The Norman Transcript

OU Sports

Discussion

July 24, 2008

Thinking about last game first a fine idea

Commentary

By Clay Horning

For Mike Gundy it was the rant. So was it any surprise what Bob Stoops was first asked about Wednesday morning in Kansas City.

Of course, it was his horrible BCS bowl fortunes. He’s 2-4 if you’re keeping score at home or, since taking care of Washington State at the Rose Bowl, 0-4.

And isn’t that the thing?

It wouldn’t be so frustrating had the Sooners had lost a couple then won the national championship in 2002, then sputtered around a little before getting it right and kicking West Virginia in the teeth.

Only they haven’t. Instead, OU’s BCS graph looks like a dot.com from the IPO go-go days: one humongous run-up and then … splat.

And with that, why not go with the line Nic Harris was spouting Wednesday. “National championship or bust,” he said.

It’s actually quite refreshing.

Stoops has forever been a one-trick, three-step pony. You’ve got your South division, you’ve got your conference and you’ve got, if fortunate, a national championship to play for.

There’s no guarantee.

Only twice have the Sooners played in national title games following Big 12 title victories, but the end-of-season three-step is still well-established. And while that does nothing to explain the shellacking OU took from USC at the 2005 Orange Bowl, it might explain the siesta at the Fiesta the Sooners have taken each of the last two seasons.

Because if you’ve got a three-step process and you navigate the first two and two teams not called Oklahoma are playing in the BCS championship game, just what is it you’re doing in Glendale, Ariz.?

OU has appeared to have no idea.

By the third quarter in each game, the Sooners woke up in time to play for pride, but pride couldn’t beat a Boise State miracle and it wasn’t enough against West Virginia, particularly when coupled with a regrettable onside kick.

“In the end, it’s a situation that there isn’t any one answer to it,” Stoops said.

And, the key words being, “in the end,” he may be right. Because if it’s only in the end you begin contemplating the emotional and physical effort and toll it will take to beat a very good bunch of Broncos or Mountaineers, each one with the chip of a heavy underdog on their shoulder, well, there may not be any one, two, three or four things that might make a difference.

There may not be any.

But perhaps there is an answer to the conundrum in the beginning.

Already there’s a sort of battle cry: “WTLG.”

Win The Last Game.

It doesn’t seem like much, but it might be a revolution. Here the Sooners are and they’re already talking about Game 13 or 14. Not only that, but they have a name for the issue they’ll be trying to right this and every other season.

Hello, I’m Oklahoma and I can’t win the last game.

Isn’t the first step always acceptance?

It still has to happen. It must still come to pass. Through the drudgery of the season, Stoops could return to old ways and push the old process. First you win this, then this, then think about what comes next. He could do that and take the team with him and WTLG becomes nothing but an impossible-to-pronounce acronym for which nobody remembers what it stands.

In the end and the beginning, it’s all in the approach. Maybe for the first time in a while, OU sees 14 games in front of it. Not 12, then another, and another.

It doesn’t mean the Sooners get there, but they’ll stand a better chance if they do.

Clay Horning

366-3526

cfhorning@normantranscript.com

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