- Average margin of victory in the 32 home games since 1999: 42-11
- One non-conference loss since 1999, which was LSU last year in the Sugar Bowl
- 19-4 record against teams ranked in the Top 25
- 11-2 record against teams ranked in the Top 10
2003 Results:
North Texas: 37-3 (worst loss of the season, 23 point half-time lead)
@Alabama: 20-13 (10 point half-time lead)
Fresno St.: 52-28 (2nd worst loss of the season, 38 point half-time lead)
UCLA: 59-24 (worst loss of the season, 18 point half-time lead)
@Iowa St.: 53-7 (worst loss of the season, 22 point half-time lead)
Texas: 65-13 (worst loss of the season, 24 point half-time lead)
Missouri: 34-13 (worst loss of the season, 21 point half-time lead)
@Colorado: 34-20 (10 point half-time lead)
Oklahoma St.: 52-9 (worst loss of the season)
Texas A&M 77-0 (worst loss of the season and I would hope so!)
@Baylor: 41-3 (31 point half-time lead)
@Texas Tech: 56-25 (worst loss of the season, 25 point half-time lead)
Kansas St. 7-35 (ugh-ugh, 14 point half-time deficit)
LSU 14-21 (ugh, 7 point half-time deficit)
Oklahoma's Final Two Games:
There has been a tremendous focus and rightfully so on Oklahoma's final two games of last season. A lot was made of Kansas St.'s dominating win, but I think people have tried too look too much into it as far as what Kansas St. did and as if they somehow exposed Oklahoma. I would agree with that if it weren't for the fact that Kansas St. lost four games last year including a 27-20 loss to Marshall, a 38-28 loss to Oklahoma St.. a 24-20 loss to Texas and a 35-28 loss to Ohio St. in the Fiesta Bowl and they also gave up four touchdown passes to the California Bears, which in no way was a typical Kansas St. defense as see in the past several years.
Now here come the excuses to the outsiders, but reasons for a bias fan such as myself.
Oklahoma was in a rather unique scenario of being assured of playing for the national title regardless of the outcome in the Big 12 Title Game and that was burned in by the media for the two weeks leading up to the Big 12 Title Game. Unfortunately, I think the Sooner players bought into that mindset and then ultimately ended up playing like that. Oklahoma was in a situation of the equivalent of securing a first round by in the NFL playoffs, but with one regular season game to go, in which it doesn't mean much. However, it should have as Oklahoma was also playing for the conference title. It's was unfortunate to have the best conference record, but not be conference champs, but that's the way it goes sometimes.In the Kansas St. game, Oklahoma started with forcing Kansas St. into a quick three and out and then Kansas St. punted and Oklahoma immediately drove down the field on the ground and through the air to score a touchdown. These two possessions by both teams all occurred in around just three minutes of play. Oklahoma would go on to force Kansas St. into four more three and outs in a row, while Oklahoma got into Kansas St. territory three more times in a row, only to come up empty. Then the game changed hands and Kansas St. went on to dominate. To me, it looked like the Sooners had such an easy time in those first few minutes that they were in the mindset of them going to blow out yet another team. They were unfortunately wrong.
In this game Oklahoma actually managed to get over 400 yards of total offense and passed for over 300 yards, but unfortunately, executed poorly all night long including Jason White throwing an interception in the KSU end-zone while just five yards away from their end-zone and that occurred while the game was still a battle. There was also the distraction of Mike Stoops, Oklahoma's defensive coordinator moving on to Arizona and it seemed the defense just wouldn't stay focused and it seemed that Mike's head was never really into the game as well. He certainly wasn't as emotional and involved in the game as he would normally be. Anyway, Kansas St. won fair and square and deserved to win the game, but Kansas St. being some very good team and Oklahoma getting exposed last year are both false statements
As far as the Sugar Bowl, it was a tough environment playing in what was ultimately LSU's backyard and Jason White was still reeling from the injuries suffered in the
KSU game in the 2nd quarter. He thew a sidearm pass early in the first quarter when not even pressured and he doesn't even thrown sidearm passes unless trying to make a play while a defender is already on him. He was nowhere near himself. Ultimately though, I can handle a one touchdown loss in a hostile environment to what was ultimately, a very good football team in LSU. Oklahoma had their opportunities, but just didn't convert and that's just the way it goes sometimes.
Another aspect to Oklahoma's play towards the end of the season that goes unmentioned so many times is Oklahoma's play before the Kansas St. and LSU games. Oklahoma only gave up 12 sacks going into the Baylor game, which was pretty good given the number of pass attempts per game. Ironically enough, this was the game after the 77-0 victory over Texas A&M in which the media went way overboard with the "greatest team of all-time" stuff. I would like to stress that it was the media that was doing that, not the Sooner coaching staff, Sooner players or Sooner fans, so I really wish people would rag on the media, since they were the ones saying it and not us.
Anyway, Baylor and Texas Tech were the two worst defenses Oklahoma would face all year. Yet, Oklahoma gave up five sacks against Baylor and three sacks against Texas Tech. Did these two teams try anything different from Oklahoma's prior ten opponents? Absolutely not. It was really from the Baylor game on that the mentality of the Sooners changed and they weren't near as sharp, particularly the Sooner offensive line. They lost their mental toughness and started getting whipped.They say the key is to get pressure on Jason White and Oklahoma will struggle offensively. Well, duh, that's applicable to any quarterback and the way Oklahoma's offensive line played in the final four games last season, even Michael Vick would have got drilled. Their effort was pathetic at best after the Texas A&M game. The problem with that thought is teams weren't able to get pressure on White earlier in the season, because Oklahoma's offensive line was taking care of business.
Anyway, the moral of the story is there is nothing that can honestly be taken from those last four games, not just the final two they lost, because they all happened for the same reason and that falls squarely on the Sooner offensive line and the opposition taking advantage of that fact. It wasn't scheme or philosophy that beat Oklahoma in those final two games, it was the will to prepare and the will to win and unfortunately, Kansas St. and LSU did a better job while claiming victory.
The 2004 season:
Lost in all of the hoopla of Oklahoma scoring a lot of points last year, it was forgotten that the Sooners actually only returned four "full-time" returning starters on offensive line. It was also Jason White's first time to play a full season and overall, he did quite well. If he is like the past two starting Sooner quarterbacks, he could improve quite a bit this season in terms of limiting some of the mistakes he made last season.
Oklahoma returns 10 starters on offense and the lone loss was a starting tight-end in Lance Donley who was rarely used in receiving situations. He is being replaced
by a bigger and stronger blocker in James "Bubba" Moses. The tight-end position was extremely under-utilized in the Sooner offense last year, but after evaluating the offense from last season, the Sooner coaching staff has placed more of a focus on getting the tight-end the ball this year. One reason is teams started doubling up on Oklahoma's receivers, particularly Mark Clayton as they had the luxury of completely ignoring the tight-end position. Moses had a great spring and fall in terms of catching the ball, so this could open up the Sooner offense even more providing he can carry that over into actual games. The Sooner tight-ends were typically thrown to from anywhere from zero attempts to only up to three in a game. This year, they should average around 4 to 5 catches a game as a minimum.
Oklahoma ran the ball effectively early in the season averaging 180 rushing yards per game, which was pretty good for what was ultimately a passing team throwing for 350 yards a game at that time. However, the Sooners got in a rut by focusing so much on the pass due to how successful they were with it that they forgot the importance of running the ball and ultimately made themselves one-dimensional. This was certainly an aspect that was taken advantage of in Oklahoma's final four games of the season. The Sooner coaching staff has realized this and will place more of an emphasis on the run this year, or a better way to put it, more of an emphasis on running "effectively". Only time well tell as while Oklahoma has a large stable of talented backs, that only applied at the prep level at this point as they have to prove themselves at the collegiate level. At the very worst, the Sooner running game should be improved. A lot of hope is riding on two true freshman running backs in Adrian Peterson and D.J. Wolfe. Peterson was ranked the #1 overall recruit in the nation and Wolfe was ranked in the Top 10 at the running back position in a number of the recruiting publications. He was certainly the best back in the state of Oklahoma.
Defensively, the Sooners are in great shape despite losing four starters and this is not an wishful thinking/optimistic view. While Oklahoma lost Butkus Award Winner in Teddy Lehman, Lance Mitchell returns after missing most of last season with injury. He led the Sooners in tackles the year before last year and is ultimately a better linebacker than Lehman, particularly in the run-stopping department. Through fall drills, he doesn't look like he has lost anything. One promising aspect is after Mitchell went down, another linebacker in Wayne Chambers came in and the Sooners surprisingly didn't miss a beat. Then Chambers got nicked up and missed four games and out of nowhere, Gayron Allen comes in as a 3rd string linebacker and leads the Sooners in tackles and sacks for the next four games in a row. Now that shouldn’t happen with a 3rd string linebacker!
The Sooners also lost all-American defensive tackle, Tommie Harris, and while he was a good one and starting for a reason, the Sooners alternated entire defensive line units last year with no drop-off and are really just in good shape here, even with some of the younger players like Larry Birdine who showed tremendous promise last year and living up to the recruiting hype. The Sooners also lost their free-safety in Brandon Everage and while he was a vicious hitter and good play-maker, he also had too many breakdowns in his career and biting on play-action and going in for the big hit instead of staying home and playing disciplined in the pass coverage department. In his place is Brodney Pool who runs close to 6'3" and 215 lbs. and had seven picks last year. He's a tremendous leaper with excellent coverage skills and should make a number of great plays on the deep ball attempts this year. The Sooners are definitely greatly improved at this position for this year.
What I could consider the biggest loss is Thorpe Award winner in Derrick Strait. Strait started all four years for the Sooners and was a model of consistency in terms of not getting beat in coverage and also made huge plays in huge games. In his place is Eric Bassey who started for the Sooners his freshman year at strong-safety in place of the departed Roy Williams, but he was playing way out of position and it's a very complex position to learn as a freshman. Bassey moved to being a backup corner last year and was in Strait's place in the UCLA game when Strait was a little banked up. Bassey did an excellent job and didn't get beat at any point in time, however, UCLA's offense was poor last year, so he is still an unknown. He's got very good speed and good size for a corner and Oklahoma has an excellent staff when it comes to coaching defensive backs, but a Derrick Strait he is probably not. Another alternative is all-American JUCO transfer in Chijoke Oneygetcha. He goes 6'3" and 210 lbs. with the typical speed that we here too much, but not always true...sub 4.4 speed. Either way, he's got the physical tools and was projected as the #2 DB that would go in the draft two years ago after Terrance Newman if he opted to go straight from the JUCO ranks to the NFL, but he ran into a problem tearing his hamstring(ouch). He has shown tremendous promise in fall drills and will see action this year, but how much will depend on Bassey's play.
Special teams are in great shape with Antonio Perkins who is one away from the career NCAA record of most punts returned for touchdowns, which was set by Wes Welker of Texas Tech last year. He had three last year against UCLA and while he is a great punt returner, UCLA wasn't really bright in that game.
Blake Ferguson came on strong last season after having a horrid sophomore year for the Sooners and actually became a valuable asset at the punter position. Trey DiCarlo is a Groza Award candidate and while he doesn't have a strong leg on kickoffs, the Sooners haven't been burnt on kick-off returns in the two years that he has been doing this and he is extremely accurate from 50 on in, but has improved some beyond the 50.The Game:
I question Bowling Green not being ranked when you have a team like Utah is ranked who are think are quite similar and for obvious reasons. Bowling Green returns something like eight players on both sides of the ball and I got this gut feeling that Omar Jacobs is going to prove to be even better than Josh Harris. If Bowling Green can get over the hump against Miami of Ohio, I see this team going 11-1 in the regular season including the MAC Title Game.. The road trip to Toledo will be challenging, but if Omar does indeed take care of business, they can take that game. How how did that one loss get in there? Oklahoma, of course!
An intriguing aspect of this game is potentially, this is the best Oklahoma football team of all-time versus the best Bowling Green football team of all-time(even if that means just comparing against the past few years). Either way, that's makes for a pretty darn good game to watch for both teams openers. Regardless of the outcome, the game should be very entertaining to watch as both teams are well-coached and have exciting offenses. Here's hoping for a great and injury free game!
