Stoops recalls lesson Notre Dame taught Sooners in last meeting
BY GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Monday, October 22, 2012
NORMAN – Oklahoma
plays Notre Dame Saturday for the first time since Oct. 2, 1999. The Fighting Irish prevailed 34-30. The Sooners suffered their first loss of the season.
And Bob Stoops suffered
his first loss as a head coach.
What does he
remember about that day in South Bend?
"As much as
anything, I recall trying to teach our players to learn how to win,"
Stoops said during his Big 12 teleconference appearance Monday morning. "They
hadn't won. They were beaten down. A group of kids that for five years had
losing records. Nobody believed in them."
People were
starting to, actually. The Sooners came in 3-0 after decisive victories over
Indiana State, Baylor and Louisville. They could have started 4-0 against a
Notre Dame team that came in 1-3.
It looked like
that was going to happen after Josh Heupel threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to
Brandon Daniels early in the third quarter. That put OU up 30-14.
"I look
around and I've got a bunch of guys laughing and giggling," Stoops said.
"I'm like, 'Shoot, these guys have no idea how to win, and how hard it's
gonna be to finish the game out.'"
The Sooners learned
the hard way. Notre Dame rallied for 20 straight points to win.
"We talked
about that in the meeting rooms on Monday," Stoops said. "Again, just
trying to teach them how to win, to not be satisfied."
It would take a
while for the lesson to sink in.
The following
week in Dallas, OU blew a 17-0 first-quarter lead and fell to Texas 38-28. In mid-November,
the Sooners led Texas Tech 21-10 late in the first half before bowing 38-28.
OU finished 7-5
in Stoops' first season, before going 13-0 and capturing a national
championship in year two.
