No one's sure why Stoops' Sooners struggle in Stillwater

Y ou'll find this hard to believe, perhaps. But Trent Smith insists he has nothing against Stillwater. Friends and family live there; the former Sooner knows it's a fine town.

But…

"It's just a weird place to play," Smith said. "I never feel good when I'm there."

What Sooner does?

Maybe it all started when Bob Simmons faced off against Howard Schnellenberger, then John Blake. Taking advantage of OU's decline, Bedlam became seriously competitive. Bob Stoops' arrival in 1999 sent OU skyrocketing upward again, but Bedlam didn't slide back down.

As defined by former OU quarterback Jason White, Bedlam is "a close game that comes down to the last few seconds." But here's the thing: With one exception in the last eight years, that's been true only in Stillwater.

OU is 5-2 against OSU under Stoops. But wins and losses don't reflect how Boone Pickens Stadium has become a house of Sooner horrors.

In Norman, the average score is OU 37.6, OSU 11.5 — and that includes the Cowboys' 16-13 win in 2001. The other three games have been Sooner routs.

In Stillwater, OU is 2-1. But the average score is OSU 26.7, OU 26.0.

And no one's sure why that is.

"I can't put a finger on it," said Smith, who played twice in Stillwater — winning 12-7 in 2000, losing 38-28 in 2002. "There's really no explanation. There's just something about Stillwater."

Former OSU offensive lineman Sam Mayes agrees. For some reason, he says, "the home-field advantage is maj