What went wrong in the desert (that's not a question)
Published: 1/6/2008 1:57 AM
Last Modified: 1/6/2008 1:57 AM
SAN ANTONIO – After five months of drilling Oklahoma football into my brain, I'm finding it hard to let go of what went so wrong for the Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. Here's what I came up with:
OU lost its best cover cornerback when Reggie Smith suffered a broken toe in the Big 12 championship game.
OU lost its best-tackling, fastest and most aggressive defensive back in safety Lendy Holmes when Holmes was declared academically ineligible for the bowl.
OU lost its best run-stopping defensive lineman, DeMarcus Granger, when he was arrested for alleged shoplifting.
OU lost its best wide receiver when Malcolm Kelly determined he couldn't play because of a thigh injury.
In every case but that of Kelly, Bob Stoops told us that the departed's backups would be able to handle their new assignments, that he wasn't worried. And in every case, those backups were clearly overmatched. Stoops is a proud man. Never backs down from a fight, even if he's bringing baby ducks and the other guy's bringing hungry wolves. This time Stoops' pride got him in trouble.
Lose your best run-stuffer against a running team? Lose your best tackling DB against a ball-control/big play offense? Lose your best corner against a team that strikes with play-action passes?
Forget it.
OU could still have won the game with better coaching. Stoops' first decision to go for 2 points was unnecessary – he's said it himself, many times, he hates "chasing points" the rest of the game. And his call for an onside kick, coupled with West Virginia's sudden resurgence, simply killed every shred of momentum the Sooners had gained in the second half. He says you make such moves when you've got the momentum. I say you make such moves when you need the momentum. He had all the momentum at Texas A&M last year, called an onside kick, players didn't execute and the Aggies scored. Why gamble when you don't need to?
If Stoops wanted to take risks, he should have implored Kevin Wilson to be less predictable with his offensive play-calling. A reverse, maybe? A double-pass? A reverse-pass? More play-action against West Virginia's single-safety defense? Fewer screen passes? Fewer bubble routes?
Throughout the press box, myself and other sports writers – most of whose play calling background is at Thanksgiving get-togethers in the back yard or on PlayStation – could be heard predicting a handoff to Allen Patrick or a play-action pass to Joe Jon Finley or a bubble-screen to Juaquin Iglesias with amazing accuracy. It was eerie. If we knew, you can bet West Virginia knew. One writer who doesn't regularly cover OU asked me, "Why are they so predictable?"
And lastly, the Sooner players simply looked disinterested. Barry Switzer, standing at the security checkpoint the next morning at Sky Harbor International Airport, disagreed with me on this point. He said West Virginia was fast and runs a good offense and simply played harder. But why didn't OU play that hard?
Watching the Mountaineer linebackers and defensive ends bull-rush and first-step OU's superior offensive line into submission reminded me of the 2005 TCU game and the 2006-07 Boise State game, where smaller players on a feisty underdog defense embarrassed their NFL-bound counterparts with grit and hustle and desire.
Stoops places major emphasis on winning the Big 12 championship, and rightly so. But in three of the last four seasons, players played in the bowl game seeming satisfied with themselves for winning the conference and looked almost inconvenienced having to take time out of their sunny winter vacation to play a football game.
Are there answers? Certainly, beginning with improved monitoring of players' academic affairs prior to the end of the semester and better supervision when they're at the bowl site. (You want irony? Ryan Broyles was arrested for stealing two days prior to OU's first game this year; Granger was arrested for stealing two days prior to OU's last game. You can't make this stuff up.) Also, how about preparing for bowl games with as much pride as they would for Big 12 championship games? And take a page (or a section) from the playbook Boise State's Chris Petersen, a first-year coach, and West Virginia's Bill Stewart, an interim coach, and coach a bowl game with some creativity and some flare.
What do the Sooners have to lose?
– John E. Hoover
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
