FEDEX ORANGE BOWL: OKLAHOMA v FLORIDA STATE

December 29, 2000

Bob Stoops

COACH STOOPS: Okay. Representing our team, excited to be down here in Miami. Could not be more pleased with the Orange Bowl Committee and their reception, the way they have taken care of our players, coaches. It has been outstanding. Fontainebleau and Barry University, allowing us to use their facilities. Everything has been first class and done in an excellent way. Our team, I feel great about, the way we are preparing. We have had some excellent practices yesterday with scrimmage and were at each other for a good part of practice, and really was pleased at the effort and the manner in which our players performed. And wanted to do that to -- you know, it's been a little while since we've played, just to get some live action, to feel the speed of things once again. Didn't get anybody hurt through it all, so it really worked out in a good way. Our players really are excited and as good the Bowl game, and being the National Championship game and all of that, the hype and the media that surrounds it, as well as all of the festivities, but realize that winning the football game is what is most important and the way they perform in the football game is what is most important. And I really like the way they have concentrated in meetings and have come to practice ready to play. So I feel good that the preparation is what is necessary and what you need to win. Outside of that, just extremely proud of them, just for the way in which they have played the entire year to get to this position. I think you'd have to agree that, you know, the SEC conference, along with the Big 12, playing the Championship Game at the end of the year, having played a team for the second time, to defeat them once again, is difficult to do. So, there is nobody else when you look at the Big 10, the ACC, the Big East, the Pac 10, none of those other conferences have to do that. So our road to this game is a little bit tougher than most. So, really proud of our players and the way they have handled it throughout the year. In our league, we played three other top teams in the League in consecutive weeks and handled them all, and that's not easy to do, and have to beat one of them again in the Championship Game. So very proud of our players for the strength and toughness that they showed throughout the year, the manner in which they have played, as well as our assistant coaches, the way they have prepared to put us in this position and we're ready to compete for the National Championship.

COACH STOOPS: It does benefit you in many ways. Where I get the most benefit is probably playing them in the '96 National Championship Game. Having a month to prepare for them, playing them in this game with the magnitude of the game. So I feel very at home in the environment, I believe, and I feel, you know, fortunate to have been through that experience, because it does give me an idea how to go about our practices, how to prepare, how to handle the media and the attention given to the game, but still remain focused on what you need to do to win the football game. On top of that, competing with them three other games besides the National Championship game, you have a feel for the way their team plays, their philosophies, the speed in which they play at, and, you know, the manner in which they play, at a great level, in a great way. But it also gives you an idea of what they like to do and what they don't and how to play, and hopefully, we'll be able to do that and have some success.

COACH STOOPS: I've said that's been quoted enough. Those odds-makers were determining our fate, we would be 7-4, 8-3 right now and we're not. We went through a stretch there where I believe Texas was a double-digit favorite over us and we beat them 63-14, and go on from there to play an excellent Kansas State team. When you look at Kansas State they 10-1 not playing us, and they are 10-3 and two of those loses are to us. And we played them and Nebraska, 1 and 2 teams back-to-back after playing the No. 10 ranked Texas team all in consecutive weeks. So that's a difficult road. Two of those three games were away from home, and our players never paid attention to who was favored or not. We were just going to do whatever was necessary for us to do to win the football game, and we went after that. And then having to beat Kansas State again; again, nobody believed we would be able to do it again; again, away from home and we go and do it again. So I think it says a lot about the toughness and strength and character of our team.

COACH STOOPS: What's to use?

COACH STOOPS: Come on. Why? We're competing for the National Championship. What I'll use with our team is we were underdogs a good part of the year in all of those games when everybody told us we could not win. And not only did we win, we won in pretty good fashion in all of those games.

COACH STOOPS: No. We've stuck with our same routine really with everything we do, the way we handle the media, the way we practice, the time and length in which we practice. So for the most part, everything has been business as usual, and again, feel good about the preparation, and I like the way our players are working.

COACH STOOPS: I recognize it. Everyone does. An excellent Florida State football team. It is a great accomplishment for anyone to be in three straight National Championships, and certainly, everyone recognized what a solid program and an excellent program they have. And I think that is part of the reason why everyone -- they are used to seeing Florida State here and not used to seeing Oklahoma here as of late. But other things that help us in this game, No. 1, our players have already had the entire season on the line, just three weeks ago. The Big 12 Championship Game was for everything. You know, we had an 11-0 season on the line. If we lose that game, we're out so. They have already had it all on the line, and they handled that in great way and won the Big 12 Championship; again, having to beat an excellent football team for the second time. So, you know we are prepared to compete for it. We are also a university -- our players understand we already have six National Championships. So this haven't a school that is not used to winning National Championships. And again, remember, we've been in 16 orange bowls and now our 17th, by far and away more than any other university. So our players recognize all of that.

COACH STOOPS: I think you're almost splitting hairs because all of those teams are fast, and Florida State is certainly fast, as well. Until you are on the field, you can't determine that, but, watching, we understand, they are a very fast football team. We do believe that the teams we played in the Big 12, when you look at Texas, Nebraska, Kansas State, they are fast, as well. What I like is no one has ever described us as slow. I like our team speed. I believe we'll match up well that way, and still be able to compete and make the plays once you're out there, though.

COACH STOOPS: Against Nebraska, you know, he sees an all-out blitz coming at him he knows there's a guy that is unblocked and then you see where he's back-pedaling, and throws for a touchdown, 40-yard touchdown pass. You know Curtis Fagan is not open when he throws the football; he knows he is going to get hit and he buys Curtis a little bit more time before he puts the ball in the air, exceptional play. The one they show against Texas A&M scrambling, rolling to his left, motioning Curtis Fagan to go back the other way; sees a hole over there and ends up throwing the ball to Curtis Fagan in the end zone. So there's a number of ways where he just has a knack for making plays.

COACH STOOPS: Sure. You know, people have made mention, well, he throws off his back foot sometimes; he does this sometimes. Sometimes he sees the rush coming, he's got to back up and he still finds a way to put the ball up in the air with four receivers out of his break, and just has a great knack for anticipating where receivers are going to be or where the hole is going to be; that he's going to have an opportunity to catch the ball. It happens too much for him to be lucky.

COACH STOOPS: Gained a lot. You see those games and everyone, again, playing Texas, it's going to be our big test and all of the sudden, we beat them 63-14 without much of a test. So now it is going to be Kansas State at Kansas State; has not lost a game in 22 games, and all of the sudden we beat them. And everyone said, "Well, wait a second. Now Nebraska will be the real test." And then we come out and, you know, No. 1 team in the country, all of the national media watching and to get behind 14-0 right off the bat, again, tests your players character and strength and toughness, and everybody held it together. We did -- I think, the two weeks off for that game -- sort of -- we didn't come out with the speed that Nebraska had come out with in the first series. Took us a little while to adjust. Once our players adjusted, we really got into the flow of the game in a great way from then on. We outscored them 31-0 from then on, and played as good a defense as I've ever seen us play or anyone play. And offensively, same thing. Came up with some great play, some big plays, to win the game.

COACH STOOPS: It helps us, yes, because it is another big game. Again, big names are not unusual to our team. We have had a lot of national attention throughout the season, some very big games, and I like the fact that we just got done competing in the Big 12 Championship Game just a few weeks ago; and again, in front of the national media, in front of an entire country and had our whole year on the line and our players went out there and won it.

COACH STOOPS: It's fine.

COACH STOOPS: Probably the same as everybody else's. Your backup is not as good as your starter, but I would like to think we would still perform well, and Nate Hybel has done an excellent job through the year, has continually improved as he has gone through the year, so. But we don't plan on that happening.

COACH STOOPS: Oh, I'm not much on comparing anybody to anyone. You know everybody is a little bit different, you know, so it is hard to say. I know Texas had excellent receivers, quarterbacks -- you know, defensively had good team speed. Nebraska, same thing. Nebraska, a high-pressure team, defensively. Kansas State has a couple of excellent receivers. Lindsay Morgan is a first-team all American on most polls, and, so, I don't know. There's other teams that, you know, may have a few guys here or there to prepare, but it's hard to compare programs.

COACH STOOPS: I probably feel the best outside of -- for those fans and administration people who have had so much success for so many years, and to have it taken away for a number of years was humbling to them. But I feel a greater sense now of appreciation for what is happening right now, not taking for Granted and really enjoying it, knowing that it is special, and, you know, that it is very fragile, to win like we have this year; it is not easy to do. But we had done it here at OU for so many years under Coach Switzer, Coach Wilkinson, great coaches that have been here before me, you know, and to have it taken away for a period of time I think there is a greater appreciation for it now.

COACH STOOPS: Well, there's a number of factors. I felt first and foremost, we had a perception -- perception even among our team players, a perception among ourselves, the perception of the community and administration have on us, what that perception was and what their expectations were. They were not real high. The perception wasn't great. That's a positive way of saying it wasn't good, or it was bad. So, anyway, first and foremost, was try to change those perceptions and increase the expectations and what they expected of themselves. And then to develop, you know, work habits and discipline to earn the right to expect a lot, to earn the right to have the chance to expect to win the Championship. And we did that with our players by not talking initially -- I never spoke to them about "we're going to come out and win this many games right now." We just spoke -- we talked about first, let's figure out how to work out here. Let's learn how to finish without having the team over there in the trash can. Let's get ourselves in a position to look like a college athlete and act like one is supposed to, and from there we can talk about how to perform on the field. And after that summer, you've got to earn the right to expect to win come, you know, come August or come September when you start playing. And we just took it in stages that way, to, you know -- before we ever talked about winning the game. We didn't talk about winning the game until about a week before our first game. We wanted to evaluate, have we put forth the effort and what is necessary to earn the right to talk about winning a championship.

COACH STOOPS: An excellent program. Again, being in the third National Championship in a row speaks for itself. Being at Florida, competing against them I believe is an advantage in that you have an idea of their philosophies, team speed, what they like to do, what they don't like to see. And they have a feel for that without -- you know, and whether that will matter or not, you still have to perform. But I think it beats coming in blind, having never competed with them. So in those ways, I think it gives you a familiarity. Again, whether you can take advantage of that or not, the players still have to do that on the field. But an excellent program. I have great respect for Coach Bowden and all of the coaching staff he's had there for a long time. They are proven winners for a great number of years.

COACH STOOPS: I hope so. I hope they get their opportunity. It was hard, I guess, putting them together. It was harder than I anticipated, figuring out who -- the chemistry of the staff and who fits in where and coaching what positions. If I had done one thing correct in being the head coach, it has been that, in putting together a great assistant coaching staff that really cares. Sure, we don't have -- most of them don't have the number of years that other staffs do, but I never looked at that as criteria. I didn't intentionally try and get a young staff. I wanted guy that is fit our philosophies that we're trying to install on offense, defense, and personalities that blended with mine and coached the way -- the way I like coaches to coach, enthusiasm and high energy and a positive way of communicating, a confident way of communicating, and how that came together. Several of them I coached with, which everyone realizes, Jackie Shipp, Cale Gundy, great Oklahoma players. Again, other guys I coached with, my brother, Mike, played with, as well as coached with at Iowa and Kansas State and Brent Venables is a player under us and came up as a GA through us and understands our system. Mark Mangino worked with for a number of years at Kansas State, our offensive coordinator. And Jonathan Hayes I played with at Iowa, knew his work ethic, knew his enthusiasm and energy. I know he had not been a coach. I know if you played in the NFL for 12 years that qualifies you to know something about football. So he was excellent. And then we lose Mike Leach a year ago. It's funny, the story about that, I walk into the team meeting and I realize he is going to take the Texas Tech job. And everybody is depressed; you could hear a pin drop in the room, and I come bopping in for our first Bowl practice, fired up, excited to go for our first practice. And I just look at the player and I can tell they are all -- they are all scared. And I figured, I said: "You guys haven't figured this out, have you? You used to lose coaches around here left and right, because you played so poorly you got them all fired. Now, you played so well, you got one of them a head coaching job for one year." And they busted up laughing and realized, hey, this is a good thing. And I'm all for it, and I'll help any of our coaches get head coaching jobs, and that's why I think it is pretty obvious I do not try and hide them or keep them from the media. I want to put them out there, because we have several -- in fact, all of our coaches have what is necessary to be head coaches. They are great people. They are great leaders and good role models and in time, I think all of them will have their opportunities, and I hope it happens quickly for them.

COACH STOOPS: I don't know, I see them every day. They seem the same as they have all year. It is hard for me to describe. They are going about their business as usual. I think they feel good. They are enjoying the situation they are in, but at the right level. There is nobody giddy about it, nobody. Just happy to be here. Our players are handling it in a way that they are going to enjoy it to a point, but they are going to work and prepare to win the football game. I really like the demeanor right now, the way they are going about it and they recognize that winning this game is what matters. But we ever not been uptight all year. We went into the Big 12 Championship Game, there was nobody fearing having to play a team the second time. Nobody fearing that we have 11 games on the line. We were going to have to go after it, and that's how we are going to play and that's what we did in the Big 12 Championship Game. And it works and I'm sure we'll do it again.

COACH STOOPS: I think there's no question he'll go down as one of the great all-time Sooner players. And that's saying a lot. There's a great number of them. How do you rank them all? I think you could bunch about 50 of them together and that's how much there are, the great ones. And Josh is in there among the best of them, and I think people recognize that; that he is a major reason why in a program that may have been faltering a little bit to now be 12-0 competing for a National Championship once again, he's a big reason why. And certainly everyone throughout the State of Oklahoma knows that.

COACH STOOPS: I don't know if anybody could have foreseen the level he has played at. We figured it would be a winning level; otherwise, we would not have gone after him, and he was the only quarterback we went after that year. But we expected Josh would be very good, and he has been that, and, of course, a whole lot more.

COACH STOOPS: We didn't speak to them in light of that. We know how our players are. We speak to them not just today or yesterday. We speak often about how to conduct yourself in public, around people. And, you know, I'm sure Miami and Florida do as well. In fact, I know they do. And I'm sure Florida State does. So we don't have to do anything in particular. Our players will handle and conduct themselves as gentlemen, as they always do, and are respectful of women, children, as well as other players, and other -- you know, they just respect other people. And that would surprise me. I'm sure it surprised those two programs, as well, that that happened.

COACH STOOPS: We've looked at a few old TV shows, got some of Coach Switzer's TV shows, '80, '81 Orange Bowls seeing JC Watts making some big plays, winning the MVP award, winning the Orange Bowl. So they have already seen a little bit of that.

COACH STOOPS: Differently, as far as ...

COACH STOOPS: Well, it's hard for me to say until we are out on the field with them. We have been out on the field with those other programs. We have seen them up close for a couple of years. Until we are out there with Florida State, that's hard to say. Scheme-wise, offensively, they don't try to be fancy whatsoever. They are going get you in the eye and they are either going to run or if you spread out on defense, they are going to run the football. If you try and squeeze in and take away -- they are going to throw, try to get the ball to their athletes outside. Defensively, I know their front four, I think is what you have to handle first, and protect the quarterback and give him time to operate and work from there. So to be specific, it's hard to be specific. It's hard to do at this point.

COACH STOOPS: Oh, I've said a number of times, he's a carbon copy of his father, which I have great respect for. Steve comes to work every day positive, upbeat excited to be there. He has great ideas on offense. He has -- he has a great knack for communicating with his players and teaching fundamentals and techniques. I believe he's learned from one of the best and how to do that, how to communicate. He's been -- again, another guy that maybe doesn't have a long resume, but an excellent football coach, and the players really relate and play for him in a great way.

COACH STOOPS: Probably, in that you've got an excellent Heisman Trophy quarterback back there, excellent player, strong arm, very accurate. And Travis Minor is an excellent running back, capable of big plays, and you have great receivers on the perimeters. That's why they know what they are doing offensively and they don't need to be extremely fancy. You have to try and take away one or the other and play the game with them. Just try and get the ball in those players' hands to get big plays; so they are balanced when you look at the quality of running attack and running game and the quality of the passing game.

COACH STOOPS: Well, I'm not so sure we have 27. Probably be safe to say we don't. But, we've got a number that will ends up playing in the NFL. How many, I couldn't say. We only have 18 seniors. So hopefully they are not counting on our juniors already. I don't know how many there are, but we'll have a number of guys that will be looked at.

COACH STOOPS: Sure. They weren't far off of that in '98. It doesn't surprise me at all that they are here once again. It's an excellent class, and a strong class. I should say of our 18 seniors, only 10 of them are -- we are a young football team, but that's good. A lot of teams, people don't talk about that with a team that's done so well.

COACH STOOPS: I didn't consult specifically about Oklahoma with Coach Spurrier -- I did with Oklahoma and many other jobs. I consulted with him on a lot of issues and a lot of factors. So we talk a lot. But Coach isn't much on giving a whole lot of advice. He figures a wise man doesn't need it and a fool doesn't need it; so why give it. But I do value his opinion, and a lot of times I have to pry it out of him, and eventually he may give it to me, but I do -- visit quite often on a lot of issues. Outside of that, I did believe we could do this this quick, yes. And I say that in that we never set a specific time line on when we would win a championship, when we need to be 12-0 or 13-0, when we need to be even 8-2, for that matter. We just went about our business to improve. Whatever we were doing, you know each week, each month. And that included like I said, just our winter conditioning. Let's not worry about whether we can win one game or 11. Let's worry about getting through winter conditioning to get as strong and as fast as we can so. When we check ourselves a month from now, everybody is going to be running more, everybody is going to be stronger, a little leaner and get in a position to talk about winning. And we've been fortunate in that we've had great leadership. Been fortunate to have great assistant coaches, and all of it has come together in a quick way.

COACH STOOPS: I think they will. There's no question. And not only the running game. I believe the defense will be a major factor in this game. Who can play the best defense will be a major factor, as well. But the running game, you know, I know for us it has been a major factor throughout the season, in every game, and I'm sure it will be a factor in this game, as well.

COACH STOOPS: I have said a lot what I take from each guy. It's hard to pinpoint. Some would have the same characteristics in certain areas and some don't in different areas, and I have been very fortunate and blessed to be around -- I believe, some of the best college football coaches in America, and I don't think anybody would dispute that. When you look at Hadon Frye (ph), Will Snyder, (ph) Steve Spurrier, it is -- it says a lot when you look at their records and Dick Fromely (ph), I was with at Kent for nine months as one season, when I first -- my first full-time coaching job, and I'm grateful to this day for that. But what you take from each of them, I don't know if you know. You sort of, you know, little by little, a little bit of all of them sort of creeps into you, and you don't even know that you're sort of acting like them sometimes probably, or, you know, it just sort of happens, I believe. The one I'm sure gets said a lot that I identify the most with is Coach Spurrier, and I think a lot of it comes with personalities and our way of -- our philosophies and the way I feel about parts of our job. And being that it is the last job I was at before coming a head coach, as well as, you know, the school has won many championships and had just won a National Championship in '96 when I was there. So anyway, again, it is hard to pinpoint what you take from each guy, but Coach Spurrier, without question, has been the biggest influence to me, next to my father.

COACH STOOPS: I would like to think that happened way back probably at Kent in my first-time coaching job. You are your own guy at that point. From then on, it has just been a growing experience. And again very fortunate to have learned from some great people. I look back at Iowa and on the staff is Bill Alvarez, Dan McCarvey (ph) , Burt Merris (ph), head coach at Iowa now, just to be around a lot of such quality people, to come up as a young GA, watching those guys was a great learning experience. You know when you become your own guy, I'd like to think my first full-time job. Who knows? You just sort of keep involving and changing as you are learning, and I'm still learning today.

COACH STOOPS: I grew up the son of a high school coach, football, baseball coach, and just been around athletics my entire life. Myself, my brothers, my uncles that I'm named after, coach at Youngstown State. Something that has always been -- just been in the locker room as a young person growing up and it is something that I've always enjoyed, without ever having it forced upon me. It is something that we would always ask our dad: "Can I go, can I go, can I go," and he always said yes, and he threw us in the car and up to practice and we would spend the entire day up there. So when it comes time when you're a junior or senior in college and you're figuring out -- my degree is in marketing and business, and you start envisioning what you are going to do with your life. And to me sitting will with some company sitting behind a desk and working a business job didn't fire me up a whole lot. I look out every day: I loved practice, even as a player, I loved the X's and O's, strategies of the game, and I loved the excitement and challenge and the competition. And that -- you know, that pretty much convinced me and I started to realize, hey, I need to stick around football. And fortunate that Hadon Frye and Bill Frasier was my defensive coordinator and defensive back field coach at Iowa, wanted me as a graduate assistant and really was a guy that's been a big insurance fluence on my coaching and -- coaching and defense, really learned a great deal from Bill Frasier, who is retired now. He sort of always -- I would come in and I'd be a young guy, first-year GA, have an idea about something. And he would entertain me, he would let me draw it up, go through it all. He sort of allowed me to foster my thinking and put up with me, and I appreciate it. But he got me thinking and learning the game. You know, in a way, that is different as a player, and that's sort of where it all started.

COACH STOOPS: I probably wouldn't recruit me today. (Laughs). I was an overachiever, but managed to start for four years and managed to make all Big-Ten a few years; so managed to have a measure of success. And more than anything, proud of fact that I was part of a thing team that won a Big 10 championship in 1981 and played in the Rose Bowl. So there are a lot of factors that way. And played in the Peach Bowl the next year against a Tennessee team with Willy Gault (ph) and Reggie White and all of those great players on it. We managed to win that game, how I don't know, especially with Chuck Long as our quarterback, and he was only a freshman, I believe at the time. And it was a great experience. Again, I'm very fortunate in that I look back on my life, and how I got to Iowa and how this all started, and I'm a lucky guy, believe me.