Emptying the Fiesta Bowl mailbag
Today we bring back a popular feature, one I hope will appear weekly. The mail bag. I’ll share some interesting emails I received from readers. Today’s topic: the Fiesta Bowl meltdown by the Sooners.
A fellow named Dave wrote and was not happy with the state of OU football: “I’m beginning to think that Stoops himself may be the problem and it may be time for him to move along. He can talk all he wants about ‘winning championships,’ but no one in this country is really impressed if OU wins the Big 12 championship. What impresses people is winning the national championship or at least soundly winning your bowl game. OU has become the joke of NCAA football because of our 4 BCS ‘choke’ games. Most of those games have been humiliations. Something is wrong with that program and Stoops is either too arrogant or stubborn to fix it. So, it’s time he moves on and let OU bring in somebody who is willing to really turn OU back into the powerhouse they have always been ,.. honestly, I can’t see OU being a legitimate national contender for many, many years to come.”
Here’s where I normally respond with some affirmation or confrontation or something terribly witty. But I didn’t have to. The guy’s brother wrote in. Fellow named Sean.
“I am sorry he has such a negative attitude about OU and the coaching etc…. He is definitely the ‘Glass Half Empty’ brother and I am the ‘Glass Half Full’ brother. HaHa. Sorry for the distraction story, I am elated how Bob Stoops has brought the football program back to its rich tradition of one of the winningest programs in the nation. It is frustrating, like my brother has said, but I look at all of the other institutions that would love to have 10++ winning seasons, year after year after year. And the fact that we are winning enough to make it to the BCS bowls year after year. That says a lot for a program that really IS in the hunt year after year for the national championship. Anyway, all this being said, my brother will never see it as positive unless OU wins everything all the time and it simply can’t happen that way.”
Wow. Now if all my readers would monitor the emails of all my other emails and answer them that soundly, my work load goes way down.
A reader named William said, “Go look at Lloyd Carr’s career at Michigan … I see a lot of parallels to Stoops. Fast start, win national title and then does OK by Michigan and OU standards but not great, with the occasional random mid-season losses thrown in for good measure. The only difference is Stoops has benefited from Mack Brown being at Texas versus (Jim) Tressel at Ohio State. In the venture capital business we have three kinds of deals — ones that become home runs (10x our money), ones that fail miserably (and we get the capital tax loss) and ones that are in the middle called the ‘walking dead.’ Those deals will neither take off nor fail miserably so you can move on. They limp along and do just good enough. OU’s program is the walking dead right now much like Michigan’s program became under Carr. Can’t get to the 10x return or won’t fail so you can move on. Sooner fans better get used to it.”
Wow. And I thought Kelvin Sampson was Dead Man Walking (as John Rohde termed him a couple of days ago). Of course, Stoops is not Dead Man Walking. Five Big 12 titles in eight years is a lot better than what Michigan has done in the last eight years. Stoops has a bowl problem, but he most certainly does not have a regular-season problem. And isn’t that an interesting twist to the OU-Texas series. Stoops thrives Mack Brown is at Texas. I would tend to say it’s the other way around. Mack Brown is kept from greatness because Bob Stoops is at Oklahoma.
Armon wrote, “I have been an OU fan since the beginning of the Great Bud Wilkinson Era. I consider Bud the best coach OU has ever had. I cannot understand why Stoops called for the two-point conversion and the onside kick. This was plain dumb, especially when OU had finally gotten the momentum back and was only down less than a TD. I absolutely could not believe this. Two bonehead plays in a row.”I don’t know if Bud is the greatest OU coach ever, but I can’t disagree on those plays. The two-point conversion and the onside kick. Just plain dumb.
And of course, we haven’t even gotten to the coordinators yet. Al wrote, “You missed the whole problem with the Sooner football team. OU played not to lose and they lost. Every coach knows that OU will run the ball on first down 95 percent of the time, 80 percent of the time on second down and almost always on third and short. The coaches have not shown any innovation or imagination in the game. They are too conservative. As long as their offensive staff remains the same, OU will never ever win another national championship or even come close to winning one. Coach Josh H (I can’t spell his name) would have had a game plan much different than the plan they had at the Fiesta Bown.”
I had a sudden thought. Fans always want the head of the offensive coordinator, and OU fans always say Chuck Long or Kevin Wilson are too predictable, and they all long for the days of Mike Leach. So how do they explain this. Leach has the most predictable offense of all time. He ALWAYS throws and almost always throws short.
Phil wrote and gave us cart blanche to investigate the curious case of the Sooners: “How about a series of articles on what the $3 million man and his pals actually do after the end of the Big 12 and the time to play a bowl game? Did they actually look at WV film or did they just go to the movies? In any event, you and your pals have my permission to fully probe the state of the football Sooners. Perhaps an intervention with each coach might be useful.”
Well, Phil gave me a couple of rich mental images. Bob Stoops at the movies — I don’t see Stoops sitting through “27 Dresses” – and the intervention. Now there’s an idea. How about us media guys, me and Jake Trotter and Scott Wright and Jenni Carlson and John Rohde and Eschbach and Traber and Blevins take about 10 fans each and stage an intervention with each coach. Put them in a room and demand they start winning bowl games. I’ve got dibs on Chris Wilson.
Sixto wrote in and asked, “What the hell is going on? Our multi-million dollar a year coach just got his (butt) handed to him by an interim head coach. This team looked listless, disinterested and completely unprepared. OU showed signs of life at the beginning of the second half, but quickly imploded after that misbegotten onside kick attempt. And why the hell wasn’t Kevin Wilson calling passing plays on every down when the team was down by 20? It looked to me like they just gave up midway through the fourth quarter! And let’s address the off-the-field crap: the fact that Demarcus Granger got pinched shoplifting tells me there is something systemically wrong with the program. Are the coaches simply not reaching these kids? Is the program out of control? Is Bob Stoops turning into Phil Fulmer? Ever since USC destroyed OU in that Orange Bowl debacle, Bob Stoops has not been the same coach in bowl games. This is an embarrassing, shameful loss, and I for one am seriously considering terminating my season tickets commitment.”
Well, I thought OU gave up the ghost a little early myself.
Ryan wrote, “Thanks for being tough on Stoops. I am not exaggerating when I say that I think the majority of us Sooners fans just aren’t that enamored with this guy anymore. Let’s just say this. We’re like some old married couples now — we can co-habitate, but we ain’t in love anymore. I don’t want him to go, but if he does, I won’t be heartbroken. I’d be kind of stoic. And I do really think we’re much closer to the end of Stoops’ tenure here at Oklahoma than to the beginning of it.”
Well, Ryan, unless Stoops stays 18 years, you’re right. He’s already gone nine seasons.
David wrote in “wondering why no one is talking much about the OU defense….especially in bowl games. I realize they were without three starters, but since Mike Stoops left, this defense has never been the same. Here are some quick stats: OU has been in 40 bowl games; the most points given up have been in 1) 2005 – 55; 2) 2008 – 48; 3) 2007 – 43. Before 2005 in 36 bowl games OU averaged giving up 15.8 points a game. Since 2005 in the 4 bowl games played they have averaged giving up 40.0 points a game. How come there seems to be no outcry from the media about Brent Venables and the defensive woes? We’re not talking about just bad defense but truly record-setting bad defensive efforts?”
Well, first off, this is great statistical research. This is why I love football fans. They really get into this stuff. But that said, you can’t really compare, because football has gotten so out of whack with points. Mike Gundy said throw out the records the last 10-15 years, but I’d say it’s more like the last five years. Offense has gotten so out of control, with the rules and the length of games. Also, Brent Venables’ defense has been superb. In the two games before the Fiesta Bowl, OU played high-powered offenses, OSU and Missouri. And held each to 17 points, less than that when the game was still in question.
Chuck wrote in with a heck of a story. “I think you’re right on about the team not being prepared. None of the bowl games did they appear ready to play in the losses. That goes back to the head man. A friend of mine, after his third divorce said, ‘You know, it might be me.’ Stoops should ask himself the same question. Do you still think his mojo didn’t leave town with his brother? This is not to say Venables isn’t a good coach. Just look at the results since the brother left Norman. I’m not one that wants to dump Stoops, I enjoy winning nine or 10 games a year. But being a realist, I came to the realization after last year’s bowl game that OU will never win a national championship again under Bob Stoops. I really like Stoops, but it just ain’t going to happen.”
I don’t think Chuck is necessarily right about his prediction, but I think his story about the divorce is a beaut.
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Comments
BOB STOOPS IS A GREAT COACH, BUT HE SEEMS TO HAVE BAD LUCK AT MAJOR BOWL GAMES. HE NEEDS TO FIND HIMSELF A LUCKY CHARM AND CARRY IT WITH HIM TO BOWL GAMES. HE WILL WIN THE BIG GAMES IN THE NEAR FUTURE AND THAT IS A FACT.
I have been a sooner fan since 1972 and what these fans who criticize Coach Stoops fail to understand is that winning ain’t easy!
The Media darling Pete Carroll lost at home to Stanford! Last year the Sooners were one injury (Bradford at TT) short of playing for the National Title. Remember it WAS the players who went to sleep during the 4th quarter against Colorado, Stoops was not the one fumbling punts.
Being an ex coach, most football coaches use a conversion chart when deciding to go for 1 or 2. Since they were down by 5 the chart says go for 2 to reduce it to a 3 point game (field goal to tie) so that’s why you go for 2. The onside kick was executed well by the other 10 players but the kicker just didn’t kick it the required 10 yards. In 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 the ball seemed to bounce right when Stoops would call a trick play. He was labeled a genus, named Big Game Bob.
In almost any sport, when the ball bounces the right way you win, but when it’s not bouncing the right way you lose. We forget that many of the teams playing have just about the same amount of playing and coaching talent as OU so everyone much work together as a team. The coaches have to put the players in position to win, and the players have to execute their assignments and hope the other team doesn’t execute their assignments.
I think the major problems lately in bowl games are:
1. Teams know OU can be beat and go into the game with confidence
2. The players and coaches are aware of their bowl failures and perhaps press too hard
3. The opposing team butter OU up talking about how fast, big and great OU is which cause the players to believe it and come in over confident. As a fan now in my 40’s that has witness many greats in all walks of life and professions become bigger life and forget what got them their level of greatness. I buy into believing the talk. Imagine an 18, 19, 20 years old etc. reading and hearing how great you are.
I wish the coaches could limit the amount of time players can read the internet, print, listen to the radio watch TV and limit their contact with the outside world. But that’s not going away.
I think we will be fine. People don’t know how hard it is to win championships. There are several of things that must fall into place to make it work. Sometime it’s better to be lucky than it is to be good. Ask Les Miles and his LSU Tigers.
I think the bowl problem is a “Bob Stoops” problem. Not that i think Stoops is a bad coach. You have to be a fool to think that, but something in the bowl prep obviously needs to change. Yeah, they beat Florida State for the National Championship and then lost to LSU mostly because Jason White wasn’t mobile enough to avoid a blitzing sloth (and they still only lost by a touchdown!) but other than that who have they beaten in a bowl game since Stoops has been there? Washington State? Oregon? People don’t look at those and say wow! Both are quality teams (some years) but beating them doesn’t make the public think better of you after getting beat down by USC and then losing to the Li’l Broncos That Could and a WVU team that barely had a coaching staff. Maybe they try too hard to win the Big 12 and the post season doesn’t seem that important after they do it. Or maybe if it’s not a National Championship game the team feels let down and that effects the level of play. I’m not sure what it is, but after going 0-4 in the last BCS games with 2 of them being blowouts they might start getting passed over like MU did if they don’t get the Big 12’s automatic bid. Stoops should think long and hard about what the problem is. Look at how Tom Caughlin (thats probably spelled wrong) changed his attitude from slave driver to buddy this year and The Giants ended up winning the Superbowl against one of the greastest teams ever. Some kind of change is needed. I’m rambling……..CIAO!