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Sooners Continue Bad Trend

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By JEFF LATZKE

The Associated Press

Published: January 10, 2009

MIAMI - With "Big Game Bob" at the helm, Oklahoma finished another season with a big, lame flop.

The Sooners' BCS struggles are starting to get out of hand with five straight defeats in college football's prime postseason games, following a 24-14 loss to top-ranked Florida in the national championship game.

The good news is that Bob Stoops keeps leading the Sooners to meaningful bowl games practically every season. The bad news is that their recent performances could make it more difficult in the future.

Oklahoma is developing a reputation as a team that can't cut it in the postseason, and that's a bad rap when the system that decides who's playing in the big money games is mostly subjective.

After watching the Sooners offense put up numbers unseen in more than 90 years, excited pollsters gave Oklahoma the bump it needed to edge out archrival Texas for a spot in the Big 12 championship and, more importantly, in Thursday night's title tilt.

But after the most lackluster outing of the season by Heisman winner Sam Bradford and Co., will it be so easy to convince the voters the next time there's a close call?

Oklahoma has been on the right side of the BCS breaks time and time again since the system was created.

•The computers let the Sooners into the Sugar Bowl despite an ugly loss in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game, and Jason White responded with the worst performance of his Heisman-winning season.

•A year later, Oklahoma was placed ahead of an undefeated Auburn team for a shot at top-ranked Southern Cal, and got routed 55-19.

•There were a whole bundle of one-loss teams that had a case to play for the national title this season, including a Longhorns squad that had a head-to-head win against the Sooners.

Although the latest loss appeared to hit Stoops hard, his spin on the BCS slump was positive.

"Everyone will have their opinions on it. That's fine. In the end, I'll be glad to try it again next year," Stoops said. "If that's the biggest burden I have to bear in my life, I'll be a pretty lucky guy."

A big factor in Oklahoma's chances of playing in another BCS bowl next season will be determined in the next week, as Bradford will either enter the NFL draft early or choose to return for his junior season.

But relatively few of his teammates on the offense that set a modern scoring record will be back: Four of his offensive linemen and three of his receivers are seniors.

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