Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Riley can look to Stoops in learning how to close

By Christopher Dukes

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: Head Coach Lincoln Riley of the Oklahoma Sooners calls a play from the sidelines in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: Head Coach Lincoln Riley of the Oklahoma Sooners calls a play from the sidelines in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Head coach Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after a touchdown against the Auburn Tigers during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 2, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Head coach Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after a touchdown against the Auburn Tigers during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 2, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

Stoops’ first year

Bob Stoops made noise immediately upon arrival. He guided Oklahoma to three-straight blowout wins over Indiana State, Baylor and Lousville and had his team on the verge of sending shockwaves through college football with a commanding 30-14 lead on the road in South Bend. The Irish would go on to score the next 20 points and hand Stoops his first loss as a head coach.

A week later the Sooners stormed out to a 17-0 lead over Texas and looked like they might blow the Longhorns out of the water (an eerily-similar storyline to last season), but the Longhorns would climb back into the game and take command in the fourth quarter to pick up the 38-28 win. Two weeks later Oklahoma had a first-half lead over Colorado in Boulder, but couldn’t finish in a .38-24 defeat. The Sooners led on the road  at Texas Tech 21-13 at halftime, but fell 38-28 in the end.

Oklahoma stormed back to erase a 21-3 halftime deficit and take a 25-24 lead over Ole Miss in the Independence Bowl, but allowed the Rebels to drive down in the game’s final minutes and escape with the win.

The differnece between that 7-4 1999 and the 12-0 season the following year was Stoops and his team’s ability to finish. Oklahoma built a big lead and just kept piling on Texas 63-14 in the Cotton Bowl. They overcame adversity on the road with a monster fourth quarter in a 41-31 win against Kansas State. After falling behind early, they took control late against Nebraska (the No. 1 team in the country at the time) to pick up a 31-14 win. They survived major scare on the road at Texas A&M to win 35-31.

To cap it off they played a near-perfect defensive game to shut out Florida State’s offense and pick up a National Championship with a 13-2 Orange Bowl win.

There were other factors in the Sooners’ improvement between 1999 and 2000 of course. The team got an influx of talent from Stoops’ first full recruiting class. Everyone was more familiar with the aggressive defense Mike Stoops and Brent Venables wanted to run and Josh Heupel turned in a season for the ages at quarterback, but make no mistake about it, that team benefited the most from the maturation of its head coach.

Stoops turned narrow losses and what-could-have been situations into emphatic wins in his second season. Whether it was No. 1 Nebraska or Baylor across from Oklahoma the Sooners showed no mercy and put their foot on the throat of their opponents.

It is something Riley should keep in mind as he goes into year two. He already has the advantage of a winning culture and players who are familiar with the system. He clearly had a better first year than Stoops record-wise.

Now it’s time to learn how to close.

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