Norman, Okla. ? With all that has gone wrong for Oklahoma this season, there can’t be much Bob Stoops isn’t prepared to handle.
The Sooners coach already has kicked his starting quarterback off the team, watched a certain victory get snatched away by a dubious officials’ call and lost Heisman hopeful Adrian Peterson to an injury.
To top it off, the Sooners’ top defensive player, linebacker Rufus Alexander, was arrested for an altercation near campus about 12 hours after the game in which Peterson was hurt. Alexander says he was trying to break up a fight.
What else could possibly happen to the snake-bit Sooners?
“You know what might surprise me … ,” Stoops said before thinking better of it. “Nah, I’m not going to go there.”
It might be best not to jinx himself.
The craziness started before fall camp opened for a team that was being touted as a national title contender.
QB dismissed
A day before the Sooners were set to start practice, Stoops dismissed quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn for taking extra pay from a Norman car dealership where they worked. The situation also bought the university an NCAA investigation.
After Bomar was booted, the team rallied behind Paul Thompson, the quarterback turned receiver turned back to quarterback.
The most unfortunate turn in the Sooners’ saga came last week against Iowa State. Peterson broke his collarbone at the end of a brilliant fourth-quarter touchdown run and will miss the rest of the regular season.
“You have to sit back and laugh, honestly, because we do face a lot of things,” safety Darien Williams said. “I look at it like this: You never know what goes on in other ballclubs. You never know what they’re going through.
“This is a part of football. This is the cards we’re dealt. Let’s play them, let’s roll with it and make the best of it. “