College Football: Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops Has To Go

When I sat and thought about all the just mind blowing action from this past weekend on the gridiron, I could have went in about 10 different directions. Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oklahoma leaving their dreams in their respective stadiums, The Big 2 continuing to be on a crash course for a rematch, the Penn State controversy, the future of Urban Meyer, me showing I am human with a 3-4 showing in the 7 pack. (Yes I will talk about the losses as well as the wins.) But as I walked around our fair city as late Saturday turned into early Sunday, I found myself just angry at the arrogance of one particular coach.

Then as I thought more was he even a good coach ? I will start at what was the beginning of making me pause and think and come to the conclusion that Coach Bob Stoops from Oklahoma is the biggest fraud we have in Division 1 football today. He is the face of a program. A CEO of a high profile company called the Oklahoma Sooner Football team. What I found after reading a bunch, going back and actually watching tape of his key losses over the past five tears is that he is a LOUSY football coach.

He is as recognizable in the southwest as the swoosh on the Nike clothing he gets paid millions to wear. Famous yes, Wealthy yes, Has a national championship yes but when you really break down the x and 0’s of his performances then couple that with the talent he recruits every year he is an epic failure when it comes down to his actual job and that is coaching his football team.

I went back and watched tape of 5 additional games and in every game Oklahoma was ranked much higher then its opponent and heavily favored in each contest. When you sit and watch some of the decisions and or play calls how does this coach still have a job ? In every contest there is a point which I say there is the exact spot where he gave this game away.

10/23/10 Missouri 36  Oklahoma ( 3)  27

09/05/09 Byu         14  Oklahoma ( 3) 13

10/03/09 Miami      21 Oklahoma  ( 8 ) 20

10/11/08 Texas ( 5) 45 Oklahoma ( 1) 35

1/01/07 Boise 43         Oklahoma 42

( ) is national ranking at time of game

The other night the Sooners traveled to Waco to take on a Baylor team which was a heavy underdog. Factoring in Oklahoma had already been in a similar situation at home this year against an inferior Texas Tech team you figure they would be aware that on any given day if you aren’t intense you can get beat. Proving they did not learn from their past mistakes the Sooners found themselves down 14 points with just over 5 minutes remaining on the clock.

After a feverish rally backup Blake Bell scored his 4^th touchdown of the nigh  out of a wildcat formation and pulled the Sooners to within 1 point from tying the contest and taking the game into overtime. This is where Coach Stoops arrogance reached an equally high fever pitch and decided that he would attempt to go for the two point conversion to win the game in regulation.

What coach Stoops was thinking was that hey it worked four times already tonight and they can’t stop us so I am gonna run it down their throat and be carried off the field a hero and called a genius by my peers and the coaching world. This has been a year of just poor decision making by coaches but this was by far the absolute dumbest call I have seen not only this year, but ever.

Number one did coach Stoops stop and think for one second that now besides him the Baylor coaching staff, the Baylor defense, The Baylor Mascot, The drunk fans, the guy up in the blimp, kids not even born yet all now knew this play would be coming and they could now prepare for it.

Number two what if there was a bad snap, what if the back slipped, what if there was a misses assignment or what if a Baylor defender made a play ? This coach was putting everything his kids had sacrificed and worked hard for and running a play at a defense who knew what was coming. He also never factored in that his team had just came back from a 14 point deficit and if got the game to overtime would be a huge favorite again to walk away with a win.

None of that seemed to mattered. What mattered again was that this arrogant coach somehow again stole the spotlight off his kids and made it all about him. It turns out there was a penalty for a false start  so the play actually never happened. I still wonder whether that movement before the snap was intentional or not. Either way the flag saved him from himself and the extra point was kicked and the game was surely headed to overtime. Until the worst coaching move I have ever seen happened.

With 40 seconds left Baylor was content to take the game into overtime and let the game be decided. They ran a iso play which in laymen’s terms is equivalent to taking a knee. Then for reasons unknown to anyone with an average football IQ Coach Stoops took a time out. We have seen this play out before this year in many games with 100% of the time the decision backfiring and the team calling the Time Out losing the game. What that did is force Baylor to go back to the huddle and call a play to try and advance the ball. Baylor has one the of the five most dangerous players in college football in Robert Griffith who is a dual threat to pass or run on any given play. To give that team a chance now to advance the ball to get into field goal range put his entire season on the line.

The next play Griffith took off and ran for 40 yards. He eventually found a wide open receiver in the end zone and Baylor walked away with a 45-38 victory thus costing Oklahoma an opportunity to play in a BCS game and at least 14 million in revenue for the school. The plays should have never happened.

You do NOT call time out in that situation. Not to mention his players who had literally fought for their BCS lives now will end up playing in the Olive Garden Red Sauce Bowl on Christmas Eve or something. My point is this is just one mishap in a long line of mishaps that have happened over the years. With all that talent the school deserves more. You have been living off your name way to long Coach. It’s time to be held accountable and time to go.

What a week we have ahead !  LSU takes on a very game Arkansas squad on Friday . Alabama takes on Auburn in the Iron Bowl Saturday. Georgia Georgia Tech, Stanford-Notre Dame, UCLA-USC, Nebraska, IOWA, Pitt-WVU, Penn State-Wisconsin, Michigan State-Northwestern. and Texas-Texas A&M Thanksgiving Night.. Things start to become clear after these games although it appears we are on course for a rematch in the BCS  Championship LSU-Alabama.