Oklahoma football: Sooner legend Bob Stoops leads XFL’s Arlington Renegades to title game

Former Oklahoma football head football coach Bob Stoops continues to find success on the sidelines. Coach Stoops’ Arlington Renegades have advanced to their first XFL Championship game following a 26-11 victory over the Houston Roughnecks on Saturday in the XFL South division championship semi-final.

Bob Stoops took over the Renegades in the XFL’s comeback season as part of a new, multi-year venture by the XFL. During Stoops’ first season as the Renegade’s head coach, he led the team to an overall record of 5-6, which, surprisingly, has led to the team’s appearance in the league’s title game.

The Arlington Renegades were matched up against the Houston Roughnecks on Saturday. This team had defeated the Renegades twice earlier in the season by a combined score of 48 to 23. The Renegades were outgained offensively 583 yards to 370 yards. Bob Stoops’ renegades had struggled all season to find consistency and avoid costly penalties, especially in critical moments of games. “We keep beating ourselves,” Stoops said following the Renegades 25-9 regular-season finale loss to the same Roughnecks team just one week before the Southern semi rematch.

Stoops’ coaching staff includes some familiar Sooner faces. The Renegades two co-offensive coordinators are Chuck Long and Jonathan Hayes, both former Sooner coaches under Stoops during the 2000 National Championship season. Jay Hayes, the brother of co-OC Jonathan Hayes, is also the team’s defensive coordinator. The Stoops staff put in a solid work week in preparation for the Southern division championship game.

The Renegades came out firing and looked like a completely different team against the Roughnecks in the Southern championship game. The Renegades looked like a team that had been changed from the inside out. They looked like a Bob Stoops-coached team, dominating defensively and controlling the line of scrimmage on offense.

The XFL Championship game will be on May 13th at 7pm CT on ABC. The game will feature a matchup between Coach Stoops’ Arlington Renegades and the XFL’s best team, the Washington D.C. Defenders, at the San Antonio Alamodome.

The XFL’s 2023 season has been an attempt by the league to provide a quality form of non-NFL professional football. Situated in the traditional NFL offseason, the XFL product has been marketed as a “second-chance” league for the players. Rosters are stocked full of former NFL players and high-level college players who, for whatever reason, have come up short of playing out a sustained NFL career. Many of the league’s players are attempting to showcase their talents for NFL scouts on a weekly basis, which has made for an entertaining form of football. League spokesperson and co-owner Dewayne “The Rock” Johnson has done an impressive job marketing the XFL.

The league has seen its most success in its “different” form of football. Instead of a pro-wrestling-focused form of entertainment, as seen in the XFL’s original attempt back in 2001, the current XFL is actually surprisingly entertaining and traditional. There are some slightly different rules, including a different form of kickoffs, 1, 2, and 3-point extra point attempts, and a continual game clock. Overall, however, the football is excellent.

It isn’t the NFL, but it (the XFL) doesn’t claim to be. The league has made a concerted attempt to separate itself from the NFL by conceding that they are not as talented or prestigious as the NFL. The league does a great job of allowing its viewers to watch a quality product for ten regular season games, where the players are trying to “promote” themselves to the NFL. The second chance vibes the league markets itself by have made for an exciting season of entertaining football.

If you get a chance, give the XFL a chance. It is a good league, with good football players playing the game we all know and love. It’s football, and there’s no better way to pass the time in the offseason than watching live football.