Sooners return to the field after a long week

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Losses under Stoops span the entire spectrum. His Sooners have lost small and lost big.

However, the 16 previous defeats pale in comparison to what transpired last Saturday at Oregon.

OU had the game won, lost it, could have still won it, but didn't.

Had kicker Garrett Hartley converted a 43-yard field goal on the game's final play, the Sooners would have been 36-34 victors at Autzen Stadium.

The kick was blocked, but imagine OU's euphoria had Hartley's attempt split the uprights.

The Sooners would have escaped hostile territory with a clutch victory against a ranked team; they would have won despite horrendous officiating going against them in the final 1:12; they would be unbeaten and knocking on a top-10 ranking; and, presumably, the entire officiating crew that worked the game still would have been given a one-game suspension.

And justice for all.

But what could have been, might have been and should have been doesn't matter. What matters is OU has a 2-1 record heading into today's 6 p.m. contest against Middle Tennessee State on Owen Field.

Stoops — and those who work, play and cheer for him — had trouble accepting the officiating incompetence of one week ago. They all still do, and understandably so.

After losing in such a manner, certainly it must be more difficult to prepare a team than it is after a more routine setback, right?

"No. Not at all," Stoops said without hesitation. "Because our players know the situation. There is a sense, not that makes it any better, that we know we can do it. We're going to try to improve in other parts to do it better."

Former Sooners coach Barry Switzer knows the horror of prepping after being victimized.

OU was forced to settle for a 15-15 tie against Texas in 1984 after Keith Stanberry's end-zone interception with five seconds left was ruled out of bounds. Stanberry was clearly in bounds, but the Longhorns got a chance to kick a game-tying field goal.

The Sooners managed a 12-10 victory at Iowa State the following week, then lost 28-11 at Kansas the week after that. (Starting quarterback Danny Bradley didn't play against KU because of a sprained ankle and OU wound up starting freshman Troy Aikman, who arrived as the third-string quarterback behind Bradley and backup Mike Clopton.)

"It took a lot out of us," Switzer said of the Texas tie. "It's hard to have one robbed from you, taken from you. The team got over it sooner than I did. College kids don't live the game like coaches. That's our life, our job, that's what we're paid to do. Kids have so many distractions to take their minds off it — their girlfriends, their family, their schoolwork. They don't live with it as long. The players get rid of it quicker than anybody. They do. They rebound, they respond a helluva lot quicker than coaches.

"The fans, they can't wait for the next kickoff. But they don't have to get ready for the game. The coaches have to go coach, work on the game plan, look at the film."

The more Switzer spoke, the more his frustration from 22 years ago resurfaced.

"It dwells on you, eats at you," Switzer said. "I'll never forget John McClintock's name. He was the referee. Oh, hell."

The next page for this year's Sooners official turns with tonight's arrival of the unwittingly sacrificial Blue Raiders (2-1).

Stoops' pregame pep talk today? May we suggest something along the lines of, "Now go out there and treat our opponent like they're a bunch of Pac-10 referees."

If the Sooners correctly channel their anger management, Middle Tennessee State could return home as East Tennessee State, having been beaten back farther than whence it came.

Stoops said his troops psychologically overcame the early-August loss of dismissed quarterback Rhett Bomar almost instantaneously. And Stoops said his troops overcame last Saturday's injustice in the same manner earlier this week.

"We were behind the quarterback deal so fast, but you guys (media) wouldn't believe it because everyone loved to talk about it. We were done," Stoops said. "It's the same with this. It's over. We've practiced well. Kids are that way. That's the other part. Young kids are — bam! (snapping his fingers) — they don't hang onto anything long."