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3peat Big XII Champs!
Stoops brothers still haunted by 'The Play'
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
12/16/2006
It's the play that won't die. And it's killing the Stoops brothers.
The infamous play in question was back in the news this week when the Sporting News published its annual college football bowl special. The magazine ranked it as the No. 1 "craziest" play of the 2006 regular season.
We're talking, of course, about the call (or non-call) late in the fourth quarter of the Oklahoma-Oregon game on Sept. 16. The replay official later acknowledged that he had made a mistake when he ruled Oregon recovered an onside kick late in the contest, which enabled the Ducks to rally for a controversy-laden win, 34-33.
Several angles showed two blown calls. Oregon touched the football before it traveled the necessary 10 yards, and that OU actually recovered the football before the play was over.
You know, of course, how that lack of professionalism by the officiating crew affected Bob Stoops and his OU team. Had it been called correctly, the Sooners would be 12-1 and possibly in the mix for the national championship.
There were several losers in that game. The officiating crew was suspended for one game, the replay official quit and OU's image took a horrible beating nationally when the replay official received death threats from deranged individuals who said they were Sooner fans.
As it turned out, and what has been overlooked, is that Arizona and coach Mike Stoops were also affected adversely by the OU-Oregon outcome.
On Nov. 18, Arizona drilled Oregon 37-10 on the same Autzen Field where Mike Stoops' older brother and OU had a victory taken away from them two months earlier.
Arizona finished the season 6-6, while Oregon ended up 7-5. The Ducks, of course, would also have been 6-6 if the their game with the Sooners had been called correctly.
Guess which one of those Pac-10 teams is going to a bowl?
Correct, Arizona will be home for the holidays, while Oregon plays BYU next Thursday in the Las Vegas Bowl.
There's no question Arizona would have received the Pac-10's automatic bowl bid ahead of Oregon if both teams had finished 6-6. Not only did the Wildcats trounce the Ducks, they were the hotter team down the stretch, winning three of their last four while Oregon finished the regular season on a three-game losing streak.
A bowl bid would have been a huge and much-needed boost for Mike Stoops, who has gone a combined 12-22 in three seasons at Arizona. It would have eased some of the heat Stoops is starting to feel from those restless Wildcats' supporters who hoped he could turn their program around as quickly as his older brother did at OU.
Bob Stoops declined to comment earlier this week when asked about how the OU-Oregon outcome had eventually ruined his brother's bowl chances.
There is no question, however, that Bob Stoops remains bitter about the Oregon experience. Insiders say Stoops, after listening to the various explanations from both the replay official and Pac-10 Conference representatives, is convinced someone is not telling the truth about what happened that third Saturday in September in Eugene.
Stoops, however, might not remain silent for long.
Another overlooked ramification from the OU-Oregon fiasco occurred when Notre Dame played at USC on Nov. 25. A Big Ten officiating crew worked that contest, which the Trojans won, 44-24.
That's significant, because after the OU-Oregon game the Pac-10 revealed that it has a policy that requires Pac-10 officials be used in all of its home stadiums for every game.
Whoa. If that's the case, why did a Big Ten crew work the Notre Dame-USC game on the Trojan's home field?
When a Tulsa World reporter e-mailed that question to Pac-10 associate commissioner Jim Muldoon, he wrote back: "There has been a long-standing Notre Dame exception to the officiating policy, probably as a result of having two of our teams that play Notre Dame every year."
What? Wait a minute. Notre Dame doesn't have to play by the same set of rules that every other nonconference team must agree to when it plays at a Pac-10 school?
Notre Dame, of course, has its own television network (NBC). So I guess it shouldn't be a shock that the Irish dictate the officiating policy with the Pac-10.
But, in this case, it stinks. And it's the Pac-10 that's creating the odor.
If the Pac-10's officiating policy continues, don't look for Bob Stoops to put up with it. After the debacle at Oregon, and without knowing about the special treatment Notre Dame receives from the Pac-10, Stoops said he would not take his OU team to Seattle in 2008 to play Washington if the rule isn't changed.
Stoops was unavailable Friday to comment on the little-known exception the Pac-10 makes for Notre Dame.
In his e-mail, Muldoon confirmed that the Pac-10's officiating policy "will be on the agenda at the next meeting of our athletics directors in February."
If the Pac-10 ADs don't make a policy change in February, I guarantee you that "the play" in the OU-Oregon is going to live on into the distant future.
I can also guarantee you that Bob Stoops will be the coach who won't let it die.
So the Irish get more special treatment? :shakeno: Im srry Don but I dont see anything fair in that when you travel to Pac-10 stadiums, you get to have neutral officials, while we were stuck with Pac-10 crooks.
Again I could care less about the Oregon game, karma is a ***** and Oregon got alot of that. But still why does ND get this treatment?
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
12/16/2006
It's the play that won't die. And it's killing the Stoops brothers.
The infamous play in question was back in the news this week when the Sporting News published its annual college football bowl special. The magazine ranked it as the No. 1 "craziest" play of the 2006 regular season.
We're talking, of course, about the call (or non-call) late in the fourth quarter of the Oklahoma-Oregon game on Sept. 16. The replay official later acknowledged that he had made a mistake when he ruled Oregon recovered an onside kick late in the contest, which enabled the Ducks to rally for a controversy-laden win, 34-33.
Several angles showed two blown calls. Oregon touched the football before it traveled the necessary 10 yards, and that OU actually recovered the football before the play was over.
You know, of course, how that lack of professionalism by the officiating crew affected Bob Stoops and his OU team. Had it been called correctly, the Sooners would be 12-1 and possibly in the mix for the national championship.
There were several losers in that game. The officiating crew was suspended for one game, the replay official quit and OU's image took a horrible beating nationally when the replay official received death threats from deranged individuals who said they were Sooner fans.
As it turned out, and what has been overlooked, is that Arizona and coach Mike Stoops were also affected adversely by the OU-Oregon outcome.
On Nov. 18, Arizona drilled Oregon 37-10 on the same Autzen Field where Mike Stoops' older brother and OU had a victory taken away from them two months earlier.
Arizona finished the season 6-6, while Oregon ended up 7-5. The Ducks, of course, would also have been 6-6 if the their game with the Sooners had been called correctly.
Guess which one of those Pac-10 teams is going to a bowl?
Correct, Arizona will be home for the holidays, while Oregon plays BYU next Thursday in the Las Vegas Bowl.
There's no question Arizona would have received the Pac-10's automatic bowl bid ahead of Oregon if both teams had finished 6-6. Not only did the Wildcats trounce the Ducks, they were the hotter team down the stretch, winning three of their last four while Oregon finished the regular season on a three-game losing streak.
A bowl bid would have been a huge and much-needed boost for Mike Stoops, who has gone a combined 12-22 in three seasons at Arizona. It would have eased some of the heat Stoops is starting to feel from those restless Wildcats' supporters who hoped he could turn their program around as quickly as his older brother did at OU.
Bob Stoops declined to comment earlier this week when asked about how the OU-Oregon outcome had eventually ruined his brother's bowl chances.
There is no question, however, that Bob Stoops remains bitter about the Oregon experience. Insiders say Stoops, after listening to the various explanations from both the replay official and Pac-10 Conference representatives, is convinced someone is not telling the truth about what happened that third Saturday in September in Eugene.
Stoops, however, might not remain silent for long.
Another overlooked ramification from the OU-Oregon fiasco occurred when Notre Dame played at USC on Nov. 25. A Big Ten officiating crew worked that contest, which the Trojans won, 44-24.
That's significant, because after the OU-Oregon game the Pac-10 revealed that it has a policy that requires Pac-10 officials be used in all of its home stadiums for every game.
Whoa. If that's the case, why did a Big Ten crew work the Notre Dame-USC game on the Trojan's home field?
When a Tulsa World reporter e-mailed that question to Pac-10 associate commissioner Jim Muldoon, he wrote back: "There has been a long-standing Notre Dame exception to the officiating policy, probably as a result of having two of our teams that play Notre Dame every year."
What? Wait a minute. Notre Dame doesn't have to play by the same set of rules that every other nonconference team must agree to when it plays at a Pac-10 school?
Notre Dame, of course, has its own television network (NBC). So I guess it shouldn't be a shock that the Irish dictate the officiating policy with the Pac-10.
But, in this case, it stinks. And it's the Pac-10 that's creating the odor.
If the Pac-10's officiating policy continues, don't look for Bob Stoops to put up with it. After the debacle at Oregon, and without knowing about the special treatment Notre Dame receives from the Pac-10, Stoops said he would not take his OU team to Seattle in 2008 to play Washington if the rule isn't changed.
Stoops was unavailable Friday to comment on the little-known exception the Pac-10 makes for Notre Dame.
In his e-mail, Muldoon confirmed that the Pac-10's officiating policy "will be on the agenda at the next meeting of our athletics directors in February."
If the Pac-10 ADs don't make a policy change in February, I guarantee you that "the play" in the OU-Oregon is going to live on into the distant future.
I can also guarantee you that Bob Stoops will be the coach who won't let it die.
So the Irish get more special treatment? :shakeno: Im srry Don but I dont see anything fair in that when you travel to Pac-10 stadiums, you get to have neutral officials, while we were stuck with Pac-10 crooks.
Again I could care less about the Oregon game, karma is a ***** and Oregon got alot of that. But still why does ND get this treatment?
