New T-Shirt making its way to Norman, Oklahoma!!!!

[oldschoolguy]

"Hey Sooners: Was that Trojan ribbed for your pleasure?"

[RoyGBiv]

1. Seen It ...

It's being sold right next to the shirts that say:

"Hey, Texas! We still kicked your ass."

;-)

[oldschoolguy]

2. Nice comeback! By the way..

.....if you are a Sooner fan, what is the general feeling about what actually happened to the team (Serious question---no smack. I'm too old to get into the rivalry crap too much). Does Stoops have them wound too tight in these big games. I know its a hard line to find between being too tight and too loose.

And, by the way. The Sooners have what, 3 Big 12 titles in 5 years? That is something to be proud of. Thats a great program and a great staff.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Sooner Feeling

Glad you took that comment in the spirit intended. I think the rivalry can be a good thing as long as people don't take themselves too seriously.

Anyway, I'm probably not the best person to ask because I don't think like the Sooner fans I meet day in and day out. (I didn't hate John Blake, for example.) I naturally wanted OU to win and thought they had a shot at winning, but after watching them, I think they got pretty much what they deserved and say so. (It gets me yelled at quite a bit.) They played a crappy game, with very few, individual exceptions. I don't know why exactly, but there's an old theory around here about the Sooners -- not a unique one of course -- that the more games they win and the higher the expectations, the bigger their heads get. Eventually some other team realizes that huge head is a great target and shoots it off. Of course there's also a fine line between confidence and arrogance.

Stoops, in my estimation, has done a pretty good job of keeping that minimized in previous years, keeping the confidence level at just the right temper without letting it boil over into arrogance. I thought there was a bit too much swagger in the team this year, and while I can't prove it of course, I think it was a factor in what happened in the Orange Bowl.

Mark Bradley explifies what I think happened to the whole team. He simply didn't play. He got out there and acted as though no matter what he did, this mythical "Sooner Magic" would come through for him. In trying to be a star, he played the worst game of his career. Quite frankly, that's the worst game I've seen OU play since 2000, and I include the Colorado game last year in that. (White being injured contributed both to that and the loss to LSU.) He played "ole'" with the bull when he should have been blocking the steamroller, tried to make the spectacular play when the correct thing was to make the smart play, etc. Just bad all around.

Stoops played a part in this because the result wasn't entirely based on how badly OU played. The biggest part of it was how well USC played -- best game all season, in my opinion, and I watched all of them I could. Stoops didn't seem to do his homework properly, or if he did, he didn't prepare his team well enough for that homework to matter. Their only game plan seemed to be to stop Bush, which they were doing early, but after a little adversity caused by the previously mentioned bad playing and a few adjustments by USC, they had no plan. They also didn't seem to take into account the fact that USC would being keying on Peterson. Up the middle and a cloud of dust just doesn't work against USC, and neither does throw it up and pray.

I could ramble for days, I guess, so I'll shut up now.