Oklahoma hungrier than ever for a title

Staying relevant nowadays is tougher than it appears. One great season out of ten does not make a coach’s career, because college football fans are never satisfied. They continually want more and more success. No one cared Oklahoma knocked off Florida State and Washington State in BCS bowl games, because they lost the next three. Also, unless you are Texas or Notre Dame, you have to please the media on a consistent basis or you won’t get any love.

No one is still praising Utah for beating Alabama in 2008. It was a great win for their program, but that was four years ago. People still use it as an example, but Kirk Herbstreit isn’t going to go on air and say the Utes are going to win it all, because they beat the most recent National Champion a few seasons back. You have to continually keep winning, or no one cares what you do.

Oklahoma on the outside looks like a solid program. They have maintained somewhat of a grip on the conference, but ended 2011 poorly with inexcusable losses to Baylor and Oklahoma State. The Sooners capped off the season with an Insight Bowl victory, which would be a huge accomplishment for a lot of teams. However, Stoops doesn’t see an Insight Bowl Champion trophy. He sees a new door stopper.

Oklahoma can win ten games each year throughout the rest of the decade, but unless Stoops is hoisting a crystal ball at the end of one or two of them, then no one in Norman is happy. It is great being a perennial power, but over the years, Sooner fans have become spoiled.

They were in love with the way Josh Heupel and the 2000 Oklahoma Sooners fought through adversity and won the Orange Bowl against Florida State. Norman was crazy for OU football when they obliterated everyone in the regular season during their 2003 and 2004 title campaigns. And don’t get Sooner fans riled up about Sam Bradford. The 2000’s were amazing time to be a part of this fan base.

In a ten year span, OU won a national championship, seven Big 12 titles, produced several All-Americans, boast two Heisman Trophy recipients, and beat Texas six out of ten times. Not to mention a 39-game home win streak, countless BCS Bowl trips, number one rankings, and three of the top five overall picks in the 2010 NFL Draft were Sooners.

It was remarkable time. However, this team was so far down in the cellar, it was miraculous the way Stoops took this team back to the top of the mountain. Although, he is not in great eyes of all of Sooner Nation.

Drunken idiots calling in to radio stations demanding Stoops’ head, but for what? For “not motivating his players well enough?” Can Sooner fans not admit Oklahoma State and Baylor were better than Oklahoma for one year? I know we’d never thought we even imagine that, but the Bears and Pokes were better. They outplayed an Oklahoma team that was dealing with injuries, but regardless, they lost to the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Robert Griffin III. And Oklahoma State was trying to sneak in to the National Championship.

Be happy with the fact this team isn’t in the cellar, and aren’t swaying recruits off of program tradition . Plenty of teams would kill to have what Oklahoma has. It’s just annoying to hear people complain and whine all the time. We had a bad end to a year we were supposed to win it all. Did you guys not learn anything from 2009?

The Sooners have a tough schedule, and before I see the product on the field, I can see OU very well dropping one or two games. Stoops has created a monster, and after a while, if it doesn’t get, it’s going to bite back.