By Clay Horning
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Some things boil down to fortuitous coincidence, like a Republican scandal the Democrats never saw coming but are only too happy to sit back and watch as the GOP implodes. Others, however, boil down to trends, like the utter incompetency …
Sorry, wrong column.
Other things boil down to trends, like Oklahoma football.
Because if you’ve been watching, here we go again.
A year ago, it was a 2-3 start the Sooners had to overcome and this time around it was a 3-2 beginning, which really should have been 4-1 thanks to, OK, the utter incompetency of the officials at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium. But not even David Boren can change the record books and the Cotton Bowl was so ugly, at least offensively, maybe it should count as two losses anyway … but there the Sooners go, just like last year, surging near season’s end.
It may sound like a silly and obvious point, but in the world of college football, it’s really pretty unique. Indeed, the only time Bob Stoops has ever really left the Sooner Nation wanting, he did manage to take them to the national championship game.
Otherwise, he’s sent everybody home happy from the Cotton Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Holiday Bowl. And that first season, the Sooner Nation was even tickled to lose in Shreveport. Probably, tonight, he sends them home happy from Kyle Field.
It is no small feat, getting better as the season goes along, but Stoops and his staff have made it happen like clockwork. And despite the head coach’s harmless belligerence toward the media’s dumb questions, and sometimes the smart ones, too, it’s still worth handing out a little credit. It’s also worth trying to understand why.
Most coaches and staffs maintain focus and inspire loyalty. Typically, they don’t crack under the pressure, even if their players do. Most programs don’t have to worry too much about motivation. Nobody likes to lose and that goes for the Sooners and everybody else.
“We’re just constantly paying attention to how we’re practicing,” Stoops said.
That is no small part of it. But here’s something that may be a little more unique.
Stoops and staff do not put the Sooners in a box.
D.J. Wolfe messed up and was benched, but he came back to start. Lendy Holmes failed to inspire as a receiver, then as a kick returner, then as a cornerback, but he got another chance and now he’s playing like an All-Conference candidate. Quentin Chaney drew raves the first time he stepped on the practice field, but something happened, he lost his way and disappeared from the depth chart. Then last week, when the game couldn’t have been more meaningful, he caught his first pass of the season, a touchdown.
Here in Soonerland, a player failing is never treated like a failed player.
“They know what we can do. They don’t give up on a player,” Holmes said. “If you make a mistake, they’ll give you another chance.”
Not to pile on, but there used to be a basketball coach around here who made too many phone calls and perpetually put his players in a box. As a result, potential was rarely reached. Only now is his successor trying to unlock that box.
But Stoops has never fallen for that trap.
If it takes reinventing the depth chart, so be it. If it means changing positions, so be it. And if it means going back to the well to see if the pail comes back a little more full, so be it.
It remains the best reason to believe OU emerges from one of the nation’s toughest and most hostile venues with a victory this evening. Because the expectation is not that OU will play as well as it played against Missouri, but better.
It happens every season.
“We know how we finished last year after the Texas game,” Paul Thompson said. “And we’re looking forward to doing that this year. We’re building on our momentum.”
Even with Adrian Peterson hurt, a defense that began the season in shambles and a quarterback who was playing wide receiver in the spring, it’s coming together.
“It’s a confidence,” Holmes said. “The offense knows that we’ve got their back and the defense knows the offense has its back.”
Other teams go south and stay there. As bad as it may get, the Sooners turn things around. It’s no small thing, and it’s happening again.
