Best, Worst Coaches in close games.

[Mazeppa]

Jon Solomon
National College Football Writer

Best, worst college football coaches in close games from each conference
August 15, 2015 3:15 pm ET


Big 12
Best: Gary Patterson, TCU (23-16, .590). Patterson is an interesting example of how winning close games isn't the end-all, be-all if you can blow teams out. He has the best body of work in the Big 12 for close games given a large sample size, but he's 7-8 in games decided by four points or less since 2010 (three of those losses are against Baylor). Patterson went a combined 4-1 in close games during TCU's two seasons when it won the Rose Bowl and nearly made the College Football Playoff.

Worst: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma (13-15, .464). Since 2001, Big Game Bob ranks last in the Big 12 for games decided by four points or less. That's an unsettling stat for a past national championship coach. The other five active Power Five coaches who have won a national title -- Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, Urban Meyer, Les Miles and Steve Spurrier -- are a combined .623 in games decided by four points or less. All of them reside at .548 or higher.

The rest: Kansas State's Bill Snyder was 28-26-1 (.518) in one-possession games during his first stint in Manhattan. Since returning, he's 19-9 (.679). … West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen is 7-4 (.636) in games decided by four points or less and 21-19 (.525) in all other games. … Get Baylor's Art Briles and his prolific offense in a close game and your chances increase of winning. Briles is 12-11 (.522) in games decided by four points or less and 25-26 (.490) in one-possession games.

[hornswaggled]

Briles sucks almost as bad as Stoops.

I shouldn't post this early in the morning,

[Soonerjeepman]

guess Big Game Bob is not a correct nickname...

Close Game Bob isn't so close anymore. He may win the "big ones" but not the close ones.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

I was pointing that out for a while....In some cases, you can point to talent but spread out over that many years, it starts at the top.

[Soonerjeepman]

yup, not like it's been the last 5 years. Pretty much his entire OU career, 2001 to present

[Tear Down This Wall]

guess Big Game Bob is not a correct nickname...

Close Game Bob isn't so close anymore. He may win the "big ones" but not the close ones.

The 'Big Game' was for 2000 season's October - finish, and 2001 up to the Nebraska loss. Don't know why it's stuck. Tanked big time against an Oklahoma State team with a losing record in 2001 and was manhandle by Kansas State in the Big 12 championship, then got clocked in the 2004 national title game.

The 'Big Game' moniker for Bob should have been gone well over a decade ago. He's now no more likely to win or lose a 'Big Game' than most other coaches.

The problem here is that people began to say that games against Texas Tech and the like were "big games." Hardly. Maybe to the pea-brained Sand Aggys in Lubbock. But, Texas Tech is only a big game is you go to a place like maybe North Texas or Houston...UTEP. Perhaps Tulsa.