We’re just a week away from the opening kickoff and many fans are talking about the return of former defensive coordinator Mike Stoops to the Sooner sidelines.
It is a hopeful discussion. It comes after several years of defensive failures in key games during the term of coordinator Brent Venables.
We can debate whether Venables was the problem. Or we can dispense with that exercise and just assume he was and welcome the new sheriff in town who promises to clean up the Black Bart gang of busted coverage, missed tackles and anemic pass rushing.
After all, I cannot count how many “Venables, get off the field!” screams have been heard in recent years from my dear friends who sit behind me at the stadium.
That retort was fired off every time a defensive back decided that the spiraling object overhead must have been a jet from Tinker AFB instead of the football about to land in the hands of an opposing receiver streaking for the end zone.
Which seemed to happen a lot the last few years.
Remember last October 11, 2001? Oklahoma lost 41-38 to a 28-point Texas Tech underdog, principally due to the fact the defense stunk.
The Red Raiders receivers are still talking about how open they were on every play.
There is reason to be hopeful. But, before we become overly confident that fiery Mike Stoops is going to make a difference, let us remember the last time Mikey was in charge of an Oklahoma defense.
It was December 6, 2003 in a bitterly cold Kansas City. The Sooners were consensus No. 1 for 16 consecutive weeks. ESPN anointed Oklahoma as the greatest team of all time as they prepared for the Big 12 Championship game against Bill Snyder’s Kansas State Wildcats in Arrowhead stadium.
Snyder’s kids whipped the Sooners 35-7. It was the first of several embarrassing losses the Sooners would suffer in the (Bob) Stoops era and that trend all began when brother Mike coached his last game at OU.
Don’t forget that.
Now, in fairness to Coach (Mike) Stoops, he had announced his departure to Arizona the week of that Big 12 Championship game. Was it possible this distraction discombobulated the Sooner defensive players that night? Sure.
Before then there were only two losses during Mike Stoop’s first stint in Norman (1999 through 2003) where the defense gave up too many points to an underdog: On the road in 2002 at College Station when unranked A&M won 30-26 over No. 1 Oklahoma; and later that year in Stillwater when Oklahoma State defeated the No. 3 Sooners 38-28.
That’s it.
The good thing is Oklahoma doesn’t play A&M any more, the Cowboys come to Norman this year and the Big 12 Championship game has been eliminated thanks to Nebraska and Colorado’s decision to run away from the conference.
A better thing may simply be there is change this year. Mike Stoops’ return already has some players doing things differently.
For example, the most prolific, witty and entertaining of Sooner “tweeters”, Tony Jefferson, has given up social media. Say what? The idea is that all the media attention from last year, which included ESPN’s pre-season microscope on two-a-day practices, coupled with the whole “Shark” thing, had this defense more focused on their press clippings than their game performance.
I miss Tony’s Twitter posts. They became my inspiration each morning, reading his advice to the lovelorn. Also, I could re-live college life vicariously through his in-the-field tweets from Jamba Juice.
“We’re trying to stay out of the media. We just want to play ball. We’re under the radar. I like that,” Jefferson said.
Well, distraction can be a bad thing. Ask those former Sooners who were on the last defensive squad Mike Stoops coached in 2003, when Kansas State lit them up a few days following Mike’s acceptance of the Arizona Wildcat job.
At least little brother Stoops’ return brings a chance for change and maybe a clean slate.
But, whether packing away the cell phones is symbolism or an effective cure remains to be seen.
At least little brother Stoops’ return brings a chance for change and maybe a clean slate.
“We’re a different team than we were a year ago,” said Stoops, who hasn’t been in Norman recently to personally witness the meltdowns. But you can be sure he heard about them from brother Bob and has seen enough film of them that he may be questioning the sanity of his return to OU.
I predict the defense will be better this year. But,(as bro’ Bob might say) in the end it is still the players who have to make the plays.
That fact hasn’t changed during Mike Stoops time away. It hasn’t changed with his return.
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OU record when Mike Stoops was defensive coordinator:
14-3 against ranked competition (12-1 after initial 1999 season)
4-1 record against Texas
3-1 record in Bowl Games
2-0 record in BCS Bowl Games
After Mike Stoops left Oklahoma:
Lost 55-19 to USC in the 2005BCS Championship.
Lost 43-42 to Boise State in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl
Lost 48-28 to West Virginia in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl
1-5 record in BCS Bowl Games
4-5 record in Bowl Games
4-4 record against Texas
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Photo credit: Soonersports.com
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