Missing Virtues: How Bob Stoops and Oklahoma Can Mend a Broken Tradition

As a Sooner fan, stringently devoted to the team but no less disappointed with the finishes of the last several years, like many I have hypothesized when the fall from prominence took place.

This is my conclusion: December 6, 2003, on a cold night in Kansas City, is when OU lost its fervor to be dominant.

To recap the 2003 campaign: Oklahoma was ranked number one in the nation throughout the year and entered this Big 12 Championship game as the nation’s only unbeaten team.  This was a year that saw OU outscore opponents overwhelmingly (including the 77-0 dismantling of Texas A&M).

No one in the country could deny OU of its above par offense and killer defense, one that exposed even some of the most skilled teams of the Big 12 as mediocre.

Despite the hype of the invincible Sooners as portrayed by the media (I recall one analyst calling the team the best college football team of all time), and most likely the over-confidence of the team itself, the Wildcats of Kansas State walked onto the field that night unimpressed.

After four quarters of sheer anxiety for a Sooner fan, the final score read Kansas State 35, OU 7.  The reality hit home in unbelievable fashion: Undefeated, number one, Big 12-dominating Oklahoma fell to 10-3 Kansas State.

From this night on, OU just has not been the same.

Putting this theory in perspective, let us recall OU football during the Bob Stoops era (1999-present) before and after this night.

Including all the wins from the undefeated 2003 regular season, and excluding the loss to Kansas State, Oklahoma was 55-9 overall in Stoops' first five seasons, including a regular season 33-7 record in the Big 12, and a 3-1 bowl record (2-0 in the BCS).

Now including the loss to Kansas State, since that night Oklahoma is 42-13 overall in 4 seasons, is 27-5 in the Big 12, and is 1-5 in bowls (0-4 in the BCS).  Among these losses are a season-opening fall to TCU and a Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State, two teams that OU was expected to roll over (and in previous years would have).

The most dramatic change since this night, including the Wildcat loss, was our shift of being the Stoops team that blows out to being the team that gets blown out: to Kansas State, 35-7 (2003); to USC, 55-19 (2004); to UCLA, 41-24 (2005); to Texas, 45-12 (2005); and to West Virginia, 48-28 (2007).

To recap, since that night, OU’s losses have increased, the Sooners have lost back-to-back national championship games, and they have lost four straight BCS bowls—all started by Kansas State debunking the myth of OU’s invincibility.

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