Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops almost had a physical reaction to the question. He wasn’t upset, but maybe taken aback.
“No. It’s way too soon,” he said. “There’s potential there, but that doesn’t mean anything until you’ve done it.”
So to be fair to the 2003 and ’04 Sooners, it’s not quite time to christen this offense the best Stoops has ever had.
The Sooners are 2-0 and have outscored opponents 109-28 and will enter Washington’s Husky Stadium Saturday night 201⁄2 point favorites, but who can predict what will become of this crew before the Cotton Bowl or, at least, TCU?
Fair point.
Maybe what looks like a juggernaut will appear mortal against Texas and Kansas and Texas Tech and, perhaps, Missouri at the Big 12 championship game. OU could end up like a handful of other very good teams: just good enough provided it makes the right play at the right time to keep the winning going.
Or maybe we’ll find out Cincinnati’s the best team in the Big East and what happened last Saturday is only a hint of what’s to come. It is at least possible. Even Stoops referenced “potential.”
Because the talent doesn’t seem to stop.
Who would you rather have than Sam Bradford behind center?
What two running backs would you prefer to DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown? With apologies to James Allen and Jerald Moore, there’s your Thunder and Lightning.
Which tight end would you trade Jermaine Gresham for?
How many receivers do you need? Because OU now has three that rank no less than very dangerous.
The offensive line has been playing together longer than the Iraq surge. And if Duke Robinson and Phil Loadholt are the prospects, Trent Williams, Brandon Walker and Jon Cooper would make any team in the nation better.
And, rather than taking it easy or setting things up for the fourth quarter, it’s an offense coordinated by a guy who’d rather score right now.
Anybody can have a bad game, but there’s no weak link.
If Stoops won’t go there, the players already have.
“There have been times we have sat down and talked about how we can be as good as we want to be or as good as we allow ourselves to be,” Bradford said. “But another thing … we have to take it one game at a time. We realize we can’t play for the Big 12 championship this week. We can only play Washington.”
The rub is always still having to do it.
Kansas State crushed OU at the 2003 Big 12 championship game, but the Sooners still played for a national title, losing to LSU at the Sugar Bowl.
The next season, Jason White’s last and Adrian Peterson’s first, OU routed Colorado for the conference title only to be routed by USC at the Orange Bowl.
Because the gig wasn’t finished, it’s almost forgotten how dominant those offenses were. They weren’t good, but scary good.
The lesson of those seasons has been passed along.
“We know we have a lot of people returning, a lot of talent,” wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias said, “but coach (Kevin) Wilson talks about how you use your talent. You can always have a lot of talented players, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t go win every game.”
Maybe not every game. Just look at LSU last year. Yet the point is sound.
Whether OU is so eclectic and electric with the ball in its hands that winning every week becomes a mental burden to clear or, like Paul Thompson’s one year behind center, it’s a physical scrap to survive, it’s all pretty much the same.
It’s still about winning.
But if it’s the first, watching it unfold is an entirely different exercise. If it’s the first, it’s a game of wondering what they’ll do next
So go ahead and wonder.
It’s that kind of season.
Clay Horning
366-3526
cfhorning@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Sooners on verge of historic offensive season
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