Inside College Football: Oklahoma Sooners

Inside College Football: Oklahoma Sooners — page 3 — RED OCTOBER a row heading into the 2000 season So even though Oklahoma was ranked After starting the 2000 season No. 1 at the time Florida State's fast 4-0 the Sooners faced a difficult athletic team was favored by more month against three teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation But than 10 points Oklahoma beat all three of them Stoops's experience as defensive during what came to be known coordinator at Florida was a big as Red October This included benefit for the Sooners though He wins over second ranked Kansas had helped the Gators win the 1996 State and top ranked Nebraska in consecutive weeks It was the first national championship And he had time in National Collegiate Athletic faced the high scoring Florida State Association NCAA history that offense several times so he knew how a team had beaten the top two to defend against it Oklahoma fans teams in the AP Poll two weeks in were optimistic going into the game a row The 76,835 fans who packed Miami's Pro Player Stadium that night expected the two high flying offenses to trade scores throughout the game Florida State's Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Chris Weinke got the game off to a fast start with a 35 yard completion to wide receiver Atrews Bell on the first play of the game But the free flowing nature of the game stopped there Instead it was the two elite defenses that took over Oklahoma senior linebacker Torrance Marshall intercepted a Weinke pass in the first quarter The Sooners offense was then able 6

Inside College Football: Oklahoma Sooners — page 4 — Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel drops back during the first quarter of the 2001 Orange Bowl against Florida State to get close enough for kicker Tim Duncan to make a 27 yard field goal That turned out to be the only scoring in the first half After halftime the defenses picked up where they left off Duncan hit another field goal in the third quarter The 42 yard kick extended Oklahoma's lead to 6-0 And it was the only score of the quarter 7

Inside College Football: Oklahoma Sooners — page 5 — STOOPS'S BOWL The Sooners finally broke through STREAK in the final 15 minutes All America linebacker Rocky Calmus caused Bob Stoops had tremendous Weinke to fumble deep in Seminoles success as a defensive coordinator at Florida He brought that success territory Soon after sophomore with him to Oklahoma when he running back Quentin Griffin burst into became coach before the 1999 the end zone with 8:30 to play That season He brought the Sooners put Oklahoma up 13-0 to bowl games in all 18 seasons Florida State was able to register he coached That included four national championship games a safety with 55 seconds left in the game That made the score 13-2 But it was too little too late That became the final score as sooners defensive back Ontei Jones intercepted Weinke with 16 seconds left to end the contest Our players recognize that the history of Oklahoma is winning championships Stoops said after the game We already had six Now we have seven Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel did not put up great numbers on the night But he had done enough to give the sooners defense a rest He completed 25 of 39 passes for 214 yards More importantly he kept the ball away from the high powered Seminoles offense The Sooners offense held the ball for 13 more minutes than Florida State 8

Inside College Football: Oklahoma Sooners — page 6 — From left coach Bob Stoops J. T. Thatcher and Ontei Jones celebrate after Oklahoma won the 2000 national title As they had all year the Sooners won the game with their suffocating defense Marshall made six tackles to go along with his interception He was named the game's Most Valuable Player MVP Oklahoma disguised its coverages all night The Sooners had players pretend they were going to rush the quarterback then drop back to cover receivers It seemed like they had radar Bell said after the game Everything we tried they were ready for The win left Oklahoma as the only undefeated team in the country In just his second year Stoops had brought the Sooners back to the top of the college football world He was the latest in a long line of successful coaches at Oklahoma 9

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