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OU football: Bob Stoops misses Superman play

Berry Tramel — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:00:13 +0000

In a play that went down in Sooner football history, Oklahoma Sooner safety Roy Williams knocks the ball loose from Texas quarterback Chris Simms, deflecting the ball to Teddy Lehman who scored a clinching touchdown in the game between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas, October 6, 2001, in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Illustration by Todd Pendleton. Photo by Paul Hellstern

Here’s how good was Roy Williams’ Superman play against Texas 10 years ago this month. It was so spectacular, Bob Stoops let his guard down and admitted he liked that play right fine. “It’s one of my favorites,” Stoops said.

For the Tuesday Oklahoman Colleague Jenni Carlson wrote about Williams’ recollection of his sack of Chris Simms, which created an easy interception and touchdown for Teddy Lehman in OU’s 14-3 victory at the Cotton Bowl. You can read the column here.

And Stoops re-told the story Monday night that he didn’t even see the play. Texas took over at its 2-yard line late in the game, and during a TV timeout the Sooner defense huddled with the coaches. While defensive coordinator Mike Stoops conversed with Williams, Bob Stoops grabbed defensive end Cory Heinecke and gave specific instructions. Get wider. To counter Williams’ biltz, Simms would likely throw a quick pass in the flat. So Heinecke was to get in the way, get underneath the route.

“When the ball’s snapped, I’m watching Cory,” Stoops said.

Then he heard the roar. “What’s going on,” he said to himself. It took a second for Stoops to get his bearings. Then he focused on which players were celebrating. The white-clad Sooners. Not the burnt-orange Longhorns.

“Everyone’s yelling, ‘TOUCHDOWN,’” Stoops said. “I said, ‘What happened?’ They had to tell me.”

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OU football: Sooners’ clean performance vs. Tulsa a great sign

Berry Tramel — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000

OU head coach Bob Stoops didn't have much to talk about with officials Saturday in Oklahoma's opener vs. Tulsa. The Sooners' committed only two penalties in their 47-14 victory. PHOTO from The Oklahoman archives.

The most encouraging development of OU’s season-opening rout of Tulsa was not Dominique Whaley or Tom Wort or the offensive line. Not any unit or individual.

It was the lack of yellow on the field. The Sooners committed just two penalties, for 20 yards. A 15-yard facemask penalty against David King, and an illegal-formation penalty. One offensive penalty. That’s excellent play in a season opener. Excellent and historic.

In OU history, only twice have the Sooners had two or fewer penalties in a game. In Bob Stoops’ first game, against Indiana State in 1999, OU had one penalty. Talk about a change in culture, after the slapstick days of the John Blake era. And in 1954, against California, OU had two penalties.

Here are the game by game penalty totals of the Stoops’ openers:

Utah State 2010: seven penalties, 70 yards.

BYU 2009: 12 penalties, 93 yards.

Chattanooga 2008: five penalties, 42 yards.

North Texas 2007: nine penalties, 74 yards.

Alabama-Birmingham 2006: five penalties, 40 yards.

TCU 2005: six penalties, 46 yards.

Bowling Green 2004: seven penalties, 65 yards.

North Texas 2003: six penalties, 70 yards.

Tulsa 2002: four penalties, 40 yards.

North Carolina 2001: 10 penalties, 104 yards.

Texas-El Paso 2000: nine penalties, 70 yards.

Indiana State 1999: one penalty, 10 yards.

So Stoops’ teams haven’t incredibly sloppy in openers, with a few exceptions, but neither have they been pristine. They were pristine Saturday night against Tulsa. One turnover (Trey Franks’ fumble). No sacks. Two penalties. That’s a clean performance

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Big 12 Basketball: Conference is getting tougher

Berry Tramel — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:16:46 +0000

Big 12 basketball is getting tougher. At least on the sidelines. Texas Tech hired Billy Gillispie, who is a social risk but a heck of a ballcoach. Missouri is making a strong run at Purdue’s Matt Painter. Now it’s Oklahoma’s move.

New Texas Tech men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie, left, gestures next to Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt during a news conference at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday, March 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Zach Long)

That’s a stout duo to add to a 10-team league. Maybe it’s not like the early 2000s, when Kansas had Roy Williams, OSU had Eddie Sutton, OU had Kelvin Sampson, Texas had Rick Barnes, Texas Tech had Bobby Knight and Iowa State had Larrry Eustachy. But still, the current and prospective list of Big 12 coaches is getting better.
Replacing Pat Knight with Gillispie at Tech, and Mike Anderson with possibly Painter at Missouri, improves Big 12 coaching. Anderson did a good job at Mizzou, but Painter would be an absolute home run.

That increases the pressure on Joe Castiglione at OU. The Sooners don’t want to be perceived as a lesser program that takes fliers on coaches. Some of the names that have been tossed out — Buzz Williams, Lon Kruger, Dave Rose — are very good coaches. But if OU ends up with an up-and-comer, like Jeff Capel, the Sooners clearly would be behind on the coaching level. Capel quickly earned his stripes (before it fell apart), but there’s not a lot of time for the next coach to rebuild.

Kansas is Kansas and Texas is Texas. No one should think that Mark Turgeon’s program will slide at Texas A&M. Travis Ford has LaBryan Nash coming in at Oklahoma State. Frank Martin has turned Kansas State into a national player. The league is getting tougher. The next Sooner coach won’t have it easy.

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