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TCU coach's 'spying' ploy may backfire

 
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
Published: 9/24/2008  2:07 AM
Last Modified: 9/24/2008  3:29 AM

 NORMAN — Spygate apparently isn't limited to the National Football League.

Accusations and denials of spying between the Patriots and the Jets made big news in the NFL last season. Some form of Spygate apparently has become the cause celebre this week for Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson as he prepares his No. 23-ranked Horned Frogs (4-0) for Saturday's game at No. 2 Oklahoma (3-0).

Taking a page straight out of the Coaching 101 manual, Patterson has blown a situation totally out of proportion in an obvious attempt to motivate his team for the 6 p.m. contest at Memorial Stadium.

Motivational ploys are nothing new for Patterson, according to media members who have covered his successful tenure at TCU and reported on his various causes. Coaches do it all the time, and it has helped Patterson compile a 66-25 record with the Horned Frogs.

But those ploys can backfire. And that could be the case if OU coach Bob Stoops is as ticked off as he sounded at his Tuesday press conference.

First some background: When Stoops announced in August that scrimmages would be closed during fall camp, several media members questioned the reason for Stoops' policy change.

I wrote in an Aug. 7 blog for the Tulsa World's Web site that some OU insiders believed Stoops made the move for several reasons. One was speculation that some friends of TCU's program may have watched OU practices before the Horned Frogs pulled off a stunning upset win over OU in the 2005 season opener.

Other media outlets reported the same speculation. And Patterson apparently read or heard about them because he brought up the subject after TCU's win last Saturday over Stanford, and again on Sunday with a Dallas Morning News reporter.

"As far as us watching their practices, I took a little bit of offense that they would think that I would have someone go and spy on their practices, because, absolutely, that did not happen," Patterson told the Dallas newspaper.

"I genuinely want to believe on the positive side of it and take the high road that Bobby Stoops wouldn't go to that level."

If Patterson truly wanted to travel on the high road, he wouldn't have mentioned the media reports almost immediately after the Stanford game, and again a day later.

None of the media reports I read, including my blog, suggested that Stoops believed Patterson sent someone to spy on the Sooners. The blog did speculate that friends of TCU might have passed along unsolicited information to the Frogs.

When I asked Kevin Wilson at media day why OU had locked the practice gates, the Sooners' offensive coordinator said, "There are a bunch of old retired coaches in this state that can have ties to any number of schools. We're playing a bunch of Texas teams, and it doesn't take much with the Internet and video phones to get some shots."

Wilson never specified any school. And Stoops has never raised the issue of spying in his 10 seasons at OU, and rarely (if ever) mentioned TCU since 2005.

But Patterson somehow took the word "insiders" and backhandedly linked it with Stoops' name in his "high road" comment.

"I didn't have anything to do with that (speculation)," Stoops said. "But I'm used to it. There's a lot (of things) said about us or me that aren't accurate or aren't true.

"I've made it very clear that when (TCU) beat us here they outtoughed us, outphysicaled us and coached a lot better because they had their players a whole lot more prepared than we did."

The Aug. 7 blog also speculated that Stoops closed scrimmages because he didn't want future foes to know how the offense was progressing with the no-huddle scheme.

On Tuesday, Stoops confirmed that was a major reason for the lockdown.

"I think our no-huddle offense has been pretty obvious that we didn't want to let on how much we were using it," Stoops said.

The no-huddle has resulted in the Sooners leading the nation in scoring and ranking fourth in total offense.

Perhaps Patterson should spend more time studying ways to shut down OU's offense and less on cooking up ploys like overblowing a situation with baseless histrionics.
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist

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3 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
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bigkahuna, (9/24/2008 5:05:20 PM)
Pardon me but I believe coach P's reference to "they" refers to the OU insiders - not coach Stoops. Coach P then clearly states he believes coach Stoops would not "go to that level" - that the "spying" excuse was not Coach Stoops talking but a bunch of cry baby OU supporters that have to come up with something to explain why little ole TCU could possibly beat the big bad Sooners! By the way, there are things said about lots of people that aren't accurate or aren't true - just read your own article.
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2curious, Tulsa, OK 74104 (9/25/2008 2:07:15 AM)
Ou 43 - TCU 6

Just another in a long line of whuppin's this year in Norman.
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old roper, Sun City (9/25/2008 11:49:19 AM)
this year, coach P better stay in fort worth and go to Joe T's on saturday and then on over to Billy Bob's, cause it ain't gonna be pleasant for him or the toads in norman this year.
 

 
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