OU football: Tide, ’00 Sooners comparable teams
Alabama shouldn’t be taken lightly

BY BERRY TRAMEL Comments 5
Published: December 6, 2008

Alabama football and Oklahoma football have a lot in common.

Crimson jerseys. National championships galore. State-wide, frenzied fan base.

OU football coach Bob Stoops looks on as his 2000 National Championship Team arrives at the Sooner Celebration at Owen Field. Photo by JACONNA AGUIRRE

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Here’s another comparison. This top-ranked Bama team bears an amazing resemblance to a team near and dear to the heart of Sooners: the 2000 Oklahoma team.

→Both coached by no-nonsense, defensive-minded coaches in their second year on the job. Bama’s Nick Saban and OU’s Bob Stoops.

→Both had suffered through down times. Before Saban, Bama had only one winning season in four years. Before Stoops, OU had five straight non-winning seasons.

→Both 12-0 going into showdowns against second-ranked offensive juggernauts from Florida. Bama vs. Florida and OU vs. Florida State.

→Both were ridiculously big underdogs. Florida is favored by 10 points today in the SEC title game; OU was a 13-point underdog against Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

→Both played great defense. Bama allows 11.5 points a game, third-best in America. OU held Texas and Nebraska to 14 points each in 2000, then beat Florida State 13-2.

→Both played in the Independence Bowl the year before the breakout season.

And the Crimson Tide explanation for its turnaround is eerily similar to what those early Stoops Sooner teams said.

"Everybody just bought into the program,” said linebacker Rolando McClain.

Saban "came and was new here. We were just getting a feel for it. We just bought into everything.”

No one realized how good those 2000 Sooners were until they had won the national championship. The same skepticism seems to pervade this Alabama season. But Florida, and perhaps the ’08 Sooners, should be forewarned. Do not take Bama lightly.