Calmus; guys who study the game and make the most of limited physical gifts by getting all aspects of the mental side of the game down pat.

I feel like we laid down against West Virginia, and THAT, sir, is Blakeian. Teams with Bob and Mike coaching them don't seem to lay down. We laid down against K-State, but that was more our offensive inability to score than it was our defense's abilit... no, it was the defense. We couldn't tackle Darren freakin' Sproles. If the most of the Heisman votes weren't already in, he'd have taken some away from White, I'm sure. And we had a lot of good tacklers on that team, too. They were all just out of position all of the time. That's defensive coaching. The USC game. We laid down. (We also just plain got beaten...) Boise? We didn't lay down, they just out-played our defense. Something ELSE that rarely (read: never) happened under Mike Stoops.

His defenses kept us in games; in seasons when we had QB's the likes of Nate Hybl calling the shots. (And that's not intended as a slight on Nate so much as a comparison to the QB's we've had since...)

Bottom Line: I feel that when Mike left, Bob lost a little bit of intensity, and that rubbed off on his players, who, in turn, lost their intensity. Combine that with an already "entitled" group of five-star athletes, and we've got a mess. We didn't just lose Mike's x's and o's acumen. We lost that coach that was going to make you keep your helmet on so that you couldn't sue the school when he head-butted you on the sidelines after you f*cked up. Now we've got players that are playing like they expect everybody to lay down when they see "Sooners" on the jersey. When Bob first got here, we laid them down. THAT is what has to change, because that's indicative of a larger problem... Complacency. There is not a fouler word when dealing with Oklahoma football.

Are you happy with just winning the Big 12 and losing in a BCS bowl every year? I'm glad to be here and all of that, but I want more; and, when I see a team capable of giving more, losing, it's frustrating as a fan. It leads to posts like this...

the_ouskull

[SCOUT]

Skull,
I tend to agree with you on the type of player is different now and that it is a double edged sword. It is very rare that you find the gifted athlete with the workhorse mentality. AD is the obvious exception on that one.

I also agree that we haven't had the same intensity since Mike left. However, I think that is a somewhat unfair comparison. Those teams and coaching staffs were truly special. Finding a combination of talent, drive, and coaching to match those teams is a very tall order.

I guess I want to make sure fans, and I mean "fans" in the general sense, don't fall into the A&M trap. Everyone though RC wasn't good enough to get them to that next level. I bet they would like to have that one back.

[Fraggle145]

- Nobody on this team is going to start talking smack to Matt Sanchez during the coin flip and getting deep in his head by backing it up with their play on the field. the_ouskull

I believe Torrance Marshall was a Bob Stoops recruit... just sayin'

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

P.S. Nate Hybl is the only Stoops QB to make an NFL roster so maybe "they" weren't on his level ;)

[oumartin]

I love Bob but I tend to agree that since Mike has left this programs take no prisoners mentality also left with him.

sure his defenses got lit up on occassion but they never just laid down. they brought the wood. We lost more than a great defensive coach. We lost the heart and soul.

We also miss Mark Mangino more than anyone wants to admit.

I will say this. I love kevin Wilson and I also think this is the first defense with a nasty attitude since Mike left. If we had a decent secondary coach this bunch could be downright awesome