http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...exas-sized-win-bob-stoops-falls-flat----again The image of Charlie Strong with his team was remarkable. Texas players raised their coach in the air as Strong pumped his fists each time he bobbed up and down, the huge grin on his face never wavering. “I guess they didn't want to see me get fired,” Strong told the media at his postgame news conference. Guess not. If beating 10th-ranked Oklahoma becomes the real start of the Strong era at Texas, what a signature moment. Just when it looked like the Longhorns were falling apart in Strong's second season, Texas 24, Oklahoma 17 happened. Just when the vultures from the outside were circling around Strong, Texas smashed Oklahoma for 313 rushing yards and sacked the Sooners six times (one fewer sack than Texas had all of this season before Saturday). Just when Texas players were ripping each other in the media, they defiantly carried their coach off the field. Don't mistake this for meaning Texas is back; there's a lot more work to do. But Strong showed tangible evidence that the Longhorns are making progress, something he badly needed one week after a 50-7 loss to TCU in which one of his players retweeted at halftime a suggestion he should transfer to Texas A&M. College football at its best was on display Saturday in Dallas. A divided team off to its worst start in 59 years sucked it up and came together. On the flip side, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops suffered another one of those head-scratching defeats that now define his career of late. He has lost six times as a favorite in his past 14 games. The score says it was a one-touchdown game. But Texas dominated the Red River Rivalry. This one feels like a program-changer for Strong. This one feels like the end of the line for Stoops as a national championship contender. The return of Big Game Bob? Um, no. Big Game Bob? Stoops is 6-6 in his past 12 games against Power Five opponents. Big Game Bob? Stoops has lost 11 games since 2012 and nine of those defeats were at home or a neutral site. Big Game Bob? This is the second time in three seasons Oklahoma's national championship hopes have vanished by losing as a double-digit favorite to a Texas program in disarray. The Big 12 race is now what we thought it would be before the season: Baylor vs. TCU. The league's best hopes for a team in the College Football Playoff are back in the hands of the two teams that got left out last year. The Sooners may still have a say in who wins the Big 12, but they're not going to the playoff. Not after this loss. Texas outrushed Oklahoma 313-67. Why offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley ignored Samaje Perine and the Sooners' running game will get second-guessed for a while. Oklahoma has become a one-dimensional offense and that doesn't fly against a quality defensive coach like Strong. Then again, Perine only averaged 3.6 yards a carry on his 10 rushes. Texas' defensive line played like grown men against the Sooners' overmatched offensive line. Texas won despite only throwing for 55 yards. Fifty-eight of the Longhorns' 70 plays were rush attempts, producing two 100-yard rushers in a game against Oklahoma for the second time in three seasons. “They kicked us and won the game,” Stoops told reporters. Truer words have never been spoken. That's a major problem for Stoops. That's a major win for Strong. We may eventually look back at today's Red River Rivalry as the day Texas and Oklahoma passed each other in the night. If nothing else, don't ever doubt how strongly Texas' players feel about their coach.
"Big Game Bob? Stoops is 6-6 in his past 12 games against Power Five opponents. Big Game Bob? Stoops has lost 11 games since 2012 and nine of those defeats were at home or a neutral site. Big Game Bob? This is the second time in three seasons Oklahoma's national championship hopes have vanished by losing as a double-digit favorite to a Texas program in disarray." This. I get it if UTerus is good. They have dominated the Sooners 3 years in a row with crap teams.
yup...I'll see how this season turns out...but starting to sound like Gary Gibbs...win 7-9 games a year...lose to your rivals, ut/osu...?..keep a clean program going.
A little nitpicky, but I hate when analysts use the final run/pass stats as an example of play-calling. Probably 10 or so of those rush attempts were sacks or scrambles on called pass plays. Granted still a pretty one-sided ratio in this particular case, but still...
Texas, Texas, Texas. If only you didn't suck so much, OU wouldn't have dropped 10 spots by losing by 7 points to you. If only you didn't suck so much, an OU win might catapult you into the CFP discussion. If only you didn't suck so much, you would be talking Big 12 championship trophy instead of just the gold hat trophy. If only you didn't suck so much. You might have won Saturday, but the loser is still in the top 25, still in contention for the Big 12, still in contention for CFP. Saturday might have been a setback, but it was not the end of big-time seasonal aspirations, unlike your 50-7 loss to TCU. Be Strong, Texas! Maybe beating us will actually save your head coach's job this time :mack:
Look at the picture of Strong at the bottom of that article. When was the last time Bob was that excited? I don't think he was even after Alabama. Bob has grown comfortable and smug. It's obvious that Strong doesn't consider Oklahoma just another game.
After what we've seen the last few years, I was cautiously optimistic about this year's team, not knowing if we had really turned the corner to become something special. A specialness that we have not seen out of an OU team in several years. That question was answered Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in a resounding, emphatic way. We are unable to play very good, for very long. Not a trait you see in great or even good teams, but a trait you see more with mediocrity. Sad but that's what we've become. Anyone that cannot see it, is in denial.
Ehhhh. Losing to KSU had more to do with Mike Stoops on D and Michael Hunnicutt -- who had been super Mr. Reliable -- whiffing on a couple of placement kicks. I'll give you OSewe though...had that game won and then...brain fart. But that had as much to do with Bob not trusting Mike's D, imho.
I would almost make the case that this wasn't really a 'big game'. They beat us, a #10 team but they still aren't ranked (with a losing record). We just lost to a sh!tty team after beating a good Tennessee team on the road, which was a big game.
Too much p*ssing and moaning after a loss; too much credit given after the wins. Wait and see how the season turns out. If it's another 3-5 loss season, then p*ss and moan. Congrats to Texas, but...six more games to go for them; seven for us. Lot of football to be played. On the other front, spare us the Gary Gibbs angle...Bob has already proved that he is not trying to run a Gibbs-like clean program. You can make that argument for Charlie Strong; not Bob Stoops.
I agree - it wasn't a big game from a high level CFB point of view. We were only ranked #10 because we hadn't lost yet, not because of what we were showing on the field. If we had played the horns schedule, we would have had 2-3 losses too. But writers must find a reason to use the "big game Bob" phrase. We need to improve before we can be considered part of a big game.
Considering all the Cal/Florida/Maryland/Kansas/Missouri kids playing at Oklahoma now, it may be hard to get players to appreciate the rivalry that it was when it was all Okla/Tex kids.
