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Sooner or later, great teams rise again

Oklahoma, behind second-year coach Bob Stoops, has returned as one of the country's elite programs.

By BRANT JAMES

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 21, 2000

The Oklahoma Sooners have gone back to the future.

Back among the powerhouses of the Big 12 Conference, back in the Top 10. That's where the retro phase ends. Gone is the wishbone offense that helped the Sooners to a 157-29-4 record during Barry Switzer's 16-year coaching career in Norman.

Gone, too, is some of the lack of discipline that defined his era and those of the coaches that followed.

Sooner football, 2000 style, is strict, regimented and wide-open offensively, and fans and players were easily converted once the results improved. A No. 3 ranking in the latest Associated Press poll will do that every time.

"I guess it took them a couple of years to get used to the balls flying around after all those years of the wishbone," said senior quarterback Josh Heupel, who has passed for 1,894 yards and 11 touchdowns. "But I think they're pretty happy with how it's working out."

Indeed. With a nationally televised 41-31 upset of then-No. 2 Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan., Saturday, the Sooners entered a bye week at 6-0 with 13 days to prepare to host top-ranked Nebraska on Oct. 28. Oklahoma's date with the Cornhuskers is the biggest since Switzer stared across the field at Tom Osborne in the 1980s.

"It's an exciting time to be here," said Heupel, whose outdueling of K-State's Jonathan Beasley has sparked some Heisman Trophy clamor. "This program is supposed to be at the championship level, and we think we're working hard and getting pretty close to that."

It has taken the Sooners almost a decade to fulfill their half of one of the best rivalries in football, and second-year coach Bob Stoops is largely responsible.

Since Switzer left in 1988, the Sooners endured years of mediocrity under the likes of Gary Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake before Stoops left Florida to take over for the 1999 season.

Stoops had to sew together the fragments and eliminate the bad habits from what was, by all accounts, an undisciplined program under Blake.

Marv Johnson, an assistant under the past four coaches, said he has seen an improvement.

"He came in here and never once said, "We're not very talented, it's going to take us four or five years,' " he said to the Associated Press. "I think he truly believes that if you play smart and you play well and believe you can and you play together, upsets can happen."

Stoops reignited interest in the program with a passing scheme and found the perfect quarterback in Heupel, a transfer from Snow Junior College in Utah. Oklahoma went 7-4 last season, earning its first bowl game, the Independence, in five seasons.

Heupel will be gone after this season, but Oklahoma will retain most of its depth, meaning the resurgence is unlikely to fade. Just 10 seniors are among the top 44 players on the depth chart, and 21 underclassmen played in a 63-14 rout Oct. 7 over then-No. 11 Texas.

"I like to think we've instilled toughness and work ethic and a positive way of approaching every day," Stoops said. "I try and do my best, and the coaches do, to operate positively and confidently in everything we do. Positive and confident are two words you hear a lot around here, and I think it helps."

Nebraska has another week to wait for the Sooners and seemingly has been waiting forever for Oklahoma to return as a worthy adversary.

While Oklahoma languished, Nebraska maintained its level of success almost seamlessly during the transition from Osborne to Frank Solich. The Cornhuskers have stayed true to their wishbone roots, behind quarterback Eric Crouch.

Heupel, meanwhile, is smashing passing records at Oklahoma, sitting either first or second in every major category. Against a fierce Kansas State rush Saturday he completed 29 of 37 passes for 374 yards.

Heupel joked that with two weeks to prepare for the Cornhuskers, maybe the Sooners would complete the retro theme by reinventing the offense.

"I think we'll come out in the wishbone and run the rock on 'em," he said. "Yeah, right. We'll come out passing. This is our chance to prove ourselves as a great team. This is our chance to prove we're back."

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Gary Shelton