By Clay Horning
KWTV’s Toby Rowland, a good egg, who would never try embarrassing Bob Stoops, began by saying something like, “You have to understand, people are going to take notice when they hear Bob Stoops is calling for a playoff?” And, shock of all shocks, the next voice heard was not Rowland’s, but that of Stoops.
Just a few minutes earlier, Stoops made mention of a few factors that might point toward the wisdom of a playoff. Because, among other things, Oklahoma appears stuck in the polls, lumped together with every other two-loss team, hardly being rewarded for producing a winning effort at Oregon or, and this may be what bothers Stoops the most, even being given credit for scheduling the game.
“I didn’t call for a playoff system,” Stoops jumped in, asking he not be misquoted or misunderstood or have words put in his mouth, before eventually adding, “… I might be by the end of the year.”
Then somebody reminded Stoops he had come out against a playoff earlier in the season.
“Yeah,” he said, “that’s right.”
Everybody had a good laugh.
“I’m on the fence right now,” Stoops said.
And so he is, but not only on a playoff.
The other fence, seemingly less comfortable, is the one about the schedule. The one that had the Sooners at Oregon this season and playing Miami next season and whoever athletic director Joe Castiglione has the Sooners playing the season after that.
Stoops is convinced whatever benefit the computers might credit the Sooners for playing a tough non-conference slate, it is more than wiped out by any loss the Sooners might take. Further, should OU schedule tough and win, Stoops appears equally convinced the benefit is not nearly as great as the risk.
“In the end, everything is slotted by wins and losses. End of story,” he said. “I knew when (the loss to Oregon) happened that that’s how it was going to be. So in the end, you are not given any credit for playing a tough schedule or winning in a tight game.”
In the past, the inequity of it all notwithstanding, the Sooner coach has stated his preference for a challenging schedule anyway. This time around, he took the same position … until he took another position.
“I want to make it perfectly clear,” he said, “I’m with Joe on this.”
“Joe” would be Castiglione and “with Joe” would mean Stoops is all for the way the Sooners have been scheduling … Until I asked him to clarify.
Does he want to continue scheduling tough despite the predicament it might place his team, or is he not so sure any more and a re-evaluation may be in order?
“You’re always evaluating where you’re going with it,” he said. “We’ll see.”
All of which carries the weight of a three dollar bill.
Stoops is so torn. It’s like he wants to do the right thing, but isn’t fond of the consequences. When push comes to shove, he says he’s with the program, but the program might need changing.
It’s time to get off the fence.
When Stoops first arrived, he defended the way Kansas State had scheduled its way to Manhattan becoming miraculous. Bill Snyder was building a program — with Stoops’ help — and the confidence of easy victories was required.
Well, he was doing such a fine job since arriving in Norman, nobody had the heart to tell him the Wildcats’ schedule, which is only slightly removed from the program itself, had become the laughingstock of the nation.
Perhaps it’s time somebody told him the same kind of thing will never fly here.
The Sooner Nation doesn’t want to schedule its way to a national championship. It wants a national championship, even every season. But it wants to be able to respect itself in the morning, too, and Ball Stating and Louisiana Teching its way to 12-0, 11-1 or 10-2 just isn’t right.
Caught between the brass ring and the process it takes to place it on his finger, Stoops needs to realize it’s worthless if already tarnished.
Clay Horning366-3526cfhorning@normantranscript.com
