Tulsa World: TCU loss a low point for OU in Stoops era

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TCU loss a low point for OU in Stoops era

OU coach Bob Stoops hangs his head after TCU's 17-10 upset of the Sooners in 2005. OU started 2005 ranked No. 7, but fell out of the polls for most of the season before finishing at No. 22. Tulsa World file

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
Published: 9/27/2008 2:04 AM
Last Modified: 9/27/2008 3:28 AM

NORMAN — With history as our looking glass, Oklahoma's 17-10 loss to TCU in the 2005 season-opener was not all that surprising.

The Sooners were 26-point favorites that September day, but it would be another month before a rebuilt OU offense could even score 26 points.

Bob Stoops' program was coming off back-to-back appearances in the national championship game, but he had to replace 15 starters and 10 NFL draft picks.

OU was replacing three longtime starters on the offensive line — including right tackle, where Akim Millington had quit the team on Wednesday before the game (top backup Brandon Keith also just walked out).

Two new quarterbacks — Paul Thompson and Rhett Bomar — had never taken a meaningful college snap and had settled almost nothing in a tense eight-month battle.

The defense had seven first-time starters, and two other newcomers got in on TCU's first drive.

"I think they were still trying to find themselves out," Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson said.

Things look different for Saturday, when the teams collide again at 6 p.m. inside OU's Memorial Stadium. No. 2-ranked OU is 3-0 and leads the nation in scoring. No. 24 TCU, 4-0, leads the country in total defense. This time, both are loaded with experience.

The Sooners of today are favored by 17 1/2, but this year, they average that in one quarter. OU started 2005 ranked No. 7, but fell out of the polls for most of the season before finishing 8-4 and ending up No. 22.

"The preseason rating wasn't right for that team," said San Diego State coach Chuck Long, then OU's offensive coordinator. "We didn't have that kind of team yet."

OU's 10 points matched the program's low under Stoops, and the Sooners' 225 yards is his team's fourth-lowest total.

Stunning? OU coaches didn't think so.

"I wouldn't necessarily say stunning," defensive coordinator Brent Venables said, "because if . . . the other team's more physical and the other team plays smarter and the other team converts on third downs and the other team forces turnovers, that's not stunning to us that you lose."

In addition to nine new defensive faces, it was Venables' first year as solo coordinator. Two other positions had new coaches, too, and the secondary scheme had been tweaked.

The Horned Frogs, 5-6 the season before, had long held a reputation under Patterson for dominating defense. Stoops said TCU did not sneak up on him.

"Who were we?" Stoops said. "We had a whole bunch of guys that hadn't done anything. TCU had a really good football team and put it to us. They should have beaten us more than they did."

OU was doomed from its first play when Thompson badly overthrew wide open Travis Wilson. The Sooners on their second possession got to the TCU 4-yard line, but Thompson ran a keeper and lost a fumble.

In the second quarter, TCU's Tye Gunn converted a third-and-11, then held off a sack by Dusty Dvoracek long enough to complete a third-and-12 throw for a 16-yard touchdown.

"That — was a breaker," Venables said.

OU went into halftime down 10-0, scoreless for the first time since 1998.

"It was embarrassing," defensive tackle Cory Bennett said.

Long said then he probably called too many deep throws on first down and didn't rely enough on Adrian Peterson. OU was just 3-of-14 on third down, and 12 of those were third-and-6 or more.

Peterson was held to 63 yards. Nine of his 22 attempts failed to gain more than 1 yard. Six times he was thrown for a loss. At halftime, he had eight carries for 5 yards, and in the fourth, with the game tied, Peterson carried five times for 5 yards. Of his 63 yards, 43 came on OU's third-quarter TD drive.

In the fourth quarter, Thompson and Bomar froze, which Stoops said surprised him. They combined to produce just 9 yards, two first downs (one by TCU penalty), two turnovers (one fumble each; Bomar's led to TCU's winning TD) and a lost possession on downs.

It was Stoops' first loss in September and one of just two defeats at home.

"That wasn't a bunch of rookies," said OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson (then OU's line coach). "That was a bunch of seniors that didn't come out and have a great preseason and come ready to play. And we got it handed to us."

Stoops said then he thought his team was tougher and may have played with sense of entitlement, "some guys feeling it's just their right to win, or their right to do well, and you don't have the true investment that maybe other guys have had in the past."

John E. Hoover 581-8384
john.hoover@tulsaworld.com

NO. 24 TCU AT NO. 2 OKLAHOMA

6 p.m. Saturday Owen Field, Norman

TV: FSN cable 27

Radio: KMOD fm97.5, KTBZ am1430

Weather: No clouds, no rain, no wind, just a warm late-summer night with temperatures in the lower 80s.

Records: TCU 4-0, Oklahoma 3-0

Last meeting: 2005, TCU, 17-10

Series: OU leads 6-4

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

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tulsaOUfan, Tulsa (9/27/2008 10:13:13 AM)

Stoops has 100 wins to his credit but the Tulsa World biased sports people instead find some loss to try to make him look bad. This is why I don't subscribe to the TW.

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