Kenmore, I agree that Boone Pickens had a lot to do with it. But at the same time, he has done nothing illegal to help (unlike many other college boosters) and neither has OSU as a program. I think that is what the Picker is saying.

The other contributing factor is the coaching and conditioning. OSU is taking 2 and 3 star high school players and turning them into All Big 12 and even All American collegiate athletes.

This is why I think OSU's best days are ahead of them. Imagine if they continue to have this success and thus start bringing in more highly touted athletes...especially on defense.

MexiMike,

I agree with your the last part of your last paragraph...OSU has always been a fairly scary team on offense the past 8 or 9 years..If they are ever able to bring in some top notch talent on defense that lives up to potential then watch out!A lot of the the big time defensive guys you have brought in haven't work out for one reason or another.

OSU's frontline guys are as good as anywhere in the country. The only difference between the Cowboys and the Bamas and LSU and OUs is the depth but that is changing there too. Look at last year's bedlam: Broyles is dinged up and the Cowboys have em locked down to an in effective level...so Jones hits Cameron Kenney on the dig and no one can catch him...or Hanna later that sealed the game. That is changing at Stillwater though...I wouldnt bet against the Cowboys, if theyre healthy, on Dec 3.

You are missing my point, MexiMike. With T.Boone as OSU's booster, there is far less need for anyone else. So every other booster OSU has will be watched a lot more carefully and run off if there is any sign he or she is doing something illegal or something that might run off T. Boone. With the exception of Oregon, such a thing is far more difficult at other universities since they rely on hundreds of boosters and noticing what a few are doing is much more difficult.

So the chances of something happening at OSU like what happened at Miami is far, far less. But along the same lines, OSU's progress wouldn't be nearly as impressive had T. Boone NOT contributed.

Plus, OU's program was "asleep" for several years, not just one or two. OU had not been nationally competitive since 1992. What Stoops did in two years was more than remarkable, it surpasses OSU's considerable progress since "Loopy Les" was hired. Which of course answers The Picker's point.

Sign a moneybags at QB, your troubles are over.

T Boone's donation wasn't "big", it was "HUUUGE!!!" He built a stadium and state of the art athletic facitilies which attracted all those athletes OSU would have NEVER gotten otherwise. The likelyhood of corruption like Miami had was almost nil. That donation got scrutinized to the Nth degree. Other donors who might have been suspicious could easily be run off, why not? With T-Boone, who needs 'em.

Of course now things are a little different, maybe there is something going on, maybe not, but remember that what happened at Miami took YEARS and we didn't discover it 'till now. So far, with the small exception of Dez, nothing "bad" has happened...that we know about. Of course, that kind of caveat applies to ALL universities...at least those who no longer have a donor forking over hundreds of millions of dollars.

Moving on, 8 years was a loooong time to be "asleep" for the OU program. Just ask anyone after Blake was canned. But the point here was;

Stoops 2 year OU Turnaround is MORE impressive than OSU's turnaround which The Picker commented on.

Yes, what OSU has done is impressive, but you have to admit that without T Boone's incredable support, none of that would be possible. Which of course the "Picker" overlooked to make his point.

And while OU had problems later on with a certain QB making a lot of money at his summer job, what exactly happened during the first two years that put OU in danger of being sanctioned?

You're still sidestepping my main point, that T. Boone's HUGE donation actually made it less likely that OSU would have the corruption problems that Miami did. So I guess you either agree or simply want to talk about something else.

What Stoops did when he arrived at OU was more than remarkable, very few coaches have taken a team that didn't have a winning season in 6 years and then in 2 years win a national championship. And did so by beating top level teams, OU didn't have a BYU '84 schedule that season.

I see you don't argue that Boone's help was vital to OSU's turnaround, so I guess you agree with that.

As to answering your question of could Stoops turnaround the OSU program in two years, well, does Stoops get the hundreds of millions of dollars in facility improvements that made OSU a prime attraction for recruits?

If so, then the answer is YES.

Give Stoops the athletes, he'll be competitive at a national level, he proved it in 2000 when NO ONE thought he could, at least so fast.

So Stoops' achievement is greater than what has happened at OSU so far. OU is once again a national power, OSU still has a little ways to go, since 2005, they've only beaten one top 10 team (Mizzou in 2008), so while OSU is a solid, formidble program, they haven't yet earned the national power status that OU and other current powers have as of yet.

We can certainly agree to disagree here, but again, Oregon has done the same thing as OSU and they competed for a national championship last season, I think OSU can do the same, I'm just waiting for it to happen.

I sent a reply out yesterday, but I don't see it so here it is again. If it does pop up, then I apologize for posting twice.

MexiMike, my point is that T. Boone's donation made the kind of corruption that happened at Miami far less likely.

Second, 8 years IS a long time considering the disaster the OU football program was by 1998. They were a horrible 5 - 6, losing five games in a row, including to OSU and they barely beat the even more horrible Iowa State at home. Bad is bad, whether your at a tradition-rich school or not.

To take that disaster of a program and win a national championship in 2 years IS more remarkable than what OSU has done in the past 8 years.

You don't argue that T. Boone's contribution played a vital role in OSU's turnaround, so I guess you agree with that.

And now to answer your question, give Stoops the state of the art facilities to attract the top athletes in the nation (as OSU has done, thanks to T Boone) and YES, he could make OSU a national contender in TWO years. Something that arguably the OSU football program has really yet to do.

Think about it, since Gundy took over in 2005, they've only beat ONE top ten team, Mizzou in 2008. Stoops beat FOUR top ten teams in 2000 alone & Texas whom they smashed was 11th.

Besides, Oregon has followed the SAME path as OSU, big rich guy donating hundreds of millions to build state of the art facilities and they played in the national championship game last year, so it can be done.