January 15th is a pivotal date as the NCAA will vote on whether a conference can hold a playoff with ten teams. Right now the BIG1G is blocking and the ACC is rumored to joining them. If the vote does not go the Big12's way, then they will have to expand of die. Even the Big12 Commissioner has said they will have to likely expand or suffer a disadvantage. Frankly, the spread and air raid offenses are putting the Sooners at a disadvantage as there backers have to be able to cover more frequently or the defense must have only three players rush and the rest back in coverage. This is painful when you go up against a team like Clemson. What are your thoughts?
John E. Hoover: Bob Stoops has embraced change; can he embrace one more?
Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops celebrates with Zack Sanchez after the Sooners defeated Oklahoma State during Bedlam at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater. The win gave Oklahoma the Big 12 championship. IAN MAULE/Tulsa World
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Posted: Tuesday, January 5, 2016 12:15 am | Updated: 12:10 pm, Tue Jan 5, 2016.
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Columnist | 6 comments
You have to admire Bob Stoops’ willingness to embrace change.
At his age, in his profession, Stoops’ ability to adapt is impressive — rare, almost.
Stoops is a 55-year-old football coach who, other than needing to be pressed once in awhile to step outside his famous stubbornness, fully understands that as his sport evolves, so must he evolve.
The question now becomes: Can he and Oklahoma evolve one more time?
Stoops still has his own way of doing things. He always will. He’ll always be a steel-tough, father figure to his players, he’ll always be fiercely loyal to his staff and his close friends, he’ll always have an arms-length relationship with his fans, he’ll always have his dukes up with the media, and he’ll always play by the rules.
But Stoops badly wants to win another national championship.
How, then, does he make that happen?
Stoops fired two close friends last year. Made his own brother do something he didn’t want to do. Switched offenses, switched quarterbacks, switched back, then switched QBs again. Tried one defense, then tried another, then went back.
Wishy-washy or cutting edge? Decide for yourself.
But the lessons learned this season — from both the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl — is that the Big 12 Conference is currently not capable of winning a national title.
Not when there are dragons out there from the top of the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten Conference terrorizing the college football countryside.
The problem is depth and line play. Could Baylor or TCU or Oklahoma or Oklahoma State from either of the past two seasons win two playoff games against the likes of Florida State or Auburn in 2013 or Alabama or Ohio State or Florida State in 2014 or Clemson or Alabama in 2015?
Not a chance.
There’s a reason the Big 12 hasn’t won a national championship for more than a decade now.
The Big 12’s best team this year (hands down, undisputed, one true champion) was run out of Miami by the ACC champion by three touchdowns. The Big 12’s second-best team (by virtue of a tiebreaker, anyway) was run out of New Orleans by the SEC West runner-up by four touchdowns.
The Sooners remain the class of the Big 12, despite a few downturns in recent years. No single Big 12 program — not upstarts Baylor or TCU, not oncoming Oklahoma State, not stale stalwart Texas — has enduring swagger like the Sooners.
But currently, OU is caught between a rock and a hard place.
To keep up with the Baylors and TCUs of the world, Oklahoma must score, and score a lot. That means a commitment to the spread offense and an up-tempo philosophy.
But as has been proven over and over, that puts a significant strain on the defense. Most teams can’t overcome it.
Committing to that style of football to compete for conference titles means putting a greater emphasis on wide receivers and defensive backs in recruiting, and that means fewer scholarships for offensive linemen and defensive linemen.
Meanwhile, Alabama and Ohio State and Florida State and the like stockpile four- and five-star linemen, while everyone else runs the spread, and guess who wins national championships?
Here are the teams that have won national titles since OU in 2000: Miami, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Texas, Florida, LSU, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Alabama, Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and either Alabama or Clemson.
While a few of them ran the spread and a few of them ran up-tempo, they all have one thing in common: Every national champion from the last five decades of football ran an offense that utilized fullbacks, tight ends and big, nasty offensive linemen (in Auburn and Florida’s case, a transcendent quarterback was enough to overcome no fullback).
In the past five recruiting classes, Alabama has signed 33 four- and five-star offensive and defensive line prospects, according to Rivals.com. Ohio State has signed 28, and Florida State 25.
Oklahoma? Only 17, with 11 of those coming in 2011 and 2015. From 2012 to 2014, OU signed only six, while the three other programs stacked up 18, 17 and 14, respectively.
So what’s the solution?
OU sort of has to stick with the gimmicky offense to keep up with Baylor, TCU and the rest. And no need to deride winning nine Big 12 titles in 17 seasons. The spread works — but only to a degree.
Maybe a better solution would be to leave the Big 12 for the SEC or the Big Ten and get back to a more traditional offense that can dominate the line of scrimmage like Clemson and Alabama did last week.
The league’s grant-of-rights agreement creates a hurdle until 2025, but those leagues do offer significantly higher overall revenue that might help offset any financial hit to TV revenue.
Beyond that, given the current system, what those leagues really offer is a chance to build a national championship team.
Bob Stoops can embrace that kind of change.
John E. Hoover: Bob Stoops has embraced change; can he embrace one more?
Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops celebrates with Zack Sanchez after the Sooners defeated Oklahoma State during Bedlam at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater. The win gave Oklahoma the Big 12 championship. IAN MAULE/Tulsa World
Buy this photo
Posted: Tuesday, January 5, 2016 12:15 am | Updated: 12:10 pm, Tue Jan 5, 2016.
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Columnist | 6 comments
You have to admire Bob Stoops’ willingness to embrace change.
At his age, in his profession, Stoops’ ability to adapt is impressive — rare, almost.
Stoops is a 55-year-old football coach who, other than needing to be pressed once in awhile to step outside his famous stubbornness, fully understands that as his sport evolves, so must he evolve.
The question now becomes: Can he and Oklahoma evolve one more time?
Stoops still has his own way of doing things. He always will. He’ll always be a steel-tough, father figure to his players, he’ll always be fiercely loyal to his staff and his close friends, he’ll always have an arms-length relationship with his fans, he’ll always have his dukes up with the media, and he’ll always play by the rules.
But Stoops badly wants to win another national championship.
How, then, does he make that happen?
Stoops fired two close friends last year. Made his own brother do something he didn’t want to do. Switched offenses, switched quarterbacks, switched back, then switched QBs again. Tried one defense, then tried another, then went back.
Wishy-washy or cutting edge? Decide for yourself.
But the lessons learned this season — from both the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl — is that the Big 12 Conference is currently not capable of winning a national title.
Not when there are dragons out there from the top of the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten Conference terrorizing the college football countryside.
The problem is depth and line play. Could Baylor or TCU or Oklahoma or Oklahoma State from either of the past two seasons win two playoff games against the likes of Florida State or Auburn in 2013 or Alabama or Ohio State or Florida State in 2014 or Clemson or Alabama in 2015?
Not a chance.
There’s a reason the Big 12 hasn’t won a national championship for more than a decade now.
The Big 12’s best team this year (hands down, undisputed, one true champion) was run out of Miami by the ACC champion by three touchdowns. The Big 12’s second-best team (by virtue of a tiebreaker, anyway) was run out of New Orleans by the SEC West runner-up by four touchdowns.
The Sooners remain the class of the Big 12, despite a few downturns in recent years. No single Big 12 program — not upstarts Baylor or TCU, not oncoming Oklahoma State, not stale stalwart Texas — has enduring swagger like the Sooners.
But currently, OU is caught between a rock and a hard place.
To keep up with the Baylors and TCUs of the world, Oklahoma must score, and score a lot. That means a commitment to the spread offense and an up-tempo philosophy.
But as has been proven over and over, that puts a significant strain on the defense. Most teams can’t overcome it.
Committing to that style of football to compete for conference titles means putting a greater emphasis on wide receivers and defensive backs in recruiting, and that means fewer scholarships for offensive linemen and defensive linemen.
Meanwhile, Alabama and Ohio State and Florida State and the like stockpile four- and five-star linemen, while everyone else runs the spread, and guess who wins national championships?
Here are the teams that have won national titles since OU in 2000: Miami, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Texas, Florida, LSU, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Alabama, Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and either Alabama or Clemson.
While a few of them ran the spread and a few of them ran up-tempo, they all have one thing in common: Every national champion from the last five decades of football ran an offense that utilized fullbacks, tight ends and big, nasty offensive linemen (in Auburn and Florida’s case, a transcendent quarterback was enough to overcome no fullback).
In the past five recruiting classes, Alabama has signed 33 four- and five-star offensive and defensive line prospects, according to Rivals.com. Ohio State has signed 28, and Florida State 25.
Oklahoma? Only 17, with 11 of those coming in 2011 and 2015. From 2012 to 2014, OU signed only six, while the three other programs stacked up 18, 17 and 14, respectively.
So what’s the solution?
OU sort of has to stick with the gimmicky offense to keep up with Baylor, TCU and the rest. And no need to deride winning nine Big 12 titles in 17 seasons. The spread works — but only to a degree.
Maybe a better solution would be to leave the Big 12 for the SEC or the Big Ten and get back to a more traditional offense that can dominate the line of scrimmage like Clemson and Alabama did last week.
The league’s grant-of-rights agreement creates a hurdle until 2025, but those leagues do offer significantly higher overall revenue that might help offset any financial hit to TV revenue.
Beyond that, given the current system, what those leagues really offer is a chance to build a national championship team.
Bob Stoops can embrace that kind of change.
