OU changing up bowl preparation

John Shinn

The questions had to come at some point. Meeting with reporters to discuss the BCS national championship game was like firing up a bug zapper in a warm swamp.

You can’t talk about a BCS bowl game including Oklahoma without bringing up its recent past. The Jan. 8 game against Florida will be the Sooners’ fifth BCS appearance in six years. They’ll also be trying to snap a four-game BCS losing streak that dates back to the 2004 Sugar Bowl.

Players don’t believe the past matters.

“It is a completely different team,” center Jon Cooper said. “There are new guys that haven’t been there and guys that haven’t played in those BCS games, or the past couple bowl games we have lost, that are going to contribute this year.”

That doesn’t mean there haven’t been lessons learned over the years.

The first was beyond their control, but perhaps beneficial. The game isn’t until Jan. 8, so it won’t even head to Miami until Jan. 2. This will allow OU’s players to go home for Christmas and return to Norman for a full week of practice before heading to Florida.

The other is the schedule. The Sooners have cut a day off their typical bowl trip from seven days to six.

The biggest hope, however, is a change in attitude will accompany OU to Miami.

After last season’s Fiesta Bowl, one of the things both players and coaches agreed on was there was too much attention on the trip rather than the game.

“A lot of guys weren’t focused,” cornerback Dominique Franks said. “A lot of the young guys were away from Norman and really on their own for the first time last year. They weren’t really focused on the real reason you supposed to be there.”

Of course, the lack of focus was a big knock on OU in general last season. Their struggles on the road illustrated them.

This season, OU’s been as dominant away from Norman as they have been in it. It’s shown an ability to learn from past mistakes.

“We’re learning how to finish, we’re staying intense throughout the whole game,” defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “It’s something we changed from last year to this year, and we’re going to try to keep that going into this game with Florida.”

Players aren’t taking any precautions when it comes to this year’s game. There’s been very few mentions about time on the beach or enjoying the South Florida sunshine.

Make no mistake, bowl games are a time when players can enjoy themselves. They’ve worked hard all season and a week in a vacation destination is one of the well-earned rewards.

Teams that win bowl games, however, are the ones that are better focused on getting ready for the last night of the trip — the game — rather than what goes on before it.

This year’s group of seniors knows the BCS stigma that has been attached to OU because of its BCS failures. They’ve been part of the last two Fiesta Bowls and some, if they’ve redshirted, go back to the 2005 Orange Bowl.

They were the ones who went to Stoops last week and told them wanted earlier curfews and less free time this season.

“There’s a lot on the line and it’s bigger than any of the players,” safety Nic Harris said. “It has a lot to do with the stigma that’s been placed on OU in big games. We pretty much want to silence anybody who has had anything to say by coming out and taking care of it.”

Stoops likes what he’s seen in the handful of practices the Sooners have had since the Big 12 championship game. The focus they showed throughout the regular season was still there.

If it stays, this might be the season that finally ends without the need for explanations about what went wrong.

“We’re going down to Miami for a week, but there isn’t going to be any party-type atmosphere,” Franks said. “We’re going down there for one thing — to win a national championship.”