A Stoops-Blake comparison
Published: 10/23/2009 9:39 AM
Last Modified: 10/23/2009 9:39 AM
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hope the weather back home is nicer than it is here -- 40 degrees with clouds, wind and gloom. Feels more like Buffalo.
Speaking of cold, New York Times writer Thayer Evans has poked a stick in the side of Bob Stoops with his Oklahoma-Kansas prediction. Evans likes the Jayhawks, and writes, "Bob Stoops and John Blake share another common bond: a 3-4 start."
What's the first bond, you ask? Let's rewind to last January, when the week of the OU-Florida national championship, Evans wrote that Stoops'
"only crystal trophy for winning the B.C.S. championship game bears the fingerprints of his predecessor John Blake.
"The only black head football coach at Oklahoma, Blake recruited more than half of that championship team’s 22 starters, including future N.F.L. players like safety Roy Williams and linebacker Rocky Calmus.
"The mere mention of that fact seems to agitate Stoops, who did recruit quarterback Josh Heupel, tailback Quentin Griffin and linebacker Torrance Marshall, all vital players in Oklahoma’s 13-2 victory against Florida State for the national title at the end of the 2000 season.
“'You’ve got to go there after all these years?' Stoops said in a telephone interview last month. 'Are you kidding me?'"
Stoops would probably rather talk about a few things more in his favor heading into Saturday. The Kansas City Star points out he is riding a 10-game week-after-Texas winning streak, while the Topeka Capital-Journal touts his 33-4 record over Big 12 North opponents.
One more tidbit courtesy of the Cap-Journal -- the only time Stoops has lost back-to-back regular-season games was his first year in Norman, when the Sooners lost to Notre Dame and Texas.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
