NORMAN — We were talking the other day about tough places to play in college football, and Bob Stoops suggested a fool-proof plan for discovery.
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"Check their record,” Stoops said.
And so I did.
Oklahoma has the best home record in the sport. By a long shot. The Sooners are 53-2 at Owen Field since Stoops' arrival for the 1999 season. No other school has fewer than six home losses over those nine years.
Sam Bradford apparently will quarterback the Sooners on Saturday against Oklahoma State. Who knows how he will respond with a brain bruise?
But here's a hypothetical question that might shed light on the 102nd Bedlam football game.
Which is the better team? OU with Bradford but playing this game in Stillwater, or OU without Bradford but playing at home?
Most combatants and coaches and fans would pick the former. They would figure go with your best players and take your best shot. They would be wrong.
The Sooners' best friend Saturday is Owen Field. OU has proven vulnerable in road games, in this year and others.
Meanwhile, they are monsters at home since Stoops debuted with a 49-0 victory over Indiana State. The opponents have gotten tougher but the results have been the same except twice, OSU's epic 16-13 upset in 2001 and TCU's 17-10 stunner in 2005.
Owen Field rarely is mentioned among college football's snake pits. Such status is reserved for stadiums like Virginia Tech's Lane and LSU's Tiger and Oregon's Autzen.
In the Big 12, Texas A&M'sKyle Field and Nebraska's Memorial Stadium generally are rated tops in atmosphere.
Maybe so. The Sooners' game-day experience seems to match most in revelry, but Owen Field's noise level doesn't equal some.
No matter. OU's home record under Stoops still is much better than any other school.
Why? I don't know, and neither does Stoops.
"I wish I knew, just like your questions a week ago,” Stoops said, referring to queries on why the Sooners struggle on the road. "I don't know if there's any definitive answer.”
OU offensive tackle Phil Loadholt suggested pride. "You're at home,” Loadholt said. "You gotta protect your home turf.”
A quick timeout: OU has an advantage in that it never hosts Texas, its toughest annual rival. That helps explain why Texas has the second-best home record over the last nine years, 47-6.
But that's a dilemma easily solved. Check out all the major powers and omit the results from their annual toughest test. And still OU's 53-2 is not even approached.
Ohio State is 51-8 at home throwing out Michigan; Michigan is 49-7 throwing out Ohio State. Miami is 44-8 at home throwing out Florida State; Florida State is 43-8 throwing out Miami.
Virginia Tech is 49-7 throwing out Miami. Auburn is 47-12 throwing out Alabama. LSU is 48-10 throwing out Arkansas. Southern Cal is 41-9 throwing out Notre Dame.
Meanwhile, two other schools that play an annual series off campus, Georgia and Florida, don't compare to OU's home success. Georgia is 48-9, Florida 46-10.
The Sooners are 53-2, playing Nebraska (when the Huskers were loaded) and Texas A&M (when the Aggies were solid) and Kansas State (when Bill Snyder rode high) and Alabama and Oregon and UCLA.
"Whether it's familiarity, guys more focused, I don't know,” Stoops said. "It's hard to put your finger on it.”
The reasons, yes. The results, no. The Stoops Sooners are college football's best home team.
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Tortilla Flats, TX – (UPI) With the Texas Longhorns’ loss to the Texas Aggies last night at Kyle Field, another outright Big 12 South title is there for the taking for the Oklahoma Sooners with a win at home today against the hot and cold Oklahoma State Cowboys.
“Cold,” will definitively describe the game time temperature in Norman, Oklahoma for today’s 2:30 PM kickoff on Fox Sports Southwest, with snow in the forecast, but “hot” is the proper word to describe the Cowboys momentum coming off a dominating 45-14 performance against the Baylor Bears last week in Waco, Texas.
With, arguably, Oklahoma’s worst performance of the season displayed on ABC's national broadcast last week in a 34-27 loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas, a loss that was much worse than the final score might indicate, momentum may play the biggest difference maker in the game today in Norman.
Oklahoma State has it, and the Sooners do not.
Sooner prognosticators rightfully point to history as the most important factor when discussing “Bedlam,” the name given to all Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State athletic contests. Consider the overall series record in football which favors Oklahoma 77-16-7. That equals 100 years of Sooners dominance in football, which coincides with the Oklahoma statehood Centennial celebrated last week. But Cowboys faithful will tell you that history means nothing to them.
“The first 100 years of Bedlam represents only the first half of this series,” says Phil Robins, a 1980 graduate of Oklahoma State.
“Until recently, with the embarrassing condition of our football stadium and facilities, we really couldn’t compete with Oklahoma for the type of recruits required to win championships.
"However, the generous gift from Mr. Pickens has changed all that, and us Cowboys faithful consider the game today as the simply the first game in the second half of this Bedlam series which will last another 100 years.
"History has nothing to do with it if you are a Cowboys fan.”
But Sooners fans counter one does not have to go back 100 years in history to discover another compelling historical record: 53-2. That is Oklahoma’s home field record during the Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops' era beginning with the 1999 season.
Bottom line is this - if history is the most compelling statistic, then the Cowboys have no chance to win today.
However, it was the 2001 version of the Oklahoma State Cowboys who rode across the South Canadian River into Norman with their saddles cinched tight but only three rounds in their gun, equal to their win total for that year.
They won a 16-13 shootout at the Gaylord Corral, finishing 4-7 in Les Miles’ first season, and ruining any BCS championship hope for the overconfident Sooners. This 2007 Cowboys team has six rounds in their chamber, and are much more talented than that 2001 squad. Is Oklahoma overconfident again?
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Close calls: Stoops' Sooners narrowest home victories 11/23/2007 OU has played few close games at Owen Field in Stoops Era OU is 53-2 at Owen Field under Bob Stoops, and both losses were to huge underdogs. Oklahoma State...
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.
“Cold,” will definitively describe the game time temperature in Norman, Oklahoma for today’s 2:30 PM kickoff on Fox Sports Southwest, with snow in the forecast, but “hot” is the proper word to describe the Cowboys momentum coming off a dominating 45-14 performance against the Baylor Bears last week in Waco, Texas.
With, arguably, Oklahoma’s worst performance of the season displayed on ABC's national broadcast last week in a 34-27 loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas, a loss that was much worse than the final score might indicate, momentum may play the biggest difference maker in the game today in Norman.
Oklahoma State has it, and the Sooners do not.
Sooner prognosticators rightfully point to history as the most important factor when discussing “Bedlam,” the name given to all Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State athletic contests. Consider the overall series record in football which favors Oklahoma 77-16-7. That equals 100 years of Sooners dominance in football, which coincides with the Oklahoma statehood Centennial celebrated last week. But Cowboys faithful will tell you that history means nothing to them.
“The first 100 years of Bedlam represents only the first half of this series,” says Phil Robins, a 1980 graduate of Oklahoma State.
“Until recently, with the embarrassing condition of our football stadium and facilities, we really couldn’t compete with Oklahoma for the type of recruits required to win championships.
"However, the generous gift from Mr. Pickens has changed all that, and us Cowboys faithful consider the game today as the simply the first game in the second half of this Bedlam series which will last another 100 years.
"History has nothing to do with it if you are a Cowboys fan.”
But Sooners fans counter one does not have to go back 100 years in history to discover another compelling historical record: 53-2. That is Oklahoma’s home field record during the Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops' era beginning with the 1999 season.
Bottom line is this - if history is the most compelling statistic, then the Cowboys have no chance to win today.
However, it was the 2001 version of the Oklahoma State Cowboys who rode across the South Canadian River into Norman with their saddles cinched tight but only three rounds in their gun, equal to their win total for that year.
They won a 16-13 shootout at the Gaylord Corral, finishing 4-7 in Les Miles’ first season, and ruining any BCS championship hope for the overconfident Sooners. This 2007 Cowboys team has six rounds in their chamber, and are much more talented than that 2001 squad. Is Oklahoma overconfident again?
GO COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!