MR2-Sooner86
12/21/2010, 10:30 PM
SOURCE (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/545993-why-the-oklahoma-sooners-will-lose-to-uconn-in-the-fiesta-bowl)
As the University of Oklahoma prepares for yet another BCS bowl, the program's eighth appearance in the last 11 seasons, college football pundits point to this game as possibly the biggest mismatch in BCS history.
The Fiesta Bowl matches the 11-2 Big 12 champion Sooners against the 8-4 UConn Huskies, champions of the Big East Conference.
This is Connecticut's first trip to a BCS game and comes in the program's 10th season after making the jump up to the FBS football subdivision.
UConn started the season at 3-4, with losses by 20 points at Michigan, 14 points to Temple, three points to Rutgers and a 26-0 shellacking by Louisville. The wins came against the likes of Texas Southern (yes, this is a real school, I looked it up), Buffalo and Vanderbilt.
Granted, the Huskies finished the season strong, recording five straight victories, including wins over bowl-bound teams from West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and South Florida. Not bad, but not exactly a murderers' row either.
In fact, without the guaranteed spot reserved for the champion of the BCS-affiliated Big East Conference, the Huskies would probably be playing in a mid- to low-level bowl game. They are generally considered the worst BCS bowl-bound team ever.
The Huskies will probably end up losing money on the game because of rules that will force them to buy up the unsold portion of the 17,000-plus tickets they have been allotted for the game.
Paying money to play in a BCS game is like winning a Porsche and then getting a tax bill on it.
UConn has highly ranked basketball teams currently playing, and fans have been reluctant thus far to purchase tickets to the Arizona-based bowl just to watch their third favorite team suffer a defeat the likes of which haven't been seen since General Custer regretfully said, "Indians? What Indians?"
That is a shame for Husky fans. Why, you may ask? Because UConn is poised to pull off the biggest upset in BCS bowl history.
While the rest of the college football experts are only interested in why this game will be a huge blowout, Sooner fans should be worried about why Oklahoma could flop in this game.
Even non-fans of the Team in Crimson and Cream are aware of the Sooners' all too frequent BCS belly-busters.
Oklahoma has lost five BCS bowls in a row, all in the last seven seasons. While three of those losses were in the championship game, the other two were in this same Fiesta Bowl against supposedly overmatched opponents.
In 2007 Boise State, like UConn in just its 10th year in the FBS, upset the heavily favored Big 12 champion Sooners in overtime in one of the most exciting games ever played.
It was West Virginia's turn in the 2008 Fiesta, rolling OU like a back alley bum when the Mountaineers, led by Pat White and Noel Devine, routed the favored Sooners. WVU's spread option attack sent the Sooner Schooner home in full retreat, full of musket balls and in flames.
Oklahoma has been the favorite in almost every game Bob Stoops has coached, but it doesn't have the proportionate win-loss record to match. If you are a Sooner fan, you know where the discrepancy lies.
Oklahoma does not do a good job of focusing for a road game against a perceived lesser opponent. Tell the Sooners they can sleepwalk through a game and that is what they tend to do.
With the odds of this game hovering around a 17-point spread, Stoops' Troops have been almost awarded the bowl trophy before the game has started. There is a high probability that the Sooners are not going to bring their A-game.
UConn, on the other hand, hearing for a month that it does not deserve to be there, is going to come out fired up and determined.
A less talented but highly motivated player with a chip on his shoulder is going to beat a more talented player who lacks focus nine out of 10 times.
Therein lies the real danger for Oklahoma.
The Sooners play much better away from home when there is some doubt about the game and when they know many are expecting them to lay an egg. All too often, they do not seem to have the ability to self-motivate. They lose their focus and struggle with teams they should dominate.
When a superior team allows an underdog to stay close, momentum frequently favors the underdog, and the talent factor gives way to the choke factor.
This same scenario could be the Sooners unraveling in this game. If OU does not take advantage of its opportunities and impose its will in the early stages of the game, the confidence of the undermanned Huskies will grow with every passing minute.
This UConn team is not equipped to win a shootout or even have a realistic chance of overcoming a big early deficit. To win, they need to play this game close and grab hold of the momentum like GI Joe with Kung-Fu grip.
Oklahoma needs to come out with the engine revved and keep the hammer to the floor. Do this and the Sooners will celebrate a very happy New Year.
However, if they come out like a sputtering jalopy, the Schooner could stall at the finish line and be passed by the Huskies' dog sled—and that is the nightmare scenario that would make for a very long offseason for the Sooner program.
:pop:
As the University of Oklahoma prepares for yet another BCS bowl, the program's eighth appearance in the last 11 seasons, college football pundits point to this game as possibly the biggest mismatch in BCS history.
The Fiesta Bowl matches the 11-2 Big 12 champion Sooners against the 8-4 UConn Huskies, champions of the Big East Conference.
This is Connecticut's first trip to a BCS game and comes in the program's 10th season after making the jump up to the FBS football subdivision.
UConn started the season at 3-4, with losses by 20 points at Michigan, 14 points to Temple, three points to Rutgers and a 26-0 shellacking by Louisville. The wins came against the likes of Texas Southern (yes, this is a real school, I looked it up), Buffalo and Vanderbilt.
Granted, the Huskies finished the season strong, recording five straight victories, including wins over bowl-bound teams from West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and South Florida. Not bad, but not exactly a murderers' row either.
In fact, without the guaranteed spot reserved for the champion of the BCS-affiliated Big East Conference, the Huskies would probably be playing in a mid- to low-level bowl game. They are generally considered the worst BCS bowl-bound team ever.
The Huskies will probably end up losing money on the game because of rules that will force them to buy up the unsold portion of the 17,000-plus tickets they have been allotted for the game.
Paying money to play in a BCS game is like winning a Porsche and then getting a tax bill on it.
UConn has highly ranked basketball teams currently playing, and fans have been reluctant thus far to purchase tickets to the Arizona-based bowl just to watch their third favorite team suffer a defeat the likes of which haven't been seen since General Custer regretfully said, "Indians? What Indians?"
That is a shame for Husky fans. Why, you may ask? Because UConn is poised to pull off the biggest upset in BCS bowl history.
While the rest of the college football experts are only interested in why this game will be a huge blowout, Sooner fans should be worried about why Oklahoma could flop in this game.
Even non-fans of the Team in Crimson and Cream are aware of the Sooners' all too frequent BCS belly-busters.
Oklahoma has lost five BCS bowls in a row, all in the last seven seasons. While three of those losses were in the championship game, the other two were in this same Fiesta Bowl against supposedly overmatched opponents.
In 2007 Boise State, like UConn in just its 10th year in the FBS, upset the heavily favored Big 12 champion Sooners in overtime in one of the most exciting games ever played.
It was West Virginia's turn in the 2008 Fiesta, rolling OU like a back alley bum when the Mountaineers, led by Pat White and Noel Devine, routed the favored Sooners. WVU's spread option attack sent the Sooner Schooner home in full retreat, full of musket balls and in flames.
Oklahoma has been the favorite in almost every game Bob Stoops has coached, but it doesn't have the proportionate win-loss record to match. If you are a Sooner fan, you know where the discrepancy lies.
Oklahoma does not do a good job of focusing for a road game against a perceived lesser opponent. Tell the Sooners they can sleepwalk through a game and that is what they tend to do.
With the odds of this game hovering around a 17-point spread, Stoops' Troops have been almost awarded the bowl trophy before the game has started. There is a high probability that the Sooners are not going to bring their A-game.
UConn, on the other hand, hearing for a month that it does not deserve to be there, is going to come out fired up and determined.
A less talented but highly motivated player with a chip on his shoulder is going to beat a more talented player who lacks focus nine out of 10 times.
Therein lies the real danger for Oklahoma.
The Sooners play much better away from home when there is some doubt about the game and when they know many are expecting them to lay an egg. All too often, they do not seem to have the ability to self-motivate. They lose their focus and struggle with teams they should dominate.
When a superior team allows an underdog to stay close, momentum frequently favors the underdog, and the talent factor gives way to the choke factor.
This same scenario could be the Sooners unraveling in this game. If OU does not take advantage of its opportunities and impose its will in the early stages of the game, the confidence of the undermanned Huskies will grow with every passing minute.
This UConn team is not equipped to win a shootout or even have a realistic chance of overcoming a big early deficit. To win, they need to play this game close and grab hold of the momentum like GI Joe with Kung-Fu grip.
Oklahoma needs to come out with the engine revved and keep the hammer to the floor. Do this and the Sooners will celebrate a very happy New Year.
However, if they come out like a sputtering jalopy, the Schooner could stall at the finish line and be passed by the Huskies' dog sled—and that is the nightmare scenario that would make for a very long offseason for the Sooner program.
:pop: