Final Two OU Football Games in 2014 Defined the Entire Season

The nightmarish 2014 season will go down in the memory log of OU football as perhaps the most disappointing season under head coach Bob Stoops. It was the reverse of the prior season, when the Sooners ended the season on a three-game winning streak against three of their most difficult opponents all season.

A number of college football’s best and brightest analysts will tell you that Oklahoma was reeling in the latter stages of the 2014 football season, much like a prize fighter whose ability to stay upright has been severely compromised by a battery of hard blows to the head and body.

The final blow, it turned out, was self-inflicted. When Stoops chose to accept a defensive penalty and re-kick a punt that resulted in a 92-yard return for a game- tying score with just 45 seconds remaining in the game, that was the knockout punch that sent the Sooners to the mat for the final count and a loss from which they would not recover…and are still feeling the effects nine months later.

Dec 29, 2014; Orlando, FL, USA; Clemson Tigers wide receiver Mike Williams (7) is tackled by Oklahoma Sooners cornerback Zack Sanchez (15) as the Clemson Tigers beat the Oklahoma Sooners 40-6 in the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl at Florida Citrus Bowl. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma failed to reach double-digit victories for just the fourth time in Stoops’ 16 seasons as the Sooners’ head coach. That was a story in and of itself, but the bigger story that the OU head coach has had to address the entire offseason has been why he did what he did in the ill-fated call against Bedlam rival Oklahoma State and who were the imposters who showed up in OU uniforms in the blowout loss to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl last season?

The latest such questioning came this week from ESPN commentator Skip Bayless, who also happens to be an OU fan and an Oklahoma City native now residing in Texas. Bayless was one of the ESPN interviewers as Big 12 coaches took their turn appearing on the cable sports network’s annual “Car Wash” segment previewing the coming season with the coaches in the major college football power conferences.

Bayless referred to the coaching decision to unnecessarily punt a second time to Oklahoma State’s Tyreek Hill, one of the league’s most dangerous punt-return specialists, a “disastrous calamity.”

Stoops, who was probably expecting Bayless’ query, responded: “I don’t think we ever got over that (losing a two touchdown lead and falling in overtime to Oklahoma State).

“I fault myself.” Stoops said. In hindsight, it’s a no brainer. “You don’t kick it again, and put it on the 15,” he conceded.

“We never really moved on, maybe as coaches and players,” the Sooner head coach said in talking about OU’s pitiful performance in the 40-6 blowout to Clemson. “It’s my job to get our players in that position. I didn’t do a good enough job getting them prepared (to compete against Clemson).”