Oklahoma Football Media Guide Tidbits

Just a little more than three weeks from now, the long awaited, much anticipated football season will begin.  That means that right now all the media guides and preseason prognosticators are out in force.  

Keeping in mind that most folks don’t necessarily get the media guide, what better forum than to break off some delicious tidbits of information to arm all Sooner fans with facts for the upcoming season.

There won’t really be much of a format to this, so just hang in there.  This article will be all over the place, but no doubt, most Sooner fans will find this very informative and entertaining.

Let’s start with OU's bowl situation. 

Oklahoma is the laughing stock of college football because of their recent bowl skid, right?  Now it’s already been pointed out that only four schools have more bowl wins, but did you know this: There are only 10 schools that have 40 or more bowl appearances, and Oklahoma is one of them.  Even better is that only USC has a better winning percentage in bowl games than OU of those schools. 

If OU hadn't had this recent skid, the rest of the country would never have caught up!

USC                 .667
OU                   .581
Georgia             .578
Alabama            .571
Nebraska            .522
Tennessee           .521
LSU                     .512
Texas                   .510   
Ohio State            .463

For the last few years, much has been made over the streak of 10-win seasons which Texas has been racking up.  Well by looking at the numbers, they need ‘em.  Most 10-win seasons:

Oklahoma      31
Alabama       30
Nebraska      26
Michigan      25
USC            24
Texas          23
Penn State   21
Tennessee    19
Ohio State    19

How about exposure.  Why do you think top recruits keep coming to Norman, Oklahoma to play football?  Ever notice that Oklahoma never plays a Thursday night ESPN game?  They don’t need to, exposure isn’t a problem for this program:

98 consecutive televised games
OU ranks 10th in merchandising sales
21 OU games have hosted ESPN’s College Gameday
OU football has been on the SI cover 31 times (10 since 2000)
 
A few more nuggets of information:

Oklahoma has scored in 146 consecutive games (1998)
57 offensive records have been set in the Stoops era
162 scoring plays of 25 yards or more under Stoops
At least one All-Big 12 offensive lineman in each of last 11 seasons
OU has forced a turnover in 129 of 146 games under Stoops (88 percent)
One interception in 95 of 126 games under Stoops (75 percent)
35 defensive TD’s.  That’s more than three per year under Stoops
24 weeks ranked No. 1 under Stoops
 
Finish this thing off with some great quotes:

“This is a (Sooner) team that’s going to contend for the National Championship as long as Bob Stoops wants to.”—John Saunders, ABC Sports

“Bob Stoops is one of the first guys in the coaching profession that has ability to mix family along with coaching.  About 15 years ago, you couldn’t do that.  People thought that was the wrong thing to do.  So I admire Coach Stoops in that every time I talk to him, something about family comes up.  You have kids to raise, a wife to take care of and a football team to coach.  In that order.”—Urban Meyer, Head Coach, University of Florida

“They do a tremendous job at Oklahoma.  Players who come out of that program are well-equipped from a mental and physical standpoint.  They do a really good job of coaching and Jerry Schmidt does a wonderful job developing players.”—Gil Brandt, NFL Network

“I’m glad Oklahoma isn’t on my schedule!  That’s the fourth Oklahoma player I’ve seen in the first 21 picks.  I’ve never seen anything like that before.”—Jon Gruden, NFL Analyst

“Their fans, they’ve got wild fans.  They do know how to get into a player’s head, especially if you haven’t played in a big game.  You drop a pass, they’re screaming.  You drop a punt in pregame, they’re screaming.  It’s kind of tough for a lot of young players.”—Perrish Cox, OSU player

“Almost to a man, the Sooners looked like they were cut out of marble.  There were no guts hanging over belts.  There were no skinny arms or pear-shaped frames.  They were soft as petrified trees.  These guys looked like well-conditioned athletes.”—Ted Miller, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

There you go Sooner fans, armed for battle this year on the message boards.  While the team takes care of business on the field this year, you, the fan, must represent in a respectful and dignified manner.  Know that when you engage in an online battle with another fan that, more than likely, their program is beneath yours. 

Take the high road. 

When in doubt, throw some numbers at them.  Can’t argue with those!

Of course if you want even more numbers you can always refer back to what was put out there a couple weeks ago. 

Boomer Sooner Baby!!

Check out www.soonersnews.com for more great Sooner articles.