Almost every year since the 2000 national championship, Bob has gotten badly outcoached by a coach who makes about 1/5 what he makes, and who has a far less talented bunch of athletes. In 2001, it was the loss to an OSU team that finished 4-7. In 2002, it was another loss to OSU, with the vaunted Mike Stoops defense being lit up to the tune of 38 points. In 2003, it was Kansas State laying a 35-7 licking on the so-called best team in college football history. In 2004, it wasn’t an inferior team, but instead a team with equal talent, and USC beat OU 55-19, and Bob’s players clearly quit about midway through the second quarter. In 2006, it was Boise State, with its first-game coach Chris Petersen. In 2007, it was Colorado, one of Dan Hawkins’ 19 wins in 5 years in Boulder, and West Virginia, operating with yet another first-game coach–a guy who would prove to be ineffective at winning any big game other than against OU. In 2008, Bob got outcoached by equally well-paid Urban Meyer in the BCS championship game. In 2009, it was four losses that would have been wins if OU had had a kicker capable of kicking field goals longer than PATs, but inexplicably, there was no one on the roster who fit that description. In 2010, it was inexplicable red-zone failures against Missouri and Texas A&M. Now, in 2011, it’s losses to bottom-feeding Texas Tech and to Baylor.

Losses (although not blowouts) against coaches like Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, and Urban Meyer are understandable. But guys who get paid a lot less than $4.4 million a year can lose to Dan Hawkins’ Colorado, to Tommy Tuberville’s Texas Tech, and to anybody’s Baylor.