The Oklahoma Sooners football program had won 87 straight games when it established a 17-point lead in any game, at any time. That streak ended Monday in the most dramatic College Football Playoff semifinal since its inception in 2014, and the first double-overtime game in Rose Bowl history.
To add insult to misery, this means the Georgia Bulldogs pulled off the biggest comeback in Rose Bowl history against Oklahoma, fam. The Sooners had gone 61-4 when scoring at least 24 points in the first half of games over the last decade prior to Monday.
To be sure, there were some high-points during the game—particularly when OU was up 31-17 at the half. (Never squib kick again, Lincoln.) Heisman winner Baker Mayfield broke Heisman winner Sam Bradford’s record (4,767) for total offense in season (4,938), and running back Rodney Anderson rushed for over 200 yards against a Bulldog defense that had only allowed two 100-yard rushers all season. But this game was lost because of conservative–even some times cute—play-calling in the second half, and an embarrassing showing by the Sooners defense, which leads me to this:
ONE COACH: FIRE Mike Stoops!
Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops insisted on using 3-man fronts in a scheme some people call a 3-4 defense; some call a 3-3-5 defense and what I call a TRAAAAASH! The Sooners gave up over 500 yards of offense, and over 300 yards rushing to a Georgia team that made no secret of its intention to run right into the teeth of Stoops’ front seven (and sometimes front eight).
Even when Stoops chose to load the box with eight men, though, UGA’s offensive line put on its big boy britches and cleared the way for running backs Sony Michel and Nick Chubb to run over the Sooner defensive line and linebackers like a lawnmower over artificial turf, fam. Micheland Chubb carried the ball a combined 25 times for 326 yards—13 yards per carry.
It was painful to watch.
UGA came out in information sets, saw Stoops put three men on the line of scrimmage and then checked to a run where Michel or Chubb careered into the second level and dragged defenders along like wedding car cans on Sooner Road.
Into the third quarter, the question became why did UGA throw the ball at all? Yes, Chubb broke about 9,326 tackles during the game, and the Sooners had three opportunities to wrap Chubb up and put him on the floor during his 50-yard score with 12 minutes and change left in the third.
But an OU defense getting skull-dragged isn’t new with Stoops. In fact, it’s six years old and coming up on first grade.
For the last half-dozen years, we’ve seen Stoops get outcoached. For the last three years, we’ve seen Mayfield become the defensive coordinator by outscoring other teams. And now, it seems, we’re stuck with Stoops for a seventh year after Lincoln Riley gave Stoops a vote of confidence Wednesday morning, according to OUDiehards.com
“Mike is a really good coach. I have a lot of confidence in him, as I do our whole staff,” Riley said. “To do what this staff and this program did this year with all the changes and all that, it’s unprecedented. People better remember that, too.”
No, Lincoln, it ain’t unprecedented, fam.
Getting mollywhopped in the biggest game of the season is no longer unprecedented at Oklahoma. We got beat in the national title game in January 2004. We got beat in the national title game in January 2005. We got beat in the national title game in January 2009. We’ve gotten beat in the semifinal twice in four years, and it ain’t because we can’t score. It’s because we have to outscore. Scoreboard says Georgia 54, Oklahoma 48, Lincoln. At the University of Oklahoma, 48 points ought to win you a football game—unless your defensive coordinator is Mike Stoops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=TW4As9kmlqQ