Sooners not dwelling on last season

By David Mitchell     Jul 21, 2004

AP Photo
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is surrounded by reporters during the first day of the Big 12 Conference football media days. The three-day event kicked off Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.

? Something went wrong on the road to the national championship.

Oklahoma, which won its first 12 football games by a combined score of 580-158, stumbled down the stretch. Kansas State stunned the nation’s top-ranked team, 35-7, in the Big 12 Conference championship game, and LSU handed OU a 21-14 setback in the Sugar Bowl.

That was last year.

“It doesn’t matter whether or not you win the Big 12 championship or national championship because it doesn’t help you win the next year,” OU coach Bob Stoops said Tuesday at Big 12 Conference media days. “You need to have every year be a new start. You have to have perspective as a coach.

“When you look back at the whole year, it wasn’t easy to do what we did. We held the No. 1 position for 13 or 14 weeks. We won 12 straight games. All that happened is that we failed in our last two games. But that’s the past. We just need to look forward to next year.”

Stoops can afford to look forward to 2004. OU has 10 starters back on offense, including Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jason White, and seven on defense.

“We have more seniors on this team than any other we’ve had,” said Stoops, who is 55-11 with one national title entering his sixth year as head coach.

And he doesn’t think those upperclassmen need to use their 2003 meltdown as motivation.

On the other hand …

“We accomplished more than most teams last season,” senior lineman Dan Cody said. “Coach Stoops has established Oklahoma as a perennial powerhouse. Granted, we didn’t finish the way we wanted to, but it gives us something to build on for this year.”

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Missing Jayhawks: Nine players listed on Kansas University’s spring roster were not included in the roster in the 2004 media guide released Tuesday. They are: former Free State High punter Walker Douglas, junior lineman Justin Henry, sophomore quarterback Joe Hogan, junior defensive end Charlton Keith, freshman receiver Tony King, sophomore lineman Kyle Knighton, senior quarterback Kevin Long, junior lineman Joe Ramirez and sophomore lineman Chris Roberts.

The Journal-World previously had reported the departures of Hogan and Long, who were behind sophomore Adam Barmann, junior Jason Swanson and junior Brian Luke on the depth chart after spring practice.

Coach Mark Mangino announced last month that Henry would not return because of a chronic health problem. Mangino said Monday he was still optimistic that Keith, a defensive end who was taking summer courses at Minnesota West Community College, still could meet academic requirements for transfers.

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Baylor in basement: Second-year Baylor coach Guy Morriss is trying to end a streak of eight consecutive years in which the Bears have finished last in the Big 12 Conference South. BU has the worst cumulative record in the league’s eight-year history at 20-70 overall and 5-59 in league play. After beating Kansas, 31-24, Oct. 10, 1998, in Waco, Texas, Baylor lost 38 straight Big 12 games before beating Colorado, 42-30, in last year’s league opener. BU never has won more than one Big 12 game in a season.

“I see us starting to come together as a team,” Morriss said. “Anytime you’re in a rebuilding process and you start changing philosophies, mindsets and work habits, there are always visible signs that we’re making progress. This summer we’ve probably got 90 percent of our players in Waco working out.”

Kansas has the worst cumulative record in the Big 12 North at 33-59 overall and 15-49 in the league. Nebraska has the North’s best record (84-21, 49-15), while Texas is tops in the South (71-29, 47-17).

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Fashion statement: Morriss isn’t a fan of NCAA regulations that limit the number of days teams can practice in full pads during the preseason. With that restriction and the Bears’ lack of depth, Morriss was concerned about the amount of hitting his team could do before the season starts.

“The way college football is going,” he said, “we’ll probably be wearing skirts before long.”

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Road woes: Missouri started the 2003 season 4-0 before suffering a 35-14 loss at Kansas. The Tigers never won two games in a row the rest of the way. MU was 4-0 in league home games and 0-4 in league road games.

“Losing that game was tough,” Mizzou quarterback Brad Smith said of the KU game. “We had a lot of momentum, and it was kind of up and down after that.”

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Help wanted: Texas Tech built one of the nation’s most prolific passing offenses with quarterback Kliff Kingsbury, and the Red Raiders didn’t drop off any last year with replacement B.J. Symons. The Houston Texans’ draft pick set 11 NCAA records and tied three others.

Now Tech must find another replacement. Whether it’s former walk-on Sonny Cumbie or junior-college transfer Robert Johnson, the Red Raiders won’t alter their offense.

“We throw for a living, not for a hobby,” assistant head coach Ruffin McNeill said, “and that won’t change.”

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