OU Football: Sooners Had More to Lose Than Just the Game on Saturday

Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops (right) shakes hands with Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer after the game at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops (right) shakes hands with Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer after the game at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Biggest OU football game of the year, why not take advantage of that and make it a big recruiting weekend as well?

Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners players are introduced before the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners players are introduced before the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /

That’s exactly what Oklahoma did last Saturday as part of the backdrop for its much anticipated showdown with No. 4-ranked Ohio State.

The Sooners hosted official visits for a reported 19 top recruiting prospects and their families, according to several media sources. Also on hand for the weekend were a number of the Sooners current commitments, of which there, ironically, are 19 at present as part of Oklahoma’s 2017 class.

Brooke Pryor, who covers the Sooner sports beat for the Oklahoma City Oklahoman, reported that Saturday was “one of Oklahoma’s biggest recruiting days in recent memory.

“It’s a lot to manage, a lot to work through, but we have a big staff and everybody contributes and you do the best you can with it,” said Sooner head coach Bob Stoops during his weekly press conference on Monday.

It also constitutes a big gamble if your team doesn’t win or play well on that particular day. Some of the top prospects on hand were also being recruited heavily by Ohio State and other teams, including five-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson and five-star safety Jeffrey Okudah, both of whom are high on the Buckeyes’ prospect list.

Obviously, the outcome of the game didn’t turn out the way the Sooners wanted it, Pryor reported that the majority of the recruits who were on hand didn’t think any less of the Sooners or their weekend experience.

Despite the loss of the game, Oklahoma may actually have helped itself in the future, because a number of the visiting recruits saw it as an opportunity to come in and provide immediate help to the Sooner football program.

As difficult as it may have seemed following a disappointing loss, Stoops was right back at it on Sunday, hosting a number of the visiting recruits for brunch at his house.

“You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, give yourself a pep talk and go at it,” was how Stoops described having to brush aside the disappointment of Saturday night and get right back in the game bright and early the next day.

An excellent call by the Oklahoma head coach, knowing full well that the best way of narrowing the talent disparity that was obvious Saturday night between OU and Ohio State is to improve the overall quality of the Sooner recruiting classes.

Oklahoma’s 2017 recruiting class currently ranks fourth, according to Rivals.com. Ohio State is No. 1. Of the Sooners’ 19 overcall commitments in the 2017 class, 14 are rated as four-star prospects and five as two-stars. By contrast, Ohio State’s 2017 class so far includes six five-star recruits, 10 four-star and two three-star.

A year ago, Rivals ranked Oklahoma’s recruits as the 16th best class nationwide, with one five-star recruit (linebacker Caleb Kelly) and 10 four-star, and 7 three-star.