Don't bet on a Colorado repeat Saturday at Baylor
10/2/2008 11:39:13 AM
It was Tuesday's Bob Stoops press conference when the annual pre-Texas Week question came flying from the media:
"Any worries about looking ahead?"
Stoops response: "That's never been an issue here. It's simple. We've got to go to Baylor. You guys may or may not be going. Fans may or may not be going. But we're going. We've got to play.
"I think you can look at our track record the weeks before that game in the last 10 years to answer your question. We'll be focused on Baylor and Baylor alone."
A look at that week-before-Texas track record shows Stoops is right. For the most part.
1999: Notre Dame 34, OU 30 (this one doesn't count because it's impossible for any college football team to look past Notre Dame)
2000: OU 34, Kansas 16
'01: OU 38, K-State 37 (the Sooners weren't looking past the Cats, the Cats were that tough)
'02: OU 31, Missouri 24 (the Brad Smith Game)
'03: OU 53, Iowa State 7
'04: OU 28, Texas Tech 13
'05: OU 43, K-State 21
'06: OU 59, Middle Tennessee 0
'07: Colorado 27, OU 24
There's the smudge in Stoops' statement. One year later, it's still hard to believe the Sooners couldn't get the ball to Malcolm Kelly, couldn't field that late punt and couldn't hold a 24-7 second-half lead in Boulder.
The way the Sooners explain it, it had nothing to do with Texas.
"The key to winning games, especially on the road, is taking care of the football. That was what harmed us last year," offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. "We had three turnovers in the Colorado game, four turnovers total and three as an offense."
Sam Bradford was responsible for two of those with costly interceptions. Looking back on that day, he makes an interesting statement:
"I just feel – it's kind of hard to explain – my emotions during the game, I feel a lot more together when things aren't going right, or maybe when we've had a couple incompletions or a couple plays that haven't gone the way that we planned. I just feel I'm a lot more in control and a lot more calm. I don't get rattled as much as I did last year. I feel like that's something I've improved on since last year."
That's the first time anyone from OU has associated Bradford with the word "rattled." The fact that it was the maturing-before-our-eyes Bradford himself bodes well for the Sooners the rest of this season.
It certainly bodes well in terms of avoiding a Texas lookahead Saturday at Baylor.
-- Guerin Emig
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