Here was my prediction, on the way out of a Lewisville eatery several hours after Texas had knocked off Oklahoma and about a minute after Oklahoma State had shocked Missouri.
The OSU fans will be insufferable and the Sooner fans will be worse, counting their national championships.
But when I jumped in my car Monday to pick my daughter up from school, the length of time I had to wade through the daily jam at Whittier Middle School was spent listening to one Sooner fan call for Brent Venables’ head, all the while dismissing the fact Texas gave up the same yardage and 35 points. Reason couldn’t dent this guy.
At one point, he said “How many times are we going to watch this team give up 40 points in a big game?” like it happened every week, when, bowl games aside, it happened for the very first time in the Stoops’ era’s 10 seasons Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.
My guess is I was still right about the Poke Nation’s insufferability and the Sooner Nation’s living in the past, yet what I forgot to gauge was the sky falling.
It happens every season.
One loss and some portion of the booster club wants to steal whoever the guy is at Appalachian State and bring him to Norman.
I think Bob Stoops made two lousy decisions (though one of them would have worked and could have changed the game if only Jermaine Gresham hadn’t looked back to make sure Mike Knall was coming), the defense lost its nerve and confidence (kind of the way everybody did in Lubbock last season) upon the departure of Ryan Reynolds, special teams should be renamed “mediocre teams” and something fundamental is wrong with the running game, like it’s the most overrated line in the nation or DeMarco Murray’s hurt or scared.
And still I can’t think of a head coach who’d be any more successful here (Pete Carroll would never fit and Nick Saban would be even more insufferable than OSU fans after a big win). I find no great issue at the coordinator positions.
On the other hand, Stoops misses a brother who could get in his grill and where’s Jonathan Hayes when you need somebody to coach up special teams and what’s really up with the running game?
The offensive line and special teams are truly alarming.
I can remember Stoops would refer to special teams as one third of everything, when Brandon Daniels played like an All-American return-man and J.T. Thatcher and Antonio Perkins were All-American return-men, when Tim Duncan sent almost every kick into the end zone and Jeff Ferguson was one of OU’s best players, period.
For all the talent this team clearly possesses and for all the difference special teams has made for this program over the years, what’s been going on this season is inexcusable. It’s that simple.
Ditto for an offensive line that ushered second-and-8, second-and-9 and second-and-10 upon the rest of the offense over and over again Saturday at the Cotton Bowl. Is it focus? Is it teaching? Is it conditioning? Are all the running backs bums?
Those are real issues, but that’s all they are.
Defense? The sky’s not falling.
It lost its best player on a day the lack of a Sooner running game had a whole lot to do with Texas possessing the ball 15 minutes longer than OU; that and Colt McCoy turned nothing into something several times.
That’s about it.
Your team lost. It has issues. These things happen and they’ll happen again.
And this program will continue winning 11 or 12 games a season and winning conference championships like they’re no big deal, which they are.
Get over it.
Clay Horning
366-3526
cfhorning@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
There are issues, but fans need to chill out
Commentary
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