Shadows of the 2000 Sooners
There’s been lots of talk lately about this Oklahoma football team resembling the Sooners of yesteryear.
The 2003 and 2004 teams are the most popular comparisons. Thing is, there’s a team looking a lot like the 2000 Sooners. And it’s not OU.
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Alabama has many of the same ear-markings of the 2000 team that won the national championship. Some of the similarities, frankly, are so close that they’re eerie.
In 2000, the Sooners had a hot coach in his second season in Bob Stoops. Now, the Crimson Tide has Nick Saban, a hot coach in his second season.
In 2000, the Sooners relied heavily a bunch of youngsters, guys like Derrick Strait and Brandon Everage among them. Now, the Crimson Tide are doing the same. It has a bunch of first- and second-year guys leading the charge.
In 2000, the Sooners scored a big-time beatdown of their hated rival. OU throttled Texas that season, a defining win that resonates even now. Last weekend, the Crimson Tide notched a defining victory of its own, going to Georgia and smacking around the Bulldogs. At one point, the Crimson Tide rolled up a huge lead in the first half.
Told you the similarities were striking.
Nate Hybl saw them for himself last weekend. Earlier this week, I had a chance to talk to the former OU quarterback who now lives in Atlanta, and he told me he was actually at the Alabama-Georgia game. He had the same feeling then as he did in 2000 at the Texas game. Hybl said there was a moment in that game eight years ago where everyone looked around and said, “Wow, how good could we be?”
Hybl felt like Alabama types had a similar moment against Georgia, that realization that they might be even better than they thought.
Now, I’m here to tell you that Alabama has a tougher row to hoe than OU did in 2000. The SEC is deeper now than the Big 12 was then. But the Sooners did have perhaps the toughest three-game stretch college football has ever seen. Top five Texas. No. 1 Kansas State. No. 1 Nebraska.
Having to maneuver through a rough road isn’t the only thing that the 2008 Crimson Tide and the 2000 Sooners have in common.
Only time will tell, though, how far the similarities will go.
Big 12 quarterbacks rule!
As if having three undefeated football teams in the state weren’t enough fun, we find ourselves front and center in the Heisman Trophy chase, too.
Sam Bradford is a dark horse no more. The Oklahoma quarterback continues to impress. Continues to climb the Heisman straw polls, too. He moved to No. 2 on my ballot in the HeismanPundit.com/Orlando Sentinel poll, the same spot he held after all the pollsters voters were tallied.
Slingin’ Sam trails Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel by the slimmest of margins, 46 points to 44, six first-place votes to four.
These two guys have the inside track to the little bronze statue. That’s because both of their teams have a chance to run the table, going undefeated in the regular season and setting up a showdown between their teams in the Big 12 title game. Heisman voters like great quarterbacks who lead successful teams, and Daniel and Bradford definitely both fit that mold.
Truth be told, these next few weeks could determine who wins the Heisman. After going to Baylor, Oklahoma faces Texas in Dallas. That same week, Missouri hosts Oklahoma State, then faces Texas the following week. We’ll have a chance to stack up how these two quarterbacks perform against the same team in consecutive weeks. That will be a great indicator in the Heisman race.
And then there’s this — if Texas would somehow manage to pull a pair of major upsets, Longhorn quarterback Colt McCoy could skyrocket to the top of the Heisman heap.
What if the Heisman ceremony is an all-Big 12 affair?
It could happen.
Here’s a look at my ballot for the HeismanPundit.com/Orlando Sentinel poll this week:
1. Daniel: Missouri was off last week, but he was almost flawless in non-conference play.
2. Bradford: Four TDs and 400-plus yards against TCU. Slingin’ Sam is makin’ this look easy.
3. Tim Tebow, Florida: Gator quarterback had his best game of the year against Mississippi, throwing for 319 yards and accounting for three touchdowns. If only he could kick extra points, too.
4. Max Hall, BYU: Cougar quarterback also had the week off, but he needed it to cool off his smokin’ arm. He’s thrown for 15 TDs and almost 1,300 yards already.
5. Jeremy Maclin, Missouri: Will the Tiger utility player take Heisman votes from Daniel? Doubtful, but with the likes of Mark Sanchez, Knowshon Moreno and others dropping like flies, Maclin might still get a trip to New York as a nice consolation prize. That could set him up nicely for a run at the 2009 Heisman.
