Football recruiting's endless, but offering a 7th-grader?
2/5/2010 9:55:00 AM
Recruiting never ends. Wednesday’s letter of intent signing day concluded the chase for 2010 signees and officially started the process of finding the top prospects for the 2011 class.
Actually, the pursuit of players who will be high school seniors this fall started long before this week’s signing date. When I called Bob Stoops a couple weeks ago to talk about the Oklahoma players who are in Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Sooners’ coach said he was in Dallas checking on some of the top juniors who OU has already targeted for 2011.
Stoops’ brother beat him to the punch Thursday by already getting his first commitment. Daxx Garman, who will be a senior quarterback at Choctaw, Okla., next fall, announced he had would be playing for Arizona coach Mike Stoops. The highly regarded Garman also had an offer from Butch Davis at North Carolina, while also drawing interest from OU, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Texas Tech, Tulsa and UCLA.
But leave it to Southern Cal coach Lane Kiffin to demonstrate how nutty football recruiting has become. Kiffin also got a commitment from a quarterback Thursday when 13-year-old David Sills said he would sign with the Trojans in 2015.
A friend of Kiffin’s who tutors quarterbacks told the USC coach that Sills, who is in the seventh grade, has a chance to be better than two of his former students - Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen and USC’s Matt Barkley.
Sills’ father told the Los Angeles Times that Kiffin’s offer “was surprisingly bizarre, but in a nice kind of way.”
This is just a guess, but the Sills family shouldn’t get too excited. Given Kiffin’s track record, he’ll either be an agent or back in the NFL as an assistant in 2015 after getting fired at USC for breaking too many recruiting rules.
Texas A&M Football Causes More Stress Than War?
2/4/2010 4:43:00 PM
No one should doubt that Big 12 Conference football is serious business, especially in the state of Texas. If there are doubters, there won’t be after they read an article in this week’s issue of Time magazine on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
Gates’ previous job was serving as the President of Texas A&M University. He worked at the school during the dreary, forgettable era of coach Dennis Franchione. “Coach Fran” produced a lot more headaches for the administration than he did victories.
Here is an excerpt from Elizabeth Rubin, who wrote the Time piece on Gates, about a conversation she had with him while flying back from a trip to Afghanistan.
“We’d been talking about the stress of congressional hearings, the burden of sending young men and women to war, and just as our conversation was drawing to a close, he said: ‘I always used to tell people that Texas A&M football caused me more stress than any job I’ve ever had. And they always thought I was exaggerating.’ I expressed disbelief, but he stood by that statement.”
Gates continued: "I asked my wife one time, Why is that? And she siad, 'Because you have no control.' He paused. 'Here, I have a little control," he said, tapping the plane's conference table.
Wow. We've often suspected that college football coaches have too much power, but not THAT much power.
Hopefully, Gates was joking. Because even for a school in Texas, that’s taking football waaaaay too seriously.
The Annual Signing Day Circus
2/1/2010 11:06:00 AM
This week’s end to college football recruiting brings up the annual question about which player held the most flamboyant ceremony to announce his decision.
The bar was set 20 years ago by Dallas Carter High School defensive back Derric Evans, who was seated in a hot tub, wearing all kind of bling and holding a wine glass when he revealed he would sign with Tennessee.
Evans’ teammate, linebacker Jesse Armstead, held his press conference later that February 1989 signing day inside a hotel ballroom to confirm he was headed to Miami (Fla.).
Armstead became an All-American and played for a decade in the NFL. Evans went to prison instead of Tennessee after he was found guilty that summer of being one of several teenagers involved in the robberies of several video stores and fast-food restaurants.
I haven’t heard that anyone plans to be floating in a hot tub this week when he signs his letter of intent. But Marcus Lattimore of Duncan, S.C., has one of the more elaborate ceremonies planned.
A 6-foot, 214-pound running back, who rushed for 1,898 yards and 31 touchdowns last season, has narrowed his choices to South Carolina and Auburn. The head coaches from both schools and several of their assistants swarmed to Lattimore’s home over the weekend to make their final sales pitches.
Lattimore will announce his decision Tuesday at 6 p.m. (EST) at his church, with 600 people expected to attend. A local radio station will also carry the event live for those who don’t arrive in time to get one of those 600 seats. The radio voice for Lattimore’s high school team will handle play-by-play as the drama unfolds for the four-star prospect who was the South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year.
The Lattimore family has announced the general public wouldn’t be allowed inside the church until 4 p.m., in order to guarantee all family members and friends can attend the big event.
And so it goes in the wonderful world of recruiting.
Would Mike Stoops Raid His Brother's Staff?
1/20/2010 4:24:00 PM
Louisiana Tech’s choice of Sonny Dykes as its head football coach raises an interesting question – will Mike Stoops try to raid his brother Bob’s staff to hire a new offensive coordinator to replace Dykes at Arizona?
Oklahoma quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel was on Mike Stoops’ staff at Arizona until returning to his alma mater. Heupel, of course, was the quarterback and Mike Stoops the co-defensive coordinator when OU when the 2000 national championship.
Heupel reportedly interviewed for the O-coordinator job at Minnesota a year ago. When that job opened again this week, there were rumors that Heupel was going to interview a second time for the Golden Gophers’ position, but Bob Stoops said “no” in a text when asked if Heupel was going to Minnesota.
It’s purely a guess, but I’d wager that Heupel isn’t going anywhere. Kevin Wilson, the Sooners’ O-coordinator, is destined to soon become a head coach. When Wilson leaves, Heupel would be the obvious candidate to replace him.
Several media outlets reported Wednesday night that Wilson was scheduled to interview for the job at East Carolina, which opened earlier this week when Skip Holtz left for the South Florida job.
But, when I asked Bob Stoops in a text if he was going to let his brother hire Heupel away from him, he didn’t respond. Not even with the “no” he texted when asked if Wilson was going to Louisiana Tech and Heupel to Minnesota.
In other coaching news, a former OU player under Bob Stoops has a new job. Brandon Shelby, who played in the secondary for the Sooners (2001-04), has been hired to coach cornerbacks at Louisiana-Monroe under new coach Todd Berry. Shelby held the same position at Portland State last season, and has also coach at San Diego University and been a graduate assistant at OU and Arizona.
Would OU's Wilson Want ECU Job?
1/14/2010 1:40:00 PM
With Skip Holtz reportedly taking the South Florida job, it will be interesting to see if Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson pursues the opening created by Holtz's departure from East Carolina University.
Wilson, 48, is a native of Maiden, N.C., which is about 250 miles from Greenville, N.C., the home of ECU. Wilson played football at the University of North Carolina.
There is no question Wilson wants to be a head coach. He reportedly was a finalist last year for the Mississippi State job, which went to Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen.
Holtz built the ECU program into one of the best in Conference-USA, a conference that isn’t in the same league as the Big 12 or the Big Ten, the conferences where Wilson has worked since 1999 for Northwestern and OU.
Wilson would be an attractive candidate for ECU. He put together offenses at OU that set national records in several categories. He won the Frank Broyles Award in 2008, which honors the nation's top assistant coach.
Would Wilson consider working in C-USA a step down? Not if he’s interested in being a head coach. Every assistant worth his whistle should aspire to run his own program, and Wilson might decide his time has come to return home and realize his head coaching dream.
Will Others Follow OU's Franks?
1/5/2010 4:39:00 PM
Dominique Franks’ announcement Tuesday that he's leaving Oklahoma a year early to enter the NFL draft wasn’t a surprise. And it won’t be a surprise if other Sooner juniors join him, along with a slew of underclassmen from across the country.
Is Franks ready to play cornerback at the next level? Probably not. . .yet. But he will be one day soon, and he obviously wants to make sure he has a spot on some team while the NFL is still in business.
NFL insiders are convinced there will be a prolonged lockout in 2011 as the owners haggle over a new collective bargaining agreement with the players. Some players already in the league have predicted the lockout will definitely happen because the two sides remain far apart in their negotiations.
That is all the incentive some agents need to persuade players to make the jump to the pros before they’re ready. Not all agents are slime balls, but there are plenty of them who are worried much more about themselves than their clients.
Hopefully, everything works out for Franks. The former Tulsa Union standout is a good person and an excellent talent, who gave OU everything he had during the 39 games he played for the Sooners, including 27 starts.
OU coach Bob Stoops was sincere when he said in a release that he hopes Franks will return to OU “to complete his degree.”
During a discussion this season, Stoops talked about how difficult it’s been for some of his former players to return to school after their NFL careers ended.
“Just ask (blank) how easy it is,” Stoops said of one former OU All-American who returned to college life this past semester. “He’ll tell you it isn’t easy. He’s having a hard time making that adjustment. But at least he’s trying.”
Sooners Defense Shorthanded?
12/31/2009 11:36:00 AM
EL PASO, Texas — Oklahoma could apparently be missing two key defensive players in today's Sun Bowl against Stanford.
OU sports information director Kenny Mossman confirmed that cornerback Brian Jackson is questionable after suffering a concussion this week during bowl practice. If Jackson is out, freshman Demontre Hurst will replace him.
There is also speculation that Quinton Carter could be sidelined with the flu. Mossman said he could not confirm Carter's status. If Carter can't play, freshman Marcus Trice or sophomore Demontre Hurst will be in the lineup.
Jackson and Carter participated in pre-game warmups.
Uh, Never Mind On The Stoops To Florida Story
12/27/2009 1:12:00 PM
That huge sigh of relief you heard Sunday afternoon coming out of south Texas was from Oklahoma officials after finding out Urban Meyer has apparently changed his mind and will take an indefinite leave of absence instead of resigning as Florida’s football coach.
Ever since Meyer shocked everyone Saturday when he said health issues were forcing him to step down, some OU insiders confirmed that of all the job rumors that have surrounded Sooners’ coach Bob Stoops over the past 11 seasons, this was the one they couldn’t predict an outcome.
"Not sure how I feel on this one," was a text I received late Saturday night from an OU official who is fully aware of Stoops' high regard for the Florida program, which he helped win the 1996 national title when he was the Gators' defensive coordinator.
Is Meyer is having second thoughts, which is being reported by several media outlets, it means OU fans can now enjoy the Sooners’ game in El Paso at the Sun Bowl against Stanford on Thursday. Stoops and the Sooners arrived in El Paso on Saturday to start practice for the contest against the Cardinal.
Nothing will be official, of course, until Meyer holds a press conference Sunday afternoon to clarify his future plans. Given his apparent quick change of mind, no one can be sure he won't change it again before he meets the media in what has become THE soap opera of this bowl season.
Now, about those rumors that Stoops is on the short list of Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones if he decides to can Wade Phillips. Stoops was reportedly a candidate when Jones hired Phillips. But former OU and Cowboys' coach Barry Switzer told me at that time that Stoops' job with the Sooners is much better than any NFL job.
Stoops To Florida Doesn't Add Up
12/27/2009 10:04:00 AM
The more one thinks about it, the less sense it makes that Bob Stoops would leave Oklahoma to replace Urban Meyer at Florida.
Which, of course, probably means Stoops will bolt for the school he left in December 1998 to become the Sooners’ head coach.
As expected, just about every sports media outlet in this country immediately listed Stoops as the frontrunner to replace Meyer.
But here’s the deal: Following John Blake at OU is a heckuva lot easier than replacing Urban Meyer at Florida.
Sure, Stoops discovered shortly after he accepted athletic director Joe Castiglione’s offer that he had inherited a mess at OU that was even worse than he expected.
A few seasons later, when he had turned the Sooners into a national power and won a BCS title, Stoops revealed that after a few weeks on the job at OU he called a close friend back in Gainesville and told him he feared he had made the worst mistake of his coaching career. He acknowledged that he had moments when he felt overwhelmed by the staggering number of problems he had to solve in order to return OU to prominence.
But the messy OU situation 11 seasons ago would seem much easier to fix than trying to replace Meyer, who has become a legend in just five seasons at Florida by winning two national championships and putting together a school record 22-game winning streak.
Why would Stoops want to leave a kingdom he built to take a job where he’d always be compared to his predecessor? Yes, Stoops was popular at Florida when, as the Gators’ defensive coordinator, he helped coach Steve Spurrier win a national championship.
When Spurrier resigned and Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley made a strong push to bring Stoops back to Gainesville, many so-called experts said Stoops would be making a career-killing mistake by replacing Spurrier, who also had become a legend by winning the Heisman Trophy as Florida’s quarterback and then rebuilding the program into a national title contender.
Well, following Spurrier now seems like child’s play when compared to what the next Florida coach is going to endure as he attempts to fill the huge pair of Nike’s Meyer will step out of after coaching the Gators in the Sugar Bowl.
Shortly after the bombshell news of Meyer’s resignation had become public Saturday, one of ESPN’s talking heads said the next coach will need an ego that’s even bigger than Meyer’s to be successful in a job that eventually took its toll on Meyer’s health.
Stoops wouldn't argue if someone said he has a healthy ego. Every successful coach needs one, especially during tough times like this problem-filled 7-5 season.
But it's the "healthy" part that's important. I think that’s an even bigger reason why Stoops wouldn’t want anything to do with the stressful, pressure-cooker atmosphere that surrounds the Florida program.
Stoops’ father died of a heart attack when he was 54, something that's never far from the OU coach's mind. Stoops, who turns 50 next September, has always kept himself in excellent physical shape, and said he doesn’t want to coach forever like Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden.
There is considerable stress on anyone who is OU’s football coach. But Stoops has the built the program to the point that he can deal with it. Why amp up the chances of ruining his health by taking a job that quickly burned Meyer out?
And then there's this: Meyer indicated in his statement that he intends to continue working at Florida in some capacity. You think Stoops would like Meyer looking over his shoulder?
Some insiders believe Meyer will have a major influence on who’s hired to replace him. That could mean Foley would look to people who have worked for Meyer, like Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen or Utah coach Kyle Whittingham.
So the Stoops-to-Florida scenario makes zero sense to me. But, as Stoops has reminded me many times, we seldom think alike on topics related to football.
Stoops is scheduled to meet the press in El Paso late Sunday afternoon after the Sooners finish practice for Thursday’s Sun Bowl game against Stanford. Perhaps he will acknowledge at that time that this is one time we’re on the same page.
One more item for OU fans to consider: If Foley goes after Mullen, could Mississippi State come after Sooner offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson? Wilson was the other finalist a year ago, when Mississippi State decided to go with Mullen, who was Meyer's offensive coordinator.
Another Stoops Watch Coming?
12/26/2009 6:03:00 PM
Here we go again with another Bob Stoops Coaching Watch.
Saturday’s stunning news that Florida coach Urban Meyer will resign after the Gators’ Sugar Bowl game against Cincinnati is bound to create Stoops-to-Florida rumors.
Stoops, the defensive coordinator at Florida before taking Oklahoma’s head coaching position, was Florida’s main target when his former boss, Steve Spurrier, resigned.
Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, a good friend of Stoops, flew to Norman to try and convince the Sooners’ coach to return to Gainesville.
When Foley failed to land Stoops, he hired Ron Zook, who was eventually fired and replaced by Meyer. Meyer's Florida team defeated Stoops and OU last January to win the school’s second national championship in three seasons.
If he doesn't promote from within Meyer's staff, it's logical that Foley will make another run at Stoops, who has been at OU 11 seasons.
Stoops had to repeatedly shoot down rumors in recent weeks that he was going to Notre Dame. Shortly after the Irish hired Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, an ESPN reporter said Stoops could be a candidate for the Dallas Cowboys job if owner Jerry Jones decides to fire Wade Phillips.
Stoops has never denied his love for the state of Florida. He owns a vacation in the state in an area close to Spurrier's vacation home. The OU coach has always spoken highly of the time he spent at Florida, including helping the Gators win Spurrier's only national title.
Perhaps Stoops will release a statement denying any interest in the Florida job. But until then, the Bob Stoops Coaching Watch starts again.
KU's selection of Gill is filled with intrigue
12/13/2009 11:01:00 AM
Kansas’ hiring of Buffalo coach Turner Gill to replace the ousted Mark Mangino includes all sorts of fascinating subplots.
The biggest, of course, is Gill will now coach against the school where he starred as a quarterback, was a quality assistant coach and got passed over for the head coaching job by his mentor and close friend.
Gill was the Nebraska QB who finally helped coach Tom Osborne break through against Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer. Osborne and Nebraska were 1-7 against the Sooners and Switzer before Gill became the starter and led the Cornhuskers to three consecutive wins over OU.
Two years ago, Gill was a finalist for the Nebraska job after Bill Callahan was fired. Osborne, now the school’s athletic director, selected Bo Pelini over Gill because he felt the ’Huskers had become so horrendous on defense under Callahan that he needed a defensive-minded coach. Pelini made Osborne look good by almost winning the Big 12 title this season even though Nebraska wasn’t even mediocre on offense. The defense came within one second of upsetting heavily favored Texas in the title game.
It will be interesting to see how Gill performs in the Big 12. He did an excellent job rebuilding a Buffalo program that was near a self-imposed death penalty. But the Big 12 is a whole different animal than the MAC.
Gill reportedly got the job because he impressed KU athletic director Lew Perkins during the interview process by revealing he had already lined up two former head coaches as his coordinators — Carl Torbush on defense and Chuck Long on offense.
The Long hire adds another layer of intrigue to KU’s selection of Gill. Long was OU’s offensive coordinator before becoming the head coach at San Diego State, where he was fired after three forgettable seasons.
When OU hired Bob Stoops in December 1998, Gill was reportedly Stoops’ first choice as offensive coordinator. Then an assistant under Osborne, Gill elected to stay in Lincoln and Stoops hired Mike Leach. Neither Stoops nor Gill has ever confirmed or denied that Stoops told OU officials during his interview that he would bring Gill with him to run the offense.
Leach left after one season to take over at Texas Tech. Mangino, who replaced Leach as O-coordinator, departed two seasons later for the KU job.
Now Stoops’ close friend Mangino is out of a job, KU has replaced him with the coach Stoops once coveted as an O-coordinator and Gill has hired another of Stoops’ best friends and former Iowa teammate in Long.
After Nebraska struggled all season on offense, there was speculation that Pelini would fire offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and possibly bring in either Long or Mangino.
Are you confused yet? It could get even more confusing when Gill completes his staff. Long might have some offensive assistants in mind who have ties to OU or other Big 12 schools. And Torbush, the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State this season, is familiar with the Big 12 during his stint as defensive coordinator at Texas A&M.
One thing to watch is if Long’s skin is any thicker than when he was OU. He didn’t take media criticism well, often calling the writer who had offended him to methodically justify every call he had made the writer questioned.
Prediction: If Long remains as thin-skinned as he was in Norman, he won’t have much fun dealing with some members of the Kansas City, Mo., media.
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder was Iowa’s offensive coordinator when Long was an All-American quarterback for the Hawkeyes and finished second in the 1985 Heisman Trophy voting to Bo Jackson. Jackson edged Long by 45 points, which was closest winning margin until Saturday, when Alabama running back Mark Ingram edged out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart by 28 points.
I don’t know about you, but the 2010 Big 12 season just got a whole lot more interesting for me.
This Stoops Is Leaving
12/12/2009 11:15:00 AM
There was a Stoops involved Friday in a coaching change, but it wasn’t Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops.
Mark Stoops, the youngest of the four Stoops brothers, confirmed he’s leaving his job at Arizona’s defensive coordinator to take the same position at Florida State.
This move is a bit surprising, because Mark is leaving the staff of his brother, Arizona head coach Mike Stoops, to go to work for new FSU coach Jimbo Fisher.
Mark Stoops reportedly could have had the head-coaching job at Youngstown State. Youngstown, of course, is where the Stoops brothers were born and raised, and where the oldest, Ron, is the defensive coordinator at the brothers’ high school, Cardinal Mooney.
The youngest Stoops reportedly decided to cut the family ties with Mike because he believes coaching the Seminoles will be a positive addition to his resume as he attempts to join Bob and Mike as head coaches on the BCS level.
Mike Stoops' background is defense. So as long as Mark stayed at Arizona, some would have viewed him as being the D-coordinator in name only. Now he has the opportunity to prove himself at tradition-rich FSU and help Fisher rebuild a program that struggled in recent seasons because legendary coach Bobby Bowden refused to retire.
As one reader astutely pointed out, Mark and Bob Stoops will square off next season, when Florida State plays OU.
In other coaching news Friday, Notre Dame hired a new coach and, amazingly, ESPN and the Chicago Sun Times didn’t report that it was Bob Stoops who took the Irish job.
As The Coaching World Turns
12/11/2009 4:02:00 PM
Tis’ the season when what goes around can often come around on the college football-coaching carousel.
In December 2002, Charlie Strong was one of the finalists to rebuild the scorched earth Tulsa program that the Keith Burns Comedy Show had burned to the ground during three laughable seasons (TU fans had to laugh to keep from crying when Burns went 2-21 his final two years).
Current Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Bill Young was another strong candidate. Young, Kansas’ D-Coordinator at the time, made a strong impression during his interview with athletic director Judy MacLeod.
But in the end, it was Buffalo Bills assistant Steve Kragthorpe, with a strong assist from former Golden Hurricane and Bills’ great Jerry Ostroski, who was hired. Kragthorpe validated that decision by leaving the program in solid shape when he departed after four seasons.
Seven seasons after Kragthorpe beat out Young, the tables have turned. Young, the defensive coordinator at Florida, was selected earlier this week to replace Kragthorpe at Louisville.
In some other coaching news, TU, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will all help break in some coaches at their new jobs next season.
TU will play at Notre Dame, which hired Brian Kelly away from Cincinnati on Friday.
The Sooners have a road trip to Cincinnati to face Kelly’s successor. And it could be a former OU assistant. Cincy officials have asked permission to interview Houston coach Kevin Sumlin, who took over the Cougars' program two years ago after several seasons on Bob Stoops' staff.
OU will also play a Florida State team in 2010 that will have a new boss in Jimbo Fisher, who was promoted to replace legendary Bobby Bowden, who wasn’t granted his wish to coach the Seminoles one more season.
Kansas, meanwhile, will be one of the three North Division teams on OSU schedule next fall. The Jayhawks are still searching for a replacement for Mark Mangino.
With carousel now spinning at warp speed, there could be some more new coaches who play the Sooners, Cowboys or Hurricane.
A Couple OU Football Notes
12/7/2009 5:32:00 PM
Sam Bradford isn’t a finalist for the 2009 Heisman Trophy, but the 2008 Heisman winner gets to vote in this season's Heisman race.
All former Heisman winners automatically receive lifetime voting privileges for college football’s most prestigious individual award.
I have no idea how former OU Heisman winners Steve Owens, Billy Sims and Jason White will vote, but I’d wager that Bradford goes with his good friend, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.
That’s totally a guess. Heisman voters are not supposed to reveal their votes before the winner is announced, and I imagine Bradford will keep his vote to himself.
In addition to Owens, White and Bradford, the state of Oklahoma has 22 members of the media who vote for the Heisman. I guess Sims is a Texas voter, and former Oklahoma State winner Barry Sanders votes in the state of Michigan, where he lives.
The New York Times reported Monday that Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh will interview for the Notre Dame job. If Harbaugh is hired and stays to coach Stanford in the Sun Bowl, it won’t be the first time Oklahoma’s faced that situation.
Washington State coach Mike Price stuck around to coach the Cougars against the Sooners in the Jan. 1, 2003 Rose Bowl after he had been hired by Alabama. Not a good decision.
OU whipped Price’s lame duck team, 34-14, and you probably know the rest of the story about why Price didn’t coach a single game with the Crimson Tide.
If you don’t, Google Price’s name with strip bars.
Sooners to Sun Bowl
12/6/2009 1:48:00 PM
Sources have confirmed Oklahoma will play Stanford in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31.
It will be OU's first appearance in the El Paso-based bowl since defeating Texas Tech, 41-10, in the 1993 game.
Ironically, it was Texas Tech that beat out the Sooners for a berth in this season's Alamo Bowl. OU has never played in the San Antonio bowl, so Sooners officials were hoping to be selected ahead of the Red Raiders.
But Alamo Bowl officials obviously couldn't get past the fact that Tech (8-4) finished with a better record than OU (7-5), and also defeated the Sooners in Lubbock three weeks ago, 41-13.
Alamo Bowl sources said its selection committee thought it would have a better chance of landing OU in the future than it has in the past, because San Antonio bowl moves up in the Big 12 bowl pecking order next season.
This year, the Alamo picks after the Cotton and Holiday bowls. But it will move ahead of the Holiday Bowl starting in 2010, and will pit a Big 12 team against a school from the Pac-10 Conference instead of the Big Ten Conference.
Stanford (8-4) features All-American running back Toby Gerhart, and is coached by Jim Harbaugh.
The Sun Bowl is scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff on New Year's Eve, and will be televised on CBS.
The OU-Stanford matchup will be more attractive than what the Alamo Bowl has put together. The Red Raiders will meet one of two 6-6 Big Ten teams -- Michigan State or Minnesota.
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