Stormin in Norman
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Big Game Bob Stoops at His Best When People Count Him Out

By Chip Rouse

Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops reacts during the third quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl against the Clemson Tigers at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops reacts during the third quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl against the Clemson Tigers at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bob Stoops is his own man, and his Oklahoma teams have had their ups and downs with the Ohio native at the helm.

Very seldom in Stoops’ now 18 seasons in Norman, has Oklahoma not been favored when it took the field, and the Sooners have largely delivered when they were.

There have been a few surprises along the way, however, reminding us that being the best team or the team tapped by the Las Vegas oddsmakers as the favorite doesn’t automatically translate to victory.

It used to be that when Lee Corso of ESPN’s popular Saturday morning preview show “College GameDay” donned the Sooner covered-wagon headgear declaring that the Crimson and Cream would rule the day was just another way of ensuring just the opposite.

The Sooners find themselves in the extremely rare position of not being favored at home – in a venue in which OU has lost a mere eight time in 105 games with Stoops as head coach – on Saturday night, when they will host No. 4-ranked Ohio State.

Very few of the college football experts and computer models are giving Oklahoma much of a chance to knock off the Buckeyes. Had the Sooners avoided their season-opening loss to Houston, chances are the role of favorite would rest on the Sooner sidelines in their showdown with one of the Big Ten’s perennial powers

But like it or not, the Sooners are the “dogs” this week, and the only way to change it is to prove all the Oklahoma doubters wrong by winning the night on the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium turf and posting the higher number on the scoreboard.

It wouldn’t be the first time Bob Stoops and the Sooners have proven the oddsmakers and naysayers wrong. Seventeen seasons ago, No. 1 Nebraska rolled into Norman as the favorite over then No. 3 Oklahoma, but headed back north on the losing end of a 31-14 score.

That same season, the Sooners were ranked No. 1 in the country, yet no one honestly thought they would get by high-scoring Florida State and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Chris Wenke in the BCS National Championship. The Sooners shut down the prolific Florida State offense, holding the Seminoles to a meaningless safety in a 13-2 defensive masterpiece.

So, take heart, Sooner fans. There is a precedent for what the Sooners have done previously with their backs to the wall.

Boomer…Sooner!

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