John Shinn
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops remembers a time when he had to convince his team it belonged on a stage with any team in college football.
His first season, 1999, was all about convincing young players they should shoot for the moon. That team went 7-5, but made OU’s first bowl appearance in five seasons.
Stoops was still having to do that in 2000 when a team made up of many of the same players began the regular season as a fringe top 20 team and ended with the program’s seventh national championship.
“Naturally, at that time, we were coming from obscurity,” Stoops said. “No one knew of Oklahoma, or had forgot about us. The expectations weren’t there at that time.”
But a lot has changed after that 13-2 victory over Florida State in the 2001 Orange Bowl and expectations may top the list. Each August begins with thoughts of lifting a national title trophy five months later.
“If you’re going to come and play here, you have to accept it,” linebacker Rufus Alexander said. “The expectations are high and they’re always going to be high. You have to step up and meet the challenge.”
It’s not easy.
Not since the 2000 team claimed the national title has a Sooner squad finished the season ranked ahead of where it started in the polls.
During that span, OU has won three conference championships and played in two more national championship games. But all three of those teams were expected to reach those destinations.
The 2002 squad spent most of the season ranked in the top five and part of it in the top spot. The 2003 team was being compared to some of college football’s greatest until falling in the Big 12 championship game and the Sugar Bowl. OU was ranked No. 2 nearly every week of the regular season before meeting USC in the Orange Bowl in 2004.
Even last year’s 8-4 squad started the season ranked in the top 10 before early losses knocked it from the rankings until the end of the regular season.
But that string can end when No. 7 OU (11-2) faces No. 9 Boise State (12-0) at 7:30 tonight in the Fiesta Bowl.
“This year we came out strong and we can finish strong,” quarterback Paul Thompson said. “That’s what you have to do around here to be considered a successful team.”
Most believed the Sooners’ chances of remaining among the nation’s elite were eliminated after Rhett Bomar was dismissed before the season and again when Adrian Peterson suffered a broken collarbone.
OU was ranked No. 20 after its loss to Texas dropped them to 4-2 in early October.
“Nobody expected too much of us after everything that happened,” tight end Joe Jon Finley said.
But the expectations that mattered were the ones the Sooners placed on themselves. It doesn’t matter who is on the field. If they’re wearing crimson and cream, they’re expected to meet a standard.
OU met the standard this season and a victory tonight can put the Sooners in that rare group of teams that sets in motion future success.
Only 12 seniors will be playing their final game tonight for OU. It’s the smallest group during Stoops’ tenure.
But that group is well aware of a what a Fiesta Bowl victory will do for how they’ll be remembered.
“We just want to leave a tradition and legacy that goes on for years to come,” offensive tackle Chris Messner said. “That’s what OU football is all about.”
Tonight, the Sooners have that chance.
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
