CrippledShark, Sand Springs (5/24/2009 12:47:20 PM)

Murray wasn't the reason OU lost to Florida. Sure his talent was missed and he might have been able to escape a tackle on the two drives from the goal line. However, it was the coaching that lost the game.

Plus, it was the loosey goosey control of the team before the game. Bob let's his players party while Urban Meyer made his players stay in and focus on winning. Even Bradford call a players only meeting to try and get everyone focused on winning instead of the nightlife in South Beach.

Don't get me wrong, Bobby has made this program one of the best in the entire country but he needs to be stricter with the players unless it's a tier 2 bowl game.

If I was Bob I would tell the team that they get to party only if they win and then stay for 2-3 more days after the game (I'm sure Boren would approve the extra buget). I would have tougher curfews and if that meant I lost 2-3 recruits every year (which he does anyway) because I was a hardass - then so be it. In 3-4 years, you would start gaining more 5 star players that were going to USC or Florida and before you know it - you not only play in the BCS Championship game but you actually win a vast majority.

This program should have 9 or 10 championships already and is well positioned to win many more if the coaches will quit trying to be "Facebook Buddies".

Jerry "CrippledShark" Neal

TMS, (5/24/2009 2:37:17 PM)

Florida was just better and Tebow didn't have one of his better games. OU hadn't seen any kind of pass defense. OU was lucky to win their Championship in 2000. Miami had just beat Flordia State up.

jujub, (5/24/2009 7:22:11 PM)

2000 was not a lucky win by any means. Josh Heupel didn't have an arm during that game and the defense still managed to shut down the top off OU defense in the country. OU had the best assistant coaching staff under Bob Stoops' tenure then, as well as his best secondary. OU beat 4 ranked teams in the regular season, including the number 1 and number 2 ranked teams. OU destroyed Texas 63 to 14. OU would have beaten Miami also that season. Miami players acknowledged OU as the top team afterwards and they were right to do so.

I have to agree that the coaching lost the game against Florida but it was also the game time coaching. It doesn't make sense to wear down Florida's defense as OU did with the running game and then give them breathers as they waited forever for the offensive plays to be called. Kinda goes against the objective of a no-huddle offense.

sooner8980, Tulsa (5/24/2009 8:23:06 PM)

There is no evidence that OU was partying instead of preparing for a National Championship, every time OU loses a big game the so called "loyal fans" look for any excuse to blame the program for losing to a better team. There was enough blame to go around on the field.If you don't execute against a great team you get beat! There are many people that are inside the program that would disagree with CrippleShark. Unless you are part of the football program, you have no proof of anything that goes on in Miami or Norman.OU will always attract 5 star players.last time I checked Adrian Peterson was a pretty good back as well as Demarco Murray The tradition sells itself, however you can't compare recruiting to Florida or USC. Anyone that knows unbiased college football knows you can't win a National Title every year.As an OU alum it is very frustrating to lose national title games and I hate it! But I'm not going to make excuses.Winners don't make excuses. Most of the media and the fan base have never put on a helmet or taken a snap.

shytnik, Colorado Springs (5/24/2009 10:17:13 PM)

I also agree with the coaching in this loss. Florida is a great team, but they weren't better. OU stopped doing what they did all year. They averaged 21 seconds between plays to that point and averaged 34 in this game. They did not keep the pace they always did. The one possession they did go fast, they had Florida on their heels, marched right down and scored. On the goal line stance, there was twice Florida was not yet set and OU was at the line, but instead of punching in, Bradford looked to the sideline and waited on a new call, just long enough for Florida to get set. The coaches have done this a lot recently. They get to the big game, then over think it and do things different than they had the rest of the year. Additionally, they need to keep the team sharper during that long lay off.

Rhymeister, Tulsa (5/25/2009 8:38:36 AM)

Let it go already, goodness gracious!!! Let's just think of any excuse in the book. Bama got their behinds handed to them. Likewise OU, although they were in the game for quite some time, lost. It ain't because they had one guy out, they do have some other quality RBs.

Aleister Crowley, (5/26/2009 9:57:13 AM)

The whole point of waiting to make the no-huddle call before the snap is to see what kind of defense the other team throws out there, then make one final adjustment to take advantage of any specific defensive lineup. They did this all year long, and no one complains until it does not work. Sheesh - leave the coaches alone, how about we assign some accountability to the players?

I agree with Coach that those two goal line stops by Florida in the 1st half were a huge turning point.

But go back and watch the UF secondary vs. the OU WR's. OU...could...not...get...open. Typically Ryan Broyles is the fastest guy on the field for OU, but not even he could regularly get open.

Missing Murray was big, but Chris Brown did a fine job. Florida was the better team, especially on defense. Defense won it in 2000. Offensive juggernauts in 2003, 2004 and 2008 flamed out in the BCS championship game because of average to good Sooner defense.

tulsandn, Boswell / Tulsa (5/26/2009 10:16:57 AM)

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS !!!!

It's been proven year-in year-out....In all sports !!!!

Remember the Game-of-the-Century ????

Who's D' was better ???? Nebraska's or Oklahoma's....

But I must say this....Josh Heupel NEEDS to to be elevated to the #1 Offensive co-ordinator and then given assurances when that HE is the next OU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH when Bob Stoops gets tired of it and steps down....

The current OC needs to go....

MexiMike, tulsa (5/26/2009 7:09:57 PM)

Why are we still talking about this??? This would have been a great, relevant article 4 months ago but isn't it about time everybody moved on? Find something else to write about, Sittler.

SoonerDJ, Lisbon, Portugal (5/27/2009 1:42:03 AM)

I don't mind reading these articles. It makes for interesting conversation during the football downtime. There are two discrepancies that I noted though. OU has won 6 Big 12 Championships and they lost to USC 55-19. I think the loss was attributed to a little of both the play calling/time to next snap and really just luck. You do need some of that in the game. It was luck in the Bedlam Game when the ball got tipped to Gresham for that long touchdown. What i want for this season is the offense to be the same and the defense to be a lot better, which it seems to be the case. Hopefully that will lead back to the NCG and a rematch with the Gators.

TMS, (5/27/2009 5:28:30 PM)

Thinking Miami players thought OU was the better team than what? Flordia State? Not Miami. It just shows what a "dream world" OU lives in where everyone tells them how good they are...then they hit an elite program.

jujub, (5/27/2009 7:23:24 PM)

Making a final adjustment before the snap may be one of the points of the no-huddle offense, but it is not the whole point. The main purpose of the no-huddle offense is to wear out the opposing defense. OU was having more success that night wearing down Florida with the running game than trying to fool them. The other time when they slowed down the no-huddle was when they lost to Texas.

TMS, as I said earlier, OU beat the #1 and #2 teams that season. Miami lost early on to Washington. You can say what you want about the later OU teams, but you couldn't apply that to OU for that year.

wk, (6/3/2009 10:39:38 AM)

Murray is a good back - not a great back. He shared duties all year. If Bob thought he needed a bone, why didn't he bring it up before he got spanked?

sooners_chiefs_fan, chandler (6/7/2009 4:26:57 PM)

Crippledshark, before you start running off at the mouth about Oklahoma was doing to much partying before the Florida game is crap. First of all Stops took the team to Florida later than he use to, and he also put a stricked curfew on the players, so don't talk about things if you don't know the facts. And Murry made a huge difference, do I need to remind you after the Texas game he started playing totaly different, if he played like that against TEXAS we would have smashed them. Try and pay attention.