College Football Week 13: Legacies & Legacy Trail
PLACES IN THE HEART
Saturday night clearly was one of the strangest games in Owen Field history. A late-November showdown that was both an elimination game for the national championship and the Heisman Trophy that was upstaged by another plot.
Bob Stoops’ call-out of his own fans was Storyline A.
OU fans were juiced, no doubt about that, which they would have been anyway. But Stoops’ matter-of-fact statement that Sooner fans were inferior to Florida’s, at least in terms of volume, resonated, pro or con, with everyone in crimson.
They either admitted Stoops was right and vowed to make him change his opinion about them, or they were hacked off that their coach would throw them under the bus. Neither side was wrong. You feel how you feel.
Either way, they came to the game ready to be scream their lungs out.
It was a brilliant move by Stoops. With a simple statement, he turned up the heat on Texas Tech’s offense. The stadium was loud, the stadium was energetic, the stadium was alive.
But the ploy came at a cost to Stoops. The message was well-received; alas, the total message. Which included this truth: the fans are outsiders. The fans aren’t part of the amazing Sooner success story.
I don’t believe that. I don’t know if Stoops believes it. But that’s the message he sent.
Stoops’ coaches never got disrespected by their boss. Stoops’ players never get disrespected, unless it’s something so obvious it’s not up for debate (Mark Bradley in the Orange Bowl).
But the fans found out their status. They already knew they weren’t on the inside, but Stoops let them know they were expendable. Under the bus they went.
Stoops humbly tried to make amends after the game. A game ball for the fans. The bowing to the crowd after the game. Those were legitimate gestures. I promise you, bowing to the crowd wasn’t a natural move for Stoops. I think it helped patch up things.
But as I chatted with fans surrounding Owen Field after the game, one theme was prevalent. “How’d we do?” “How was the crowd?” The unspoken question was this: Does he like us now? Not with Toby Keith attitude, but with Sally Field attitude. “You like me, you really like me.”
The cost to both sides was this: A place in the heart. Sooner Nation already knew that Stoops didn’t hold the fans dear; that was reinforced earlier in the week. And though OU fans love Stoops’ championships and his attitude and his persona, they also will close up a little of their heart and not get so close to the man who is willing to sacrifice them.
TEN BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE WEEK
10. Ball State: The unbeaten Cardinals get back-to-back games in the spotlight. First, last Tuesday, a 31-24 victory over Central Michigan in an ESPN2 game. Now, this Tuesday on ESPN2, Ball State plays yet another Mid-American Conference showdown, against 9-2 Western Michigan.
9. Pat White: The West Virginia quarterback, the hero of the Fiesta Bowl rout of OU last January, has not had a sterling senior year. But his 200 rushing yards against Louisville gave White an NCAA-quarterback record 4,292 rushing yards, breaking Brad Smith’s record of 4,289, set at Missouri.
8. Clemson: The Tigers upset Virginia 13-3 to get within one victory of bowl eligibility. Clemson is 6-5, but since two of its victories came against I-AA teams, it must go 7-5 to reach a bowl. South Carolina is next.
7. Turner Gill: Buffalo beat Bowling Green 40-34 in two overtimes to give the Bulls a 7-4 record and make Gill a hot candidate. Two straight quality seasons by Buffalo, which had been one of the nation’s worst programs.
6. Kansas State fans: Hope has been restored in Manhattan with the hiring of Bill Snyder. The Miracle Man might be out of magic, but fans can dream, and hope was fast fading on the Flint Hills.
5. Houston Nutt: I don’t know what went wrong at Arkansas, but this I know. The Hogs are 4-7 and mostly stink. Meanwhile, Nutt’s new team, Ole Miss, has beaten the last two national champions, Florida and now LSU, on the road, and is 7-4 and perhaps Cotton Bowl bound.
4. Justin Kahut: Sometimes when you make a big blunder, you spend the rest of your life seeking redemption. Just ask Brent Parker. Kahut had to wait only a few minutes. The Oregon State kicker missed a tying-extra point with 3:58 left against Arizona. But the Beavers got the ball back, and Kahut kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired to keep Oregon State in the Rose Bowl driver’s seat.
3. Washington State: In what surely was the last game we’ll ever see matching 10-loss teams, Wazuu beat Washington 16-13 in double-overtime, keeping the Huskies winless and giving Washington State fans a victory they’ll revel in for the next 50 years.
2. Utah: The Utes sealed a BCS bowl berth with a 48-24 rout of arch-rival Brigham Young, and what mid-major ever deserved it more. Utah beat top-20 teams BYU and TCU, plus Pac-10 leader Oregon State. And don’t forget the win at Michigan to open the season. Sure, the Wolverines stink now, but Michigan didn’t know it stunk back in September.
1. Sam Bradford: The Oklahoma quarterback moved to the top of the Heisman Trophy lists and his team moved into BCS title game contention with a 65-21 smackdown of Texas Tech. Bradford’s numbers were video-game high again: 14 of 19, 304 yards, four touchdowns.
LEGACY TRAIL
Saturday, my usual parking spaces along the railroad tracks just north of Eufaula Street in Norman were taken. So I parked along Eufaula, a half block east of the tracks. Which means I walked along Legacy Trail. I recommend it highly to anyone who lives or has interest in Norman.
Legacy Trail includes is a series of six plazas between Gray Street and Duffy Street which take visitors from the period before the Land Run through statehood, formation of OU, the Depression and both world wars up to the present.
Informational plaques and sculptures highlight the plazas, including three-dimensional maps of Norman in 1907, the OU campus as it looked in 1942, a bronze miniature Stearman biplane, a statue and tribute to actor James Garner and a clock that once graced the exterior of the First National Bank in early day Norman.
It was a fun walk. Next year, I’ll walk on the east side of the tracks to get to Owen Field and live a little of old Norman.
REALITY RANKINGS
Rankings based not on what anyone thinks a team will do or should do, but on what they have done:
1. Alabama: Last man standing.
2. Florida: SEC not as good at the top as the Big 12, but much, much better at the bottom.
3. Texas: Probably won’t hold off OU.
4. Penn State: Regular season over; Nittanys will only fall the rest of the season.
5. Oklahoma: Probably rises to No. 2 with a win in Stillwater.
6. USC: How do you stay under the radar in LA?
7. Texas Tech: Guy in the pressbox Saturday night asked me, “Do you think anyone remembers Frazier-Foreman?” I said, “I don’t know, but I’ll bet they remember Tyson-Spinks.”
8. Georgia: Call me crazy, but I still think Georgia is a quality team.
9. Utah: You’ve got to hand it to the Utes, they’ve been impressive.
10. Ohio State: Call me crazy, but I don’t think Ohio State is a quality team. But the results say put them here.
11. Boise State: Isn’t it about time we got serious about getting Boise in the Pac-10? Or at least the Mountain West?
12. Oklahoma State: Picked a bad year to have a great team.
13. Oregon State: I’m pulling for a USC-Penn State Rose Bowl. Sorry, I’ve seen Penn State-Oregon State.
14. Oregon: Quacky season. Oregon State-Oregon has Rose Bowl implications, yet Washington State-Washington was the more compelling game.
15. Boston College: If Boston College wins the ACC, which it very well might, I promise a one-year moratorium on saying anything bad about the Big East.
CLEANUP BRIGADE
I drove down Lindsey Street after midnight, just south of the stadium, and marveled at the mess. The tent city looked like Woodstock after the music had stopped. Trash everywhere. Beer bottles. Paper products flying around. Not a soul in sight.
I drove back down Jenkins Avenue early Sunday morning, before 7:30 a.m., and at the intersection of Jenkins and Lindsey, I again marveled. The mess was gone.
Amazing. In a few simple hours, the cleanup crew had dispatched all the ugly trash, and campus was looking semi-normal again.
I don’t know who cleans up college campuses after the carnage of game day, but I salute your work. Impressive. Very impressive.
TEN BIGGEST LOSERS OF THE WEKE
10. Cal Poly: The I-AA Mustangs had a chance to beat Wisconsin but missed three extra points, including one in overtime that allowed Wisconsin to survive 36-35.
9. Wake Forest: The Deacons have been the ACC’s Atlantic Division front-runners since beating Florida State in September. But with a chance to take command of the division, Wake lost 24-21 to Boston College, which was playing with backup quarterback Dominique Davis.
8. Ron Zook: The Illinois coach was in the Rose Bowl last January. Now he’ll have December and January off. His Illini lost 27-10 at Northwestern to finish out a 5-7 season.
7. North Carolina: The Tar Heels were the ACC darlings after reaching 7-2 on Nov. 8. But now they’ve lost two straight, including an ugly 41-10 home loss to North Carolina State, which allows the Wolfpack to declare itself state champs. N.C. State is 4-0 vs. North Carolina teams; 1-6 against everyone outside Tobacco Road.
6. Vanderbilt: I’m pulling for the Commodores, but watching them is painful. Vandy lost 20-10 at home to Tennessee, and in about another quarter century will have another chance to beat the cross-state Volunteers.
5. Minnesota: Here’s what’s screwy about the BCS. When November arrived, the Gophers were in BCS contention. A BCS rep told me so. They were 7-1 and had beaten Northern Illinois (by four), Bowling Green, Montana State (by 12), Florida Atlantic, Indiana (16-7), Illinois (27-20) and Purdue (17-6). Since then, Minnesota is 0-4, with three home losses. The Gophers lost 55-0 at home to Iowa, two weeks after losing 29-6 at home to Michigan. This is one bad team, and it’s going to a decent bowl. Hope it’s not the Alama. The Big 12 team will win 88-6.
4. Maryland: The Terrapins were in the ACC title hunt, then got rolled at home 37-3 by Florida State. The 7-4 Terps are among the nation’s most unpredictable teams.
3. Charlie Weis: This just in, after Syracuse beat Notre Dame 24-23. If you’re looking for a coach, Irish, Tyrone Willingham is available.
2. Ex-OU offensive coordinators: First, Mike Leach gets smoked 65-21 at Owen Field. Then OU closes the BCS gap and appears poised to pass Mack Brown and Texas. Finally, Chuck Long gets fired after three years at San Diego State, despite upsetting UNLV on Saturday. At least Galen Hall and Penn State nailed down a Rose Bowl bid.
1. Boise State: The Broncos won 41-34 at Nevada and are poised to go unbeaten again, provided they beat Fresno State. But Utah’s win over BYU probably keeps Boise State from a BCS berth. Which is too bad. An OU-Boise State or Texas-Boise State Fiesta Bowl would be grand fun.
EATING IN BRICKTOWN
I had dinner Friday night at Spaghetti Warehouse in Bricktown. Bought some Thunder-Hornet tickets and took my wife. We had a good time, except watching the Thunder was frustrating. That’s one bad basketball team.
But the night was fun. I let my wife pick wherever she wanted to eat, and she chose Spaghetti Warehouse, which as any regular reader knows, has a soft spot in my heart. The original Bricktown restaurant isn’t as crowded as it used to be; I remember the days of the hour-long wait for a table when the whole city was enamored with the novel idea of going downtown to eat, thanks to Spaghetti Warehouse’s plunge into a fledgling entertainment district.
Now, we’ve got – at last count – 23 restaurants in Bricktown, plus nine clubs and five hotels, none of which were here 20 years ago.
Now we’ve got carriages and rickshaws and all kinds of contraptions patrolling Bricktown streets, plus a ballteam just beyond the railroad tracks that is at least listed in the NBA standings, if not passable for NBA quality.
Quite a change. I had the spaghetti and meatballs at the original Bricktown eatery and was thankful for where I live.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
I don’t feel like Coach Stoops was throwing fans under the bus nor do I feel like fans are on the outside looking in. I think he was asking for some help for the team. Make noise to help rattle the visitors like home crowds do to OU when they are on the road.
I have to say that I pretty much disagree with your whole take on this. I think this was just a way to pump up the crowd for the game. Things have become fairly calm even at big games at OU. I believe he was just trying to fire everyone up to the level we need to be at all the big games. I think that you are really making much to much about this. Where do you get that Stoops doesn’t care about the fans? I was at the Lloyd Noble Center when Stoops came out and spent his afternoon signing autographs because he missed the team day due to a funeral. He could have blown the fans off but he didn’t. So, please don’t try and paint this in the wrong way.
I really disagree that Bob Stoops threw the fans under the bus or implied they were not part of the Sooner success story. Barry Tramel is one of my favorite writers, but I think he is off out in the toolies with this part of the story.
The OU fans are a big part of the OU success story and have always been. Bob Stoops knows this and probably did a great thing in re-energizing them. If I could have been at the game I would have yelled my head off. I think I did anyway in my living room. GO BIG RED, FANS AND ALL!!!
Some of the stories or opinions you put out are just bunk. It just seems to me you are always trying to be negative against the sooner nation. Trying to stir trouble. That was the loudest we have been since Nebraska 2000. Stoops is a Coach, his job is to coax motivate and get people to react. Thats how coaches gain favor,not by saying great job when its not. This story goes along with the We aren’t who we thought we were after our loss to Texas. All I can say is we are who we thought we were!!!
Yeah i agree with the posts on here. He was trying to get the crowd to react by calling them out, not express his true feelings that he doesn’t care for the fans. And it worked obviously. And saying that he was patching things up by bowing to us in the student section and giving the fans a game ball…? It’s called a thanks for coming through when we needed you to. You always seem to create little underlying stories that aren’t there. You’re gonna try and turn fans against the god that is Bob Stoops? You’re nuts berry.
I see that I am in the distinct minority, but I agree with Berry.
Bob could have said “we need all the support from the crowd that we can get” without making odious comparisons. He chose to make the comparisons.
Boise St vs OU or UT. Sit on it Berry. How about having the upstarts pay some other conference and embarrass someone else.
And,,
IMO Stoops is a very low keyed unemotional person in front of the camera. I think this was his low keyed was of getting the stadium loud. He knew that the first Tech offensive series was important to Tech and his D. Those quick penalties started the unraveling of Harrel’s and Tech’s game. Coach Stoops be play call of the game.
Berry,
I’ve got to disagree with you about one thing. Well actually, maybe I kind of agree with your thought on the fact that Bob Stoops called out the fans, and in the process may have indicated (to some) that the fans were expendable.
My disagreement is that you believe the fans will “close up their heart.”
If anything, Bob said what a lot of fans have been saying for a while. We are nowhere near the caliber of LSU, Florida, Virginia Tech, etc. We haven’t made noise. We’ve sat down. We’ve watched the student section shrink since the 70’s, and we’ve watched them shrink during the course of most games.
I don’t feel like Bob “threw us under the bus,” but I understand why some (a very few, I think) would feel that way.
Either way, I have no problem with it. What we saw Saturday should be status quo… not that I expect it for Baylor or Chattanooga or Iowa State. But every big game should be like that.
If we want to get a lot more night games like LSU seems to, we’ve got to deliver. Now, I hope we can remember what the stadium was like for a whole year, and do it again.
If anything, even if I were to be one who lost heart for Bob, I’d think I’d gain it back.. and then some… for the game atmosphere. With money woes and such, watching games from my couch is becoming more and more tempting.
But, not if I know I’m going to miss seeing what we saw in person on Saturday night.