Chat with David Ubben at 11 a.m.
Chat with Jake Trotter at 11 a.m.
Stoops, Harbaugh get to know each other
When OU coach Bob Stoops boarded a flight from Houston to El Paso for a scheduled Sun Bowl press conference today, he saw a familiar face.
It was Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.
“We we had a chance to talk for a couple of hours. … It was fun to get to know a quality guy,” Stoops said.
Today was also Stoops’ first ever trip to El Paso. He admitted earlier this week he had never been to the border city before.
This will also be a new experience for Harabugh, who has never coached in a bowl before.
“We’re in the process of building our program back up to its rightful legendary status in college football,” Harbaugh said today. “Oklahoma is strong in a lot of areas. They are strong in areas we’re weak in, and they are strong in areas we’re strong in.”
For more coverage of today’s press conference, visit the El Paso Times’ Sun Bowl blog.
-JT
Stoops in El Paso
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh are in El Paso today.
At about 11:30 a.m., they’re going to have a press conference with city officials.
To check out the press conference, click here.
-JT
Chat with David Ubben at 11 a.m.
Cal or Stanford? And more on Stoops/Notre Dame
If all holds to form today (USC beats Arizona, Texas handles Nebraska), the Sooners will probably be headed to El Paso and the Brut Sun Bowl.
But who will meet them there?
Arizona, Oregon State, Cal and Stanford will all be eligible. If Cal beats Washington today.
Sun Bowl officials have publicly said they will honor the wishes of the Stoops brothers to avoid an Oklahoma-Arizona matchup. Unless someone changes their mind, that eliminates Arizona.
Oregon State went to the Sun Bowl last year. And bowl officials have a “no-return clause” they can invoke, which pretty much eliminates a return trip for the Beavers.
That leaves Cal and Stanford.
Both have their positives. Cal has name recognition, good TV value, decent fan base, and an exciting offensive team and three straight wins (again, assuming the Bears handled UW tonight) and 6 of 7 victories since back to back embarrassing losses to Oregon and USC.
Cal also has an advantage over Stanford having defeated the Cardinal a couple weeks ago.
But that doesn’t mean the Sun Bowl won’t take a hard look at Stanford. The Cardinal has one of the most exciting players in college football in Heisman Trophy candidate Toby Gerhart, perhaps a future Heisman candidate in freshman QB Andrew Luck, and one of the hottest coaches in college football in Jim Harbaugh.
So who to choose?
In part because Cal RB Jahvid Best questionable if not doubtful for the bowl game, I’m hoping for Stanford.
OU’s front seven against the power running of Gerhart would be something to see. You don’t get to watch players like Gerhart, who runs over defenders like bowling pins, in person very often.
So I’m rooting for the Sun to take Stanford.
NOTRE DAME-STOOPS RUMORS WON’T DIE
Despite Bob Stoops’ insistence he is not interested in coaching at Notre Dame, the rumors and reports won’t go away.
The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that a coach could be named as soon as Sunday and that Stoops remains the leading candidate.
These persistent reports prompted Stoops to release another statement:
“For the third, and hopefully final time, let me again state that I will continue to be the coach at Oklahoma. I appreciate the history and tradition of Notre Dame. I also appreciate the history and tradition of Oklahoma, and I have been part of building that tradition here.
“I work for a wonderful president (David Boren) and athletic director (Joe Castiglione), who have created an incredible work environment at OU. There haven’t been any plans for a meeting or negotiations with Notre Dame and there will not be. Any reporting to that fact is completely erroneous. I will not be the next coach at Notre Dame.”
That is Stoops’ strongest response yet.
Unless Stoops is just flat-out lying, which I don’t believe he is, it’s safe to say he will be at OU next year, regardless of what continues to be reported out of South Bend.
-JT
