Sooners Reclaim College Football Supremacy 

by: Justin Waganer

While one renovation at the University of Oklahoma is just beginning, one looks nearly complete.  The OU athletic department announced plans to renovate and expand Memorial Stadium on Friday night.  Bob Stoops announced his plans to renovate the OU football program almost two years ago, Stoops plan has worked well.

When Sooner fans wake up today on Sunday, October 29, 2000 they will see their beloved Sooners at the top of the polls for the first time in well over a decade.  The Sooners haven't just returned to a Big 12 contender, or a top 10 player, but as the top team in the country in just 19 games under Bob Stoops.

The game opened like the games of the John Blake days when Nebraska jumped out to a 14-0 lead just over six minutes into the game and the 73-21 and 69-7 routes looked painfully familiar. 

Then, the flood began.

Oklahoma scored 24 points in the second quarter on Nebraska after struggling to get first downs in the first quarter.  The Oklahoma defense shut down a Nebraska offense that's low point output on the year was 27 points at Notre Dame in early September and the OU special teams contributed largely like they have almost every game of the Stoops era.

Eric Crouch started like the Heisman was in his pocket and finished like he had stole it and the Oklahoma defense was his punishment.  Josh Heupel started as if he didn't know the nation was watching, then showed the nation why he is the best player in college football.

The Sooners used a circus catch by Andre Woolfolk to get into scoring position early in the second quarter and Heupel stayed to the last second against a raging blitz to get the pass to Curtis Fagan for a 34 yard TD pass and tie the game at 14. 

"Josh expects us to get open and we expect him to put it there," Fagan said. "There's just an understanding. A relaxed understanding."

Oklahoma then blocked a punt and hit a field goal to go up 17-14.  OU followed with a 37 yard pass from Heupel to Savage despite defensive pass interference and got to the Nebraska 8 yard line.  Josh Norman then took a reverse 8 yards to the end zone to take a 24-14 lead to the half.

Then, OU turned it to their defense.

"I don't know if you will ever see a stronger defensive effort against them," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. "I know I haven't. To slow them down and stop them like that for three quarters is amazing."

"We all knew that the first quarter was us," said linebacker Rocky Calmus, who had 16 tackles. "So we were confident that once we settled down a bit, we could stop them."

And the Sooners did.  Over the final 30 minutes of the game the Sooner defense outscored the high-octane Husker offense 7-0 thanks to freshman Derrick Straight who returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown to close out the scoring at 31-14.

"He has evolved as a player, he just played tremendous," Stoops said. "He gave up that long ball early but he came back with some huge plays. He's just a ball player. He makes plays."

So Coach Stoops, are the Sooners #1?

"I figure we're No. 1 because I see all these people running around with their fingers in the air," he said. "The right fingers."