Bob Stoops: The Best Teams Get Better as the Year Goes on
By Chip Rouse
Bob Stoops knows TCU head coach Gary Patterson always has his team prepared and ready to play and he expects nothing less on Saturday.
The Sooner head coach expects a tough game going down to play TCU at their place, and he recognizes his team is going to have to execute much better on both sides of the ball to come away with a win.
It might be easy to count Oklahoma out after losing two of its first three games, but Stoops reminded reporters at his weekly press conference on Monday that “a lot of championships have been won around here with a couple of losses.”
“We have to keep fighting and keep improving,” Stoops said. “The better teams improve through the year. We have to keep improving this week to next week.”
“A lot of champiosnhips have been won around here with a couple of losses,” –Bob Stoops, OU head coach
Stoops scoffed at the idea that the Sooners’ impressive average of nearly seven yards per offensive play was a meaningful stat. “What does that do for you? he snickered.
“Points and turnovers,” those are the only statistics that matter, in any game and every game, he said.
Continuing on the subject of turnovers, the winningest coach in OU football history said, “Turnovers is the No. 1 stat in football…both in winning and in losing.
“If you’re on the wrong end of it, it’s incredibly difficult to win, and when you’re on the positive end, it’s usually going to give you a boost to win.”
Asked what he thought his team has gained from the two early-season losses, Stoops shook his head and responded that it’s hard to say what you’ve learned when you know you have not played up to your capabilities. Expanding on that thought, he said:
"“What we’ve learned is, we’ve got to execute better, we’ve got to take care of the football in a much better fashion, and we’ve got to be able to get the football out and force turnovers in a better fashion.”"