Jacie
6/10/2009, 11:46 AM
1998: John Blake’s Farewell Tour
Just as John Blake’s young coaching career was getting started, it was getting ready to end. I think the coaching staff knew and most of the Sooner fans knew, that anything less than a winning record would lead to dismissal. OU opened the season against the University of North Texas Mean Green. This game was going to be the unveiling of the Wishbone, which was going to get OU back to college football elite in regards to the quality of the “teams”. When OU first lined up in the Wishbone I said, “Here’s OU’s first TD of the game.” Lo and behold the play went for no gain and I said “OH…….(you know what)! NOT AGAIN!!!” in reference to OU’s offense misfiring. While it was only one play, this WAS North Texas so seeing OU falter like that sent smoke signals of things to come! OU struggled through most of the first half, then Patrick Fletcher came in and sparked the Sooner offense and OU claimed a 10-9 lead at halftime. OU went on to win the game 37-9 and Patrick finished 5-5 passing with one TD pass and two TD runs while De’Mond Parker ran for 126 yards on 20 carries and one TD.
I don’t believe in the old sayings of “first game jitters” or “adjusting to the new offense”. North Texas was an inferior opponent and OU should not of had first game jitters. As far as “adjusting to the new offense”, if that is not done in the spring and fall there is something seriously wrong!
OU’s second game of the season was a road trip to Texas Christian University. The last time the two teams met was in John Blake’s first year at OU in which Texas Christian surprised OU with the upset. This time around TCU had serious questions at the QB position as they had a converted receiver turned QB which all happened in the spring when Dennis Francione was hired as TCU’s coach. This game had quite a bit of rain, and both teams were more suited towards the ground game. Some said the field conditions were good even with the rain, while others said they were bad. Either way, this was an ugly game and neither offense knew how to score. Fletcher entered the game in the 1st quarter, but quickly injured his ankle, basically making him ineffective for the rest of the way. OU scored a TD late in the game and since there was only a little over a minute to go in the game had to kick an onside kick. OU got the lucky bounce and redshirt freshman running back Josh Norman was able to recover giving OU life in a game that looked already over before the 4th quarter ever took place. Not so much because of the score, but because OU could not score points. After an incomplete pass, Fletcher found a TCU defender that broke over the middle near the red zone and intercepted the pass. That was definitely the wrong thing to do. Jason Freeman was the intended receiver, but luckily turned into a DB and was able to strip the ball away from the TCU defender and recover. In Freeman’s post game comments he said the TCU defender should do more curls. Ouch! Anyway, OU was now in field goal range and the field goal attempt was successful. That was an amazing game, because it looked like OU had no hope, then one play changed everything. It just goes to show you that as long as a team is in striking distance regardless of the situation, there is always a chance to win. ALWAYS!
Following the emotional victory against TCU, OU faced a rematch against the California Bears; the team that OU “almost” made the impressive comeback against the previous year. OU looked to be in pretty good shape this game, even in light of the first two games total lack of offensive production in relation to the opposition. While Justin Vedder was back, Bobby Shaw graduated so Cal’s receiving prospects were definitely down and they had a terrible running game through their first two games. They obviously weren’t going to be able to run on Rex’s ‘46’ defense. Well, things didn’t turn out as such as Cal’s running back ran for over 150+ yards and Justin Vedder had a back breaking QB scramble late in the game that allowed Cal to kick the field goal that gave them the lead and the eventual win at 13-12. The game closed with Jerrod Reese entering on the final possession and on the last play he scrambled all over the field for what seemed an eternity before finally being sacked for a mega-yard loss.
After the disappointing loss to the Bears, OU faced a Colorado team that pretty much relied on the passing and running ability of QB Mike Moschetti and receiver Derrick Chiaverini. Chiaverini was more than OU could handle in the 1st half, but Rex Ryan made adjustments at halftime and OU shut him down in the second half, which kept OU in the game. OU got down by about 13 in the 3rd quarter, but Patrick Fletcher, excluding an INT returned for a touchdown got OU rolling with a TD pass and getting the ball to De’Mond Parker at the right times and one which sprung Parker free for a long TD run. OU hung close, but couldn’t get over the hump and lost 27-25. After the way the last OU vs. Colorado game ended this was a welcome improvement even though Colorado was down as well.
Going into the Red River War, I felt it was a pretty much anybody’s game. While Texas had two tough early games and blowout losses to UCLA and K-State they were still very talented, but no one knew where they really were. As far as OU going into this game, it clearly had one of the best defenses in the nation, but clearly one of the worst offenses in the nation. This game definitely didn’t go according to plan. The Applewhite to Mcgarrity combo in the passing game and Applewhite handing off to Williams proved to be too much for OU. However, it should be mentioned, this was definitely a game where the final score was deceiving. Texas was obviously better, but not 34-3 better. OU self-destructed in the latter stages of the game, which led to the final score.
After the loss to Texas OU dropped to 2-3. On the bright side the following week OU played Missouri, one of only two teams in the Big 8/12 that had yet to beat OU in the 90s’, the other being Baylor. Unfortunately for OU, Missouri fielded one of their better teams in history and OU’s offense was nowhere to be found. Missouri never really dominated the game on offense, just waited for Sooner miscues deep in OU territory which led to two touchdowns and a 20-6 victory. Things were really bad, this season was looking to be as worse or even worse than the previous two seasons and OU was down to only one team in the Big 8/12 in the 90s’ that has yet to beat OU which is Baylor.
Up next was “Bedlam” as the OSU fans like to call it. What can I say? This game had a disappointing end. OU was doing just fine and OSU had no answers for Eric Moore. No wait, I take that back. They’re answer was slamming Eric Moore into a wall to take him out of the game. It could be argued until the end of time whether it was intentional or not, but I will say this. Add up the character of Kenyatta Wright and an OU player hurting OSU real bad on the field via running and passing and it equals intentionally taking him out so OSU’s chances would increase. In short, I find it more than coincidental that it was Eric Moore that got hurt in that game. Anyway, OU’s offensive production went south after Eric Moore was out and pretty much resembled offensive play of the other games. The good was De’Mond Paker rushed for 220 yards against the same defense that held Ricky Williams to under 100 yards, but the bad was OU had tied the Big 12 record which they set earlier of 19 penalties. There’s a positive to everything I guess. Under Wilkinson and Switzer, conference and national records were set and even here in the 90s’ records are still being set! Pretty soon, OU will hold all the records, whether they are positive or negative! Just trying to make myself feel better about what has happened of late with OU football. OSU went on to win the game 41-26, the last time that OSU defeated OU which is the same date, we will be saying 20+ years from now.
The quarterback situation at Oklahoma was a mess. Daniels was over weight and slow, Fletcher was banged up frequently, Reese had personal problems so that left us with Jake Sills. Speaking of Jake Sills, he now enters the picture.
Following the Oklahoma St. debacle, OU faced the always sorry Iowa St. Cyclones. OU had a thing about close games last year and this one was no different. Iowa St. led 14-10 before Jake Sills found Gerald Williams for a 44-yard TD pass with just over a minute to go. OU held ISU on the final possession and won the game. OU’s record improved to 3-5, just one win shy of the previous year’s win total.
For the second year in a row, OU played Texas A&M in terrible weather conditions, relatively cold and definitely raining. OU generated a whopping 124 yards of total offense and lost 29-0 to A&M, a mild improvement on the year before. As many games that season, OU’s defense held strong, but it could only hold for so long before breaking because of offensive miscues.
After the Texas A&M game OU faced the hapless Baylor Bears who gave OU fits the previous two years. This time around, thanks to De’Mond Parker’s 207 yards rushing, two rushing TDs’ and one receiving TD, OU didn’t need any late game heroics to win. That 207 yards put him slightly over the 1000 yard mark for the season, making him the only the Sooner back to do that. To be fair, OU focused on “featured” backs in a lot of the Wishbone days. Usually, a few get close to a 1000 and they wouldn’t even play in the second half due to the scores! The game against Baylor was not a dominating performance, but OU won nonetheless 28-16 to improve to 4-6 with one game remaining to make a marginal improvement record-wise from the previous season.
OU’s final game came against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, what seems to now be the annual last game for OU. Texas Tech was a better team than OU last year and probably the year before that. However, for whatever reason, OU keeps finding ways to defeat Texas Tech. Thanks to three Texas Tech turnovers and Rockey Bright returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown, OU won 20-17, to finish 5-6, one-game better than the year before.
John Blake’s third year ended up being his last as on Sunday, November 22, 1998 Blake’s contract was terminated and bought out with the regents voting 4-2 in favor of his removal. However, the situation could be argued both ways. Coach Blake fielded some of the worst teams in OU history and should have been removed, but it could also be said that the team’s record improved each year he was coach and so he should not been removed. Like politics, everyone has their stance and the view won’t change, so no reason to harp on this subject any longer. I will say this; John Blake went from a defensive line coach to head coach at a major college football program. That is quite a bit to ask for. It is rare that position coaches succeed without first being an offensive or defensive coordinator. Rick Neuheisal would be another example of a position coach, that coming from coaching quarterbacks, to head coach. In his case, while he didn’t have losing records, he was quickly tearing down what Colorado built under Bill McCartney. John Blake was not ready to be a head coach and the results bear that out. It was bad how things had to end, but if anything good came out of the situation from his perspective, it is he learned some things about being a head coach. Most importantly, he learned what sticking with one quarterback could do for a team, even if they weren’t the most talented; that being Jake Sills winning 3 of the final 4 games for OU. We can talk all we want about the schedule, but I couldn’t see OU winning those final games if they were still rotating QBs’. Currently, John Blake and family live in Tulsa and he is working on becoming a sports agent. If he does pursue this route and gets the business aspects down, I have no doubt he will do an excellent job because of his excellent player relationship skills. Once again, in the end, everything works out for the best.
Just as John Blake’s young coaching career was getting started, it was getting ready to end. I think the coaching staff knew and most of the Sooner fans knew, that anything less than a winning record would lead to dismissal. OU opened the season against the University of North Texas Mean Green. This game was going to be the unveiling of the Wishbone, which was going to get OU back to college football elite in regards to the quality of the “teams”. When OU first lined up in the Wishbone I said, “Here’s OU’s first TD of the game.” Lo and behold the play went for no gain and I said “OH…….(you know what)! NOT AGAIN!!!” in reference to OU’s offense misfiring. While it was only one play, this WAS North Texas so seeing OU falter like that sent smoke signals of things to come! OU struggled through most of the first half, then Patrick Fletcher came in and sparked the Sooner offense and OU claimed a 10-9 lead at halftime. OU went on to win the game 37-9 and Patrick finished 5-5 passing with one TD pass and two TD runs while De’Mond Parker ran for 126 yards on 20 carries and one TD.
I don’t believe in the old sayings of “first game jitters” or “adjusting to the new offense”. North Texas was an inferior opponent and OU should not of had first game jitters. As far as “adjusting to the new offense”, if that is not done in the spring and fall there is something seriously wrong!
OU’s second game of the season was a road trip to Texas Christian University. The last time the two teams met was in John Blake’s first year at OU in which Texas Christian surprised OU with the upset. This time around TCU had serious questions at the QB position as they had a converted receiver turned QB which all happened in the spring when Dennis Francione was hired as TCU’s coach. This game had quite a bit of rain, and both teams were more suited towards the ground game. Some said the field conditions were good even with the rain, while others said they were bad. Either way, this was an ugly game and neither offense knew how to score. Fletcher entered the game in the 1st quarter, but quickly injured his ankle, basically making him ineffective for the rest of the way. OU scored a TD late in the game and since there was only a little over a minute to go in the game had to kick an onside kick. OU got the lucky bounce and redshirt freshman running back Josh Norman was able to recover giving OU life in a game that looked already over before the 4th quarter ever took place. Not so much because of the score, but because OU could not score points. After an incomplete pass, Fletcher found a TCU defender that broke over the middle near the red zone and intercepted the pass. That was definitely the wrong thing to do. Jason Freeman was the intended receiver, but luckily turned into a DB and was able to strip the ball away from the TCU defender and recover. In Freeman’s post game comments he said the TCU defender should do more curls. Ouch! Anyway, OU was now in field goal range and the field goal attempt was successful. That was an amazing game, because it looked like OU had no hope, then one play changed everything. It just goes to show you that as long as a team is in striking distance regardless of the situation, there is always a chance to win. ALWAYS!
Following the emotional victory against TCU, OU faced a rematch against the California Bears; the team that OU “almost” made the impressive comeback against the previous year. OU looked to be in pretty good shape this game, even in light of the first two games total lack of offensive production in relation to the opposition. While Justin Vedder was back, Bobby Shaw graduated so Cal’s receiving prospects were definitely down and they had a terrible running game through their first two games. They obviously weren’t going to be able to run on Rex’s ‘46’ defense. Well, things didn’t turn out as such as Cal’s running back ran for over 150+ yards and Justin Vedder had a back breaking QB scramble late in the game that allowed Cal to kick the field goal that gave them the lead and the eventual win at 13-12. The game closed with Jerrod Reese entering on the final possession and on the last play he scrambled all over the field for what seemed an eternity before finally being sacked for a mega-yard loss.
After the disappointing loss to the Bears, OU faced a Colorado team that pretty much relied on the passing and running ability of QB Mike Moschetti and receiver Derrick Chiaverini. Chiaverini was more than OU could handle in the 1st half, but Rex Ryan made adjustments at halftime and OU shut him down in the second half, which kept OU in the game. OU got down by about 13 in the 3rd quarter, but Patrick Fletcher, excluding an INT returned for a touchdown got OU rolling with a TD pass and getting the ball to De’Mond Parker at the right times and one which sprung Parker free for a long TD run. OU hung close, but couldn’t get over the hump and lost 27-25. After the way the last OU vs. Colorado game ended this was a welcome improvement even though Colorado was down as well.
Going into the Red River War, I felt it was a pretty much anybody’s game. While Texas had two tough early games and blowout losses to UCLA and K-State they were still very talented, but no one knew where they really were. As far as OU going into this game, it clearly had one of the best defenses in the nation, but clearly one of the worst offenses in the nation. This game definitely didn’t go according to plan. The Applewhite to Mcgarrity combo in the passing game and Applewhite handing off to Williams proved to be too much for OU. However, it should be mentioned, this was definitely a game where the final score was deceiving. Texas was obviously better, but not 34-3 better. OU self-destructed in the latter stages of the game, which led to the final score.
After the loss to Texas OU dropped to 2-3. On the bright side the following week OU played Missouri, one of only two teams in the Big 8/12 that had yet to beat OU in the 90s’, the other being Baylor. Unfortunately for OU, Missouri fielded one of their better teams in history and OU’s offense was nowhere to be found. Missouri never really dominated the game on offense, just waited for Sooner miscues deep in OU territory which led to two touchdowns and a 20-6 victory. Things were really bad, this season was looking to be as worse or even worse than the previous two seasons and OU was down to only one team in the Big 8/12 in the 90s’ that has yet to beat OU which is Baylor.
Up next was “Bedlam” as the OSU fans like to call it. What can I say? This game had a disappointing end. OU was doing just fine and OSU had no answers for Eric Moore. No wait, I take that back. They’re answer was slamming Eric Moore into a wall to take him out of the game. It could be argued until the end of time whether it was intentional or not, but I will say this. Add up the character of Kenyatta Wright and an OU player hurting OSU real bad on the field via running and passing and it equals intentionally taking him out so OSU’s chances would increase. In short, I find it more than coincidental that it was Eric Moore that got hurt in that game. Anyway, OU’s offensive production went south after Eric Moore was out and pretty much resembled offensive play of the other games. The good was De’Mond Paker rushed for 220 yards against the same defense that held Ricky Williams to under 100 yards, but the bad was OU had tied the Big 12 record which they set earlier of 19 penalties. There’s a positive to everything I guess. Under Wilkinson and Switzer, conference and national records were set and even here in the 90s’ records are still being set! Pretty soon, OU will hold all the records, whether they are positive or negative! Just trying to make myself feel better about what has happened of late with OU football. OSU went on to win the game 41-26, the last time that OSU defeated OU which is the same date, we will be saying 20+ years from now.
The quarterback situation at Oklahoma was a mess. Daniels was over weight and slow, Fletcher was banged up frequently, Reese had personal problems so that left us with Jake Sills. Speaking of Jake Sills, he now enters the picture.
Following the Oklahoma St. debacle, OU faced the always sorry Iowa St. Cyclones. OU had a thing about close games last year and this one was no different. Iowa St. led 14-10 before Jake Sills found Gerald Williams for a 44-yard TD pass with just over a minute to go. OU held ISU on the final possession and won the game. OU’s record improved to 3-5, just one win shy of the previous year’s win total.
For the second year in a row, OU played Texas A&M in terrible weather conditions, relatively cold and definitely raining. OU generated a whopping 124 yards of total offense and lost 29-0 to A&M, a mild improvement on the year before. As many games that season, OU’s defense held strong, but it could only hold for so long before breaking because of offensive miscues.
After the Texas A&M game OU faced the hapless Baylor Bears who gave OU fits the previous two years. This time around, thanks to De’Mond Parker’s 207 yards rushing, two rushing TDs’ and one receiving TD, OU didn’t need any late game heroics to win. That 207 yards put him slightly over the 1000 yard mark for the season, making him the only the Sooner back to do that. To be fair, OU focused on “featured” backs in a lot of the Wishbone days. Usually, a few get close to a 1000 and they wouldn’t even play in the second half due to the scores! The game against Baylor was not a dominating performance, but OU won nonetheless 28-16 to improve to 4-6 with one game remaining to make a marginal improvement record-wise from the previous season.
OU’s final game came against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, what seems to now be the annual last game for OU. Texas Tech was a better team than OU last year and probably the year before that. However, for whatever reason, OU keeps finding ways to defeat Texas Tech. Thanks to three Texas Tech turnovers and Rockey Bright returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown, OU won 20-17, to finish 5-6, one-game better than the year before.
John Blake’s third year ended up being his last as on Sunday, November 22, 1998 Blake’s contract was terminated and bought out with the regents voting 4-2 in favor of his removal. However, the situation could be argued both ways. Coach Blake fielded some of the worst teams in OU history and should have been removed, but it could also be said that the team’s record improved each year he was coach and so he should not been removed. Like politics, everyone has their stance and the view won’t change, so no reason to harp on this subject any longer. I will say this; John Blake went from a defensive line coach to head coach at a major college football program. That is quite a bit to ask for. It is rare that position coaches succeed without first being an offensive or defensive coordinator. Rick Neuheisal would be another example of a position coach, that coming from coaching quarterbacks, to head coach. In his case, while he didn’t have losing records, he was quickly tearing down what Colorado built under Bill McCartney. John Blake was not ready to be a head coach and the results bear that out. It was bad how things had to end, but if anything good came out of the situation from his perspective, it is he learned some things about being a head coach. Most importantly, he learned what sticking with one quarterback could do for a team, even if they weren’t the most talented; that being Jake Sills winning 3 of the final 4 games for OU. We can talk all we want about the schedule, but I couldn’t see OU winning those final games if they were still rotating QBs’. Currently, John Blake and family live in Tulsa and he is working on becoming a sports agent. If he does pursue this route and gets the business aspects down, I have no doubt he will do an excellent job because of his excellent player relationship skills. Once again, in the end, everything works out for the best.