Oklahoma's Mike Stoops Won't Resurrect Sooner Defense

The Oklahoma Sooners may win a national championship this year, but don't expect Mike Stoops to be the reason why. 

Yes, the prodigal son has returned, but hold the nostalgia. 

When Stoops took Arizona's head coaching job in 2003, he left Norman with back-to-back-to-back-to-back top-10 defenses on his resume. 

He returns with a career .451 winning percentage as a head coach capped off by a mid-season firing, for which he has received a significant amount of national criticism.

But the real reason Sooner Nation needs to lower expectations may be even tougher to swallow. 

This is not the same game it was in 2003, and it's definitely not the same Big 12. Because in today's Big 12, there is no defense. 

In 2000, Bedlam was a 12-7 OU victory. The Sooners would later roll on to a 13-2 win over Florida State in the Orange Bowl for the national championship.

Those days are long gone. 

Last season, the Big 12 allowed 107 more touchdowns than the SEC. Only the Conference USA, Mid-American and Pac-12 conferences gave up more.

The conference has made a conscious decision to spread things out and score points. There's just no room for anything else. 

So stop kidding yourselves. If the Sooners find themselves hoisting the hardware at season's end, it will be on Landry Jones' shoulders.