John Shinn
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops couldn’t stop talking about it. Seeing the crawl on ESPN continually say: “Oklahoma 0-3 in last three BCS bowl games.”
It was supposed to be the huge motivating factor heading into last season’s Fiesta Bowl. Obviously it didn’t work with the crawl on ESPN saying Wednesday: “Oklahoma 0-4 in last four BCS bowl games.”
Will it read 0-5 at this time next year? All depends on what happens tonight when the Sooners take on Florida in the BCS championship game at Dolphins Stadium.
Players have said have kept their feelings about the losing skid mostly private. But all admit it’s a weight they’re tired of carrying.
“Of course, it has significance,” defensive end Jeremy Beal said. “But we try not to think about it.”
But there’s been a lot of soul searching about how OU became saddled with this streak.
You could argue the Sooners’ biggest goal for the 2008 season was to rectify their bowl game follies.
Last winter, the Sooners started offseason workouts with a quote from West Virginia quarterback Pat White saying the Mountaineers “wanted it more.”
It may have been a motivating factor, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t dead-on accurate.
OU was lethargic at best in the last two Fiesta Bowls. The 48-28 loss to West Virginia last season and 43-42 loss to Boise State were hardly inspired performances.
In the 2005 Orange Bowl, it hit a rough patch early against USC and basically quit in a 55-19 loss. The 2004 Sugar Bowl featured a Sooner team that regressed dramatically in its final two games and tumbled 21-14 to LSU.
Everyone has asked themselves why and White’s quote was the consensus.
Too much wasted energy on the fun the activities, not enough on getting ready to play. Too much angst about NFL aspirations, not enough about current college aspirations.
Players have self-imposed limits on the fun parts of bowl trips. Curfews were tightened. Less individual free time was replaced by more team functions.
That’s what OU admitted publicly. Privately the screws have been tighter.
“I don’t think you need to know everything we’ve done different for our last two bowl games, but there has been a difference in the way we’ve approached this game,” OU quarterback Sam Bradford said.
The biggest difference has been the importance OU’s place on winning it. Before the season began senior safety said the goal said one of the season’s biggest goals was to win the last season.
They hoped that must-win game would be here and would come with the program’s eighth national championship. But above all else they wanted that stigma of bowl game losses erased.
OU coach Bob Stoops has downplayed the past since he’s arrived here.
“You know, you got a chance to win the national championship, that’s what I’m focused on,” he said. “No, that stuff doesn’t matter. You know we’ve won our share of games.”
This season ran through everything in its path except the October loss to Texas. But it’s played its best football over the final month. The Sooners have played like a team that’s been building all season. Tonight’s their chance to top everything with the biggest prize possible — the program’s eighth national championship.
If at around midnight tonight, OU’s players and coaches are dancing around as confetti streams from the lights, then it will be obvious the string of BCS setbacks will have ended.
If not they’ll go back to the drawing board.
Stoops has exuded confidence since the Sooners arrived in south Florida. He made no brash predictions, but he liked the state of his team Wednesday morning.
“I feel they’re very anxious and excited to play,” he said.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
