Did Stoops take the easy way out of Missouri? Or the smart one?
Published: 10/29/2010 6:19 AM
Last Modified: 10/29/2010 6:19 AM
Bob Stoops took a lot of grief for the perceived "we give up" punt in the final two minutes at Missouri last week. But what if he really did take the rational way out of Columbia, instead of the easy way out?
What if his Oklahoma Sooners get back in the BCS race over the next month? Will you still question Stoops' resolve on fourth-and-10 from his own 7-yard line?
If OU goes for it and Landry Jones throws another incomplete pass – the percentages favored that scenario – Missouri takes over and… takes a knee? No way. Missouri punches in another touchdown. Not to rub it in, but for the same reason Stoops elected to punt.
To post a final score that got the voters' attention. 36-27 was impressive, but 43-27 would have been much more so to Harris and coaches poll voters who comprise two thirds of the BCS formula.
Let's put what happened another way: The BCS' latest crime is that it forced one of the nation's most respected, most competitive coaches into conceding a game that still had over two minutes remaining.
At least in theory. And a lot of folks are buying it.
"Though Stoops was conceding the battle," Matt Hinton wrote in his Dr. Saturday column for Rivals, "the realist in me finds it hard to blame his strategic retreat to minimize losses in the larger, more unpredictable war… Oklahoma is well-positioned in the computer polls, where it remains in front of undefeated Boise State, Oregon and Utah with two ranked division rivals (Baylor and Oklahoma State) and a likely date in the Big 12 championship still in front of it.
"There's no money in damning the torpedoes."
"Stoops is absolutely correct," Andy Staples wrote for SI.com. "There are numerous voters who didn't watch the Oklahoma-Missouri game. Stoops knew those voters would look at a 16-point final score, assume the Sooners got their butts kicked and send Oklahoma plunging in the polls…
"Some will say that since Stoops' job is to win, his decision to punt represents a dereliction of duty. On the contrary. Stoops' job is to put the Sooners in the best possible position to win the national title. Down nine at that juncture, he performed a quick cost-benefit analysis and made the best decision under those circumstances. The circumstances are the problem."
Put more succinctly by Yahoo columnist Dan Wetzel: "(Stoops) made the smart decision that comes from having such a dumb system of determining a champion."
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
