Bob Stoops and Landry Jones spent Thursday on the ESPN campus. They went on something like 43 different TV/radio shows. The only one I was really interested in: First Take.
There, Stoops would face Skip Bayless, the wide-mouthed co-host who, the morning after Oklahoma's upset loss to Texas Tech last October, tweeted the following:
"Seriously, Bob Stoops should be FIRED. I've said this many times. Great recruiter, worst motivator in America."
Far as I know, Thursday marked the first time Bayless faced Stoops since going Twitterverse with his feelings.
Would he demand Stoops' ouster right there on the air?
Would Stoops get in Bayless' face like he was a freshman who had just high-stepped to the sideline after making the tackle on a 30-yard gain?
Could this become the sequel to Jim Rome vs. Jim "Chris" Everett?
I'd say see for yourself, but your computer deserves better than Bayless' voice. Let's just stick with his words.
Here we go…
Bayless: I'm a born-and-bred OU fan. My grandfather took me to my first game when I was five years of age. First of all, I want to thank both of you for saving me from having to wear a LeBron jersey or, God forbid, a Texas jersey if I'd lost the Texas game.
Stoops: Not a kid from Oklahoma. You can't put that on.
Bayless: But, after you saved me against Florida State and Texas, you followed it up by handing me the most devastating loss I've ever suffered in my life. You fell behind 31-7 at home after a rainstorm to a 28-point underdog that went on and lost all the rest of its games, mostly by blowout. I will never recover from the Texas Tech loss. So please explain to me what the heck happened that fateful night.
Stoops: Well, I tell ya, I didn't know I was gonna be brought on the coals here. I should've known. It was a combination. You're definitely right. I don't believe I've quite recovered, Skip. It was a combination of both. Defensively, it's obvious when you give up that many points. But offensively, everyone forgets we had six straight possessions that were three-and-out or turnover-and-out that were less than three-and-out. And when you're giving them back the ball that many times, giving them field position, you're going to put yourself in that hole. We did, and we weren't able to get out of it. So we were all to blame for it.
(At this point, Bayless credits Jones for his stats that night and for nearly rallying the Sooners, mentions the weather delay again. Then…)
Bayless: You guys, ranked number one in the country, weren't quite ready to play. Is that fair?
Stoops: Well, obviously. We didn't do a good-enough job of having them ready to play. The players didn't take it upon themselves to be prepared to play. And give Tech credit. They got hot. I don't ever want to take anything away from the other team.
(Now Stephen A. Smith cuts in and tells Stoops how much he loves him, asks Jones a few questions, starts screeching about LeBron and Dwight Howard and Allen Iverson… Let's move on…)
Stoops mentions Trey Metoyer and is interrupted.
Bayless: By the way, he might be your Justin Blackmon. He's got that kind of size and speed.
Stoops: I hope so, 'cause he was a special one. And he does have those kinds of characteristics.
(I'll pause here to let OU fans enjoy their moment of pure euphoria…Ready? OK.
Fast forwarding again, past Bayless bringing up Blake Bell with Jones, and Jones telling him how he'd prefer to finish drives as a competitor, but how it's ultimately about winning…)
Bayless: Let me go one other direction with Bob. I've occasionally been tough on you on this show. I can be an irrational OU fan and you know millions of them. But I've always admired your ability and your staff's ability to recruit. I think you're consistently one of the best. You run a clean program, a fun program for these guys to play in. What have you averaged, almost 11 wins a year for 13 years? But since the national championship year…
(Oh boy!)
Bayless: … Once a year it seems like on the biggest stage you have one excruciatingly humiliatingly inexplicable loss…
(This is it!)
Bayless: Tech last year. Missouri the year before. We can go back all the way to USC in the championship game or K-State in the Big 12 championship game. How do you explain those games?
(Wait. What?! "How do you explain those games?" Not, "How do you still have a job?")
Stoops: Well, I guess if you look around the country, How many teams do go undefeated the entire year? How many teams do not have a loss, or one or two? Most teams have more, you just said it, than we have had. So in the end, we sure have won a bunch of Big 12 championships, more than twice as many as everybody else. In our defense, it's hard to win every one of them. We're working with young people. In those cases, we need to coach better and they need to play better. It's always the whole group.
Bayless: Did I overrate the talent, or did you underachieve or not get them quite ready enough to play?
(Wait a sec. He's rallying…)
Stoops: I think it's a little bit of everything. The other team has scholarships. They've got good coaches. They're doing the same things we are. A couple of the national championship games, they're good football teams.
Bayless: Matt Leinart was pretty good that night.
(Oh dear. He's caving…)
Stoops: Yeah. But again, you don't get in these games if you're not doing your job the rest of the year and winning a whole bunch of other games.
Bayless: I expect nothing, as he said, but national championships. I'm sorry.
(Not nearly as much as I am. Crud.)
Stoops: He's an OU fan.
(Nothing more, it appears.)
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