Sooners opening at UTEP no big deal ... Stoops has had it easy
Published: 2/15/2012 10:56 AM
Last Modified: 2/15/2012 4:35 PM
Oklahoma announced its 2012 schedule just a few minutes ago, and Sooner Nation doesn’t like the notion of opening the season at UTEP.
Why should the mighty Sooners be so desperate for a game that they’ll take a road trip to the West Texas highlands and play a potentially dangerous opponent among the campus mountains west of town?
The Sooners’ last trip to El Paso went pretty well. But that was a dramatic postseason victory over an Andrew Luck-less Stanford team to cap off a dismal 2009 season.
Why would Oklahoma need to open a season on the road? Against a mid-major opponent, a non-BCS program, a Conference USA team?
Well, why not?
Stoops has opened a season outside of Norman exactly twice in 13 seasons.
One was in Tulsa, where crimson and cream filled Skelly Stadium and cheered the Sooners on to a 37-0 walk. The other was in Arlington, Texas, where BYU linebacker Coleby Clawson wrecked Sam Bradford’s shoulder and the Cougars wrecked the Sooners’ season with a 14-13 upset to christen Cowboys Stadium.
Scheduling in these uncertain times of conference shuffle is a major undertaking. Had Joe Castiglione been able to find a team willing to come to Norman, he no doubt would have.
But consider how previous coaches at Oklahoma started their seasons.
It’s OU’s first true road opener (I’m discounting the ’02 TU game here) since Gary Gibbs’ final season started with an unforgettable 30-29 victory at Syracuse.
John Blake’s 1997 Sooners opened the season away from home against Northwestern, though that was at Soldier Field in Chicago.
In fact, in Gibbs’ six seasons, OU opened on the road four times: at UCLA, at Texas Tech, at TCU and at Syracuse.
He no doubt wishes he’d had better support from his administration.
But consider the case of Barry Switzer.
Switzer coached 16 seasons at OU, and his powerhouse teams had to start their seasons on the road six times: at Baylor, at Vanderbilt, at Stanford, at Stanford again, at Minnesota, and at North Carolina.
Chuck Fairbanks had to open on the road half of his six seasons: at Notre Dame, at Wisconsin, at SMU.
Gomer Jones coached two seasons at OU, and opened both on the road: at Maryland, at Pittsburgh.
I don’t see any UTEPs in those groupings. No Tulsas. No neutral site games at fancy pro stadiums.
Even Bud Wilkinson had to open at Detroit, at Santa Clara, at Boston College, at Colorado, at California, at North Carolina, at Pittsburgh, at Northwestern and at Notre Dame.
These aren’t just road games. They’re season-openers.
Bob Stoops has had it easy.
— John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
