why even waste your time and money, the last 5-bowl games oklahoma has lost or embarrassed there selves. across the nation they are calling us choke-ohoma. iam sorry for saying that, but if i was a player i rather stay home than go too the toilet or outhouse bowl.

Go to a bowl even if it is the Independence.

johnny harrison, are you potty trained yet? You sound like a bumbling 2nd grader. Why don’t you leave the comments up to grown ups that actually understand what they are typing?

Normally, I would agree – go to any bowl if for no other reason than to get the extra practices but this year is not normal. I say these guys have really not gotten much better as the year has gone on. Johnnie is an uneducated fool but I am afraid he got this one right. Our recent bowl record, road record and lack of improvement as this year has past might indicate it is time to push the reset button. Forget the past year, don’t think about football until the spring and then get after it.

Just another perspective.

I believe that experience is never a bad thing (unless you get injured). And since I am assuming that Jones will be back next year, I can only suggest that any additional game experience (especially a bigger game) can not do any harm. Jones needs the (hopefully positive) experience to help him build the confidence that he needs for next season, a confidence that I feel he is lacking almost every time he throws the football.

If all you are worried about is our reputation, then why does it really matter? Our reputation can’t get tarnished much worse at the moment.

Do you really think a few extra practices are going to make a difference to this team? Better off going to Oz and see about getting some heart.

Do you think your verbal commitments will be impressed with a 6 – 6 team becoming a 6 -7 team after a bowl game? Stay home and lick your wounds.

Trying to assume what is going through the minds of the verbal commitments is just trying to rationalize your own feelings on the matter. Being 6-7 after a remotely possible bowl game is also a big assumption.

I guess you guys are assuming a loss in bedlam if that your attitude then get lost and find a new team we dont need you

it’s a good thing our football team isn’t full of a bunch of worms who are ready to give up because things have not worked out this year. i have no idea what you people are like but life doesn’t always yield to your hard work and wishes. sometimes it just rolls over you no matter what you do. you think this is a shame? it’s embarrassing? then go and excel in your own life and be proud about how you can do everything you put your mind to. the boys have worked hard and it has been frustrating. they will persevere and truly succeed in the future. its clear that all the naysayers don’t know squat about football or life it appears and berry you are better than this. or maybe i just give you the benefit of the doubt having read your name above sooner articles since i was a kid.

sorry berry throwing the baby out with the bath water there. misread.

I’m with you Steve. We still have a game AT HOME on Saturday and I fully expect us to win. As for the bowl matter, of course we should and will accept whatever bowl bid we may get. The extra practice time will be invaluable for the young guys.

Pretty telling that some of these folks are saying stay home. Fact is, a bowl game is an honor and a reward to a team for a hard-fought season. The Sooners have faced adversity and tried their darndest, so you fair-weather fans should be quiet and let them go to the bowl. Having said that, Go Pokes, beat the Sooners Saturday. And to Landry Jones and crew: Best wishes after Bedlam and good luck in your bowl game.

This is a very good point and it’s money for the program no matter what. More importantly, the coaches need the extra experience especially in how to prepare for a bowl game. Tom Osborn was perhaps the best at this. His approach was to have the best conditioned team for the game. The talent and experience and schemes don’t change much over a 5 week period. But conditioning makes a huge difference in performance and Osborn got that right. Also, Stoops should not be so hardheaded in his approach. Getting to big games has been easier than getting over the top and winning. This program has got to learn to use our whole team and get our subs involved for numerous reasons, many of them highlighted this year.

I agree with having the potential and possibility of having post-season practices, only not in a bowl game. A bowl game is a reward for above-average performance, which we have NOT seen this year with OU. A 6-6 record does not merit a bowl invite or acceptance. If you want to have post-season practices in order to gain experience and prepare for next spring, then do it at home, rather than tarnishing the integrity of the school by accepting a bowl bid for a less-than-stellar year. As a working man and person in people management, I do not reward people for mediocrity. They are rewarded for excellence and consistent hard work and intensity.

This team quit on Saturday. They are in such a funk that playing another game – in a good way – is mentally impossible.

Anyone who thinks the Sooners should stay home and forego those extra practices because they haven’t played well is missing the point entirely. That’s like saying don’t send your teen-ager to a driver’s training class because he hasn’t mastered driving the car (and therefore hasn’t earned it). Huh?

Berry’s right. These kids are at OU to play football, to compete. We’re not too cool to go to a minor bowl. Just go compete.

Good note, Deann. You’d be fun to watch a game with. Go Sooners.

Football is about competition. That’s why kids go to OU, that’s why coaches coach, and that’s why fans watch the game. If you don’t want to go to a bowl game, you don’t belong in ANY of these categories. Tramel is right.

Sounds to me like there are a lot of fair weather Sooners that have already thrown in the towel.

You mentioned we would miss 15 practices and the game experience if we don’t go bowling. Those practices did us a lot of good this year, didn’t they. I would pass. We will go to a bowl the team has no interest in, and play a team wanting to make a name for themselves. Which means we would likely lose from a lack of interest. Staying home and doing a little soul searching would be a beneficial alternative.

kmann, and tulsa_SOONER sorry about my grammar ok. but i was telling the truth about oklahoma football it stinks in 2009. would you rather take a (7-5) or (6-6) team too a bowl game. if oklahoma had any diginity left the would turn it down. after bedlam game saturday win or lose please oklahoma hurry up and get the season over. this team will go down as one of the worst teams ever on offense, the defense did there job all year. it finally caught up with the texas-tech blowout. win or lose iam a diehardsooner fan too the core, but enough is enough. i think bob stoops let go the wrong kevin. truthfully if i was a ou player i would not want too go too the toiletbowl or outhouse bowl.

No real Sooner fan is going to give up on our kids. They’ve gone thru hell and the last game is the only game in which they actually quit. So many injuries, can you blame them from getting discouraged? Yes, never give up.

The only reason not to go to a bowl game is to get healed up and if taking the time off will better serve that purpose, to hell with the bowl game, we need to do the right thing for them now. I’m just not sure that more practice right now is the best thing for a large group of injured players. Maybe some light conditioning for awhile would better serve the football team. This O-line needs help, granted they and the receivers sure need experience. Let’s see what happens when OSU comes to town, they are pretty good this year. Don’t count the Sooners out for that game, might be disappointed. It’s in Norman, it’s bedlam, last game of season. Boomer!

ou-johnny, please remove the ou from your handle. What OU player doesn’t want to play in a game period, whether it’s the Toilet Bowl or just a sandlot game? These guys spend endless summer days doing 7 on 7 drills. This team is hugely handicapped by losing two of the “among the best” players to ever play their positions at OU, and the loss of offensive lineman to support the cause. There are legitimate complaints about how the season went, but I haven’t seen any from you.

ou should go to one of the lower bowls because they might have a chance to win. They sure can’t win a BCS bowl. That might help them start a comeback for next year and Stoops would finally have a bowl win on his record.

GO POKES!!!

You answered your question, not really to helpful with a Stoops coached
team. How many practices has he had after Bowls and the same results.
Good for the Sun Bowl, OU doesn’t need another ass whoop’in at the hands
of the PAC-10. Joe C., Boren and Big Time Donors are the only one’ that
can stop the charade of Stoops and his staff. Buffalo Bob doesn’t have a trump card. All he has is Ace’s and Eight’s. Berry, give it a break, Stoops has turned
OU into a non-factor. Whether it’s Bowls or the Big-12. The Fox announcers
were more than generous to OU at Lubbock. It’s a shame Stoops couldn’t put
a competitive team on the field, especially after 11 games into the season.
Like I said before. Gig’s up Stoop’s.

They should definitely play in the bowl game unless Saturday’s Bedlam game turns into some sort of disaster in which OU isn’t competitive…but I don’t see that happening.

The fifteen extra practices plus the game itself would be much needed for the develpoment of Landy, the offensive line and guys like Miller and Reynolds at wide receiver.

To heck with some of the spoiled fans. I went to Shreveport in ’99 and little did I know the next year we’d be in Florida winning the national championship. This isn’t a time to feel sorry for yourselves–just roll up your sleeves and make sure it doesn’t happen again next year.

El Prez

I live in Shreveport.I would love a chance to see my team play and get autographs.Remember the last time Oklahoma played at the Independence Bowl,we won the National Championship the next year.Don’t knock it you never know!!!!!

Last Saturday was a set back to be sure, but sooners don’t give up. This happens to us about once every four years. Losing Balogun, Grainger, Gresham, Bradford, English, Eldridge,Simmons, Murray off and on, Javaris Jones, Broyles for a couple of games, Caleb, now Habern and Reynolds -I mean come on, eventually, the damn was going to break. Where else but Lubbock? I think we will find a way to spoil the season of the Payne County Truck Driving Academy this Saturday and play in the Sun Bowl, who knows, perhaps against USC – wouldn’t the Sun Bowl Committee think they died and went to heaven? I just love to watch us play, wherever and whenever. BOOMER!

OU will probably lose to Okie St. I don’t take any joy in saying that, but I’m trying to be realistic.

Have our Sooners earned a bowl game this year? Uh . . . not even a little. For those that want to blame our failures on this year’s injuries, I’d like to know what you blame our failures on last year, and the year before, and the year before that, and the year before that, etc. 10-2 seasons haven’t meant a damn thing in the Big XII for several years. I hate to agree with the naysayers, but the Big XII has been a joke. Aside from OU and TexSux, we have nobody. You have the occasional poser who tries to make a run at being a powerhouse, but they’ve all failed. So, running up the score on a Big XII team or a piss poor, unranked non-conference team doesn’t mean anything.

OU needs to graciously bow out of a bowl this year. Stoops needs to go to ND. We need to hire a coach (TCU, Boise, Cincy, etc.) who has proven that they’re able to get things done with less. Hell, maybe even give Josh Heupel a chance. The kid couldn’t do any worse.

Aren’t we contracturally bound to accept a bowl bid if we qualify?

I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the Big 12, due to bowl tie-ins, requires members to attend bowls if they qualify.

In any case, I think we should go to a bowl for reasons stated previously in this thread. The extra practice, and additional game, could help the younge players that will be needed next year.

i would turn down bowl this year. players have not improved this year. you wonder what the lineman and the linebackers did all fall. after the second loss, younger players should have started playing.r.lewis, hurst , calhoun, etc. you wouldnt have neede bowl practices, these guys should have been playing.

Going to a bowl depends what OU really gains. Sure the extra practices are good, but another bowl lost and 6-7 record going into next year. Good for OU’s psyche? Probably not. OU needs to heal mentally as well as physically. Another embarassing loss may be too damaging to this young team.

I’m a season ticket holder from Tulsa who will be in the stadium Saturday. Win or lose, I recommend OU stay home from a bowl. Our players seem to take big time bowls for granted in the past and the preparation and effort seems to have been lacking (See Boise and WV, even USC). Let them stay home this year, maybe they’ll be hungary for it next year. If they do go, I’d sit all seniors, practice and playing time for underclassmen who can help next year. Also, scour the coaching ranks for a few new assistants. Some of the stuff I’ve seen might be ok for Northwestern or K-State, but is flat unacceptable for Oklahoma.

This is for “johnny harrison”, who said “why even waste your time and money, the last 5-bowl games oklahoma has lost or embarrassed there selves. across the nation they are calling us choke-ohoma. iam sorry for saying that, but if i was a player i rather stay home than go too the toilet or outhouse bowl.”…….Well thats why you problebly never played in your life because your a wittle scared! Its ok, this is college football….you dont have to watch if you think the big bowl monster is gonna get you. And let everyone call us Choke-Lahoma, history dosnt judge you bye your nicnames, it judges you by tradition and excellence. So go be scared and leave the football to the Oklahoma Sooners, i dont care what our record is, i hope you have a ride home since your jumping of the OU band wagon. Boomer Sooner! -True Fan

Were going to beat OSU. So, get ready to bowl.

please, please, please Bob, don’t embarrass the Sooner base any more. Are you tired of getting your butt beat?, I know I am tired of watching it. Getting beat when you play well is one thing, just never showing up at all. It appears we have hit the bottom of the barrel, is Bob too busy looking elsewhere? Someone please explain to me how the team just doesnt show up for the game. This is very similar to Gary Gibbs last run, wasnt it the embarrassment in the Sun Bowl that finally did him in? Please, shoot this horse in the head now and dont allow it to suffer any longer.

Thanks for providing those instant classics that ESPNU and Fox Sports broadcasts during the dog days of summer. Unfortunately OU does not fare well.

Looking forward to seeing OU on the ESPN Thursday night game of the week. GO POONERS

Maybe they can go to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

I can’t believe all of those who think Stoops is a bum. Seriously? 6 Big XII Titles since 2000 (Texas only has 1 by the way), 1 National Title and Four BCS Championship game appearances in the last 10 years – what is it about those stats that bother you? I understand the dissapointment of losing 3 of the 4 BCS Championship games, but come one, how many in the country would give up what they have for that? Get over it people – let’s get on to the business of beating Okie State and playing in a Bowl game. That is what college football is all about – not pouting and temper tantrums.

A whole season of practice has done little for this team or its coaches. I say start a fresh next with new thinking and some significant changes. Flush the bowl!

They need to create a new Bowl for teams like OU, called the Bottom Feeders
Bowl. Telecast it on the Reality Channel. Thats something Stoops and staff
could be first in. Whats the difference in OU football and a catfish? One
is a bottom feeder and the other is a catfish.

WOW! You “fair weather fans” take a freaking hike. You are embarrasing! 2 bad seasons in 10 years, and you are all jumping off the wagon. What a joke. Go away, and let the real sooner fans support their team no matter what bowl they play in. We are still the best football program in the state, and we will be for a while. I hope you fair weather fans stay away next year when we are back to winning the conference and competing for a national championship.

Actually Steve Tyler – you do need us and in the worst way. If it weren’t for we who are disatifed with bob stoops steadily declining performance – we still have John Black – remember him and gibbs and snelly.

Bob started out hungry and did fine – in a couple of years after the National Championship – he started saying things like – “I don’t mind winning a close game once in awhlle” – that morphed into – “I don’t mind losing now and then” and now we are there. Sure we had a lot of injuries – if last year when bob was pushing Sam for the heisman – instead he had been playing backup quarterbacks to give them practice – we probably wouldn’t be in this mess.

And he still isn’t playing Drew or John – there’s nothing really wrong with Jones but sometimes another quartback can spark a team or confuse the defense. Other things bob does wrong which shows a lack of offensive understanding – is downing the ball when we still have 1 or 2 minutes n the half. Every last second should be used to try to score – colorado beat michigan on a last minute hail mary. And kevin wilson is stuck in the big12 3 yards and a cloud of dust mentality – game before last the announcers said that we didn’t even attempt a long pass down field. Well that’s what opens up running plays and the work then – and this last game – a long pass to miller was caught and for some reason called back – it the only long pass of the game. After the nebraska game it was said – “we knew exactly who OU was going to do because they do it all the time.” Laterals to Murray and offtackle to Brown (those would work if we had a decent passing threat.) We can’t because bob stoops won’t play his backup qb’s and get them ready. Bob is a vastly overpaid coach who has lost his hunger.

It’s very doubtful he can ever regain it – he has too much money and comfort now and too much security – thanks to those who are blindly loyal. That is hurting the Sooners more than you know – just John Blake did.

Even if we beat OSU – it will only prolong the tolerance of a coach that is burned out – at least for OU. I’m a natural born okie and staunch sooner fan but that doesn’t mean I can’t see what’s happening. I post the same views on my SOONER_WATCH@yahoogroups.com list – where everyone gets to say what they think about the Sooners but not to flame anyone with a different opinion. I’m with Johnny – why waste time watching another bowl loss or even a win that won’t do us any good. Only discontent will change stoops direction and it sure needs changing.

John Hansen

The very idea that OU should not go to a bowl game is, not to put too fine a point on it, misguided. Berry Trammel has accurately made the point that the extra practices allowed by playing in a bowl game are the equivalent of a full spring practice and an invaluable tool to help develop young talent. Think about it.