Big 12 State of the Union: Oklahoma
6 comments so far
January 28, 2008 by
People might point to Oklahoma’s recent string of unimpressive post-season performances and conclude that something is wrong. They might be right. No, the Sooners do not have a deeply troubled program. The recruiting is firing on all cylinders, they contend for the conference every year and might be the favorite for 2008.
Instead, they look like Nebraska did between about 1987 and 1992. What you had was a program that was going to finish in the top ten and play in a major bowl but seemed to lack that last piece that would make them able to beat the best teams in the country. For Nebraska, it was about the base defense. They switched to a 4-3 defense and very quickly put together a historic 60-3 run.
Something similar may also be required for the Sooners. Perhaps it’s a scheme, or a transcendent player (like a Vince Young at Texas), but whatever it is that separates top ten from national champion seems to be afflicting OU right now.
The Sooners have a lot of returning starters on offense and should be able to improve on that side of the ball. Bob Stoops always fields a quality defense but they will lose a number of quality starters on that side of the ball. On the surface, this team doesn’t necessarily smell like one poised to win it all. But the same might have been said just after the 1994 season about Nebraska. NU fans don’t need to be reminded what the 1995 team did.
If you administered a truth serum and asked which program you’d most want your team to trade places with to the fans of every team in the Big 12, you’d have to think OU would get selected the most. Even if there are doubts and whispers about the status of Oklahoma right now, they are still the top dog in the Big 12 and that doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon. Maybe they’ll fix what’s missing but even if they don’t, this is a team built to contend for a long time.
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john Jan 28 08
I do believe OU is doing great overall but does need a couple of explosive players on offence and defence as well as better preparation in the bowl season to really stay elite.
James Moore Jan 28 08
I remember telling OU7Times that Oklahoma reminded me of where Nebraska was during the 1987-1992 stretch. They are the 1,000-lb gorilla in the conference and residents of the conference penthouse. I'm not so sure if it's nothing more than better bowl preps because it's seemed to me that they have had for two years running an astonishingly poor game plan for both games. What's perplexing about this is TWO STRAIGHT YEARS they've come out in the Big 12 Conference Championship game well prepared, and ready to execute.
OU7times Jan 28 08
You are absolutely right, James. Suprisingly enough, there is not a lot of grumbing from the fans. All teams do have down time before their bowl games but OU really has alot of problem with keeping the kids focused, it seems. 30 days or so between games sucks. It's so hard to get re-energized after a season where your team has done well (not so much this year) only to fall flat on their face. After 2 years in a row? REALLY tough! I can't say for sure if Coach Stoops is losing it or not but something has got to give this season. I just think that the stretch of the 1990's has taught us OU fans that "it could always be worse".
Husker fan in Denver Jan 29 08
I posted this at the end of a previous thread but wanted to stress it again on one that's still being contributed to:
Much respect to Nebraska and who we consider our #1 rival: Oklahoma. Lets admit that our recent coaching choice was influenced in no small part by the success of a defensive minded Youngstown, OH native coaching our old rivals down in Norman. Regardless of the fact that they haven't gotten every bowl win, their consistency since Stoops took over is what we are striving for.
Except, we may have gotten the better D-Guru from Youngstown...God willing!
GBR 08!!!
James Moore Jan 29 08
OU7Times,
One question I kept asking myself during the Fiesta Bowl was why on earth did you guys keep trying to run zone running plays against a defense that was quicker than your O-line? Instead of trying to carry out blocking assignments in space I was thinking during the game, GUYS RUN AT THEM!!! I thought during the game that there was a stunning lack of imagination on the O-Coordinator's part. During the Pitt/WVU game Pitt kept a fullback in the game, ran out of the I, and countered all day overloading the 2,3,4,5 holes. With 6 in the box (3-3-5 base), MAYBE with a ROV/Bandit type walking in I thought that you had a better O-Line than Pitt's and should've been able to run AT THEM instead of trying to get to the edge. Anyways bro I have the deepest respect for you and everyone in Sooner Nation so if you happen to see this I'd be curious to see what you thought of this point or if you had the same thought during the game. . .
OU7times Jan 29 08
James, I had similar thoughts at the time of the game. Coach Stoops has gotten "Plain Vanilla" in his old age. Times were when other teams were victims of his trickery and now we are the victims, it seems. I just don't have any excuse or idea what the hell is the matter with the team (at bowl time, especially). Keeping focused pretty much is a problem with the Stoops teams these days. Oh well, there's always next year...again.