Sooners and BCS bowls

M

mojo17

1,000+ Posts
OUinsider has a long thread about losing bowl games. The consensus over there seems to be it does not matter if you win your bowl game. They are probably just making excuses for their recent bowl record. Do Horn fans feel it is ok to lose your bowl game even a BCS bowl. I never like to see Texas lose, period.
 
I don't like to see us lose any bowl game or any regular season game for that matter. I want us to win all the time in everything. I am a Horn fan. When you get to bowl games you are playing teams that are probably generally near your level and losing then is probably not a disgrace but I don't like it and want to win them all.
 
that is a retarded argument. just like it is when texas fans say 'oh who cares about conference titles'.

national titles are few and far between. bowl games, intraconference games, and conference titles are how programs distinguish themselves
 
They're correct on this.

In the big scheme of the things, unless you're playing for the MNC, it doesn't matter if you win or lose your bowl game. However, it does matter WHICH bow game you go to.

OU losing to a good Boise State team is more important than Texas beating a 6-6 Iowa team in the Alamo Bowl.
 
You've got a large contingent of Texas fans that will say that conference titles don't mean anything so if you are one of those fans that think that then you should have no problem with the Gooner fans making excuses about their BCS ineptitude. Our biggest downfall was losing that 2006 Big 12 Title chance by losing to KSU and A&M on successive games. UT gift wrapped the Big 12 Championship to a team that we handily beat and OU has taken that and won most of the recruiting wars since.
 
I think it is their pat excuse for getting their butts kicked. Oh well, we won the Big 12. That is true, but if they had won those games they would be blowing their asses off. There is one thing about it they can't deny. It sure makes the Big 12 look like **** when they get their asses handed to them like they have. TT has made the Big 12 look better by coming back from way down against Minnesota and then back from lesser deficits to beat California and Virginia. The winner of your conference you would like to see represent it well.
 
People keep saying Boise State beating OU was the greatest upset of all time or some **** like that.

OU was #7 and Boise State was #8. That's hardly an upset.
 
Come on horse you know all gooners thought they had that won before they left Oklahoma. What were you about an 8 point favorite? The score was closer than it looked watching the game. It seemed like BS was playing enough better that they should be up by 3 TDs. I don't remember the turnovers for both teams, but they made ou's defense look bad a lot and so did WV and I guess you could add USC and LSU.
 
I think ou would have beaten Boise State 8 out of 10 times. Boise State played their best game of the entire season and were amped up in that game to no end. They were also a good team that year. Oklahoma had a lose/lose situation. Win, they were supposed to. Lose, uh oh, HUGE upset, they choked, blah blah blah. Their players may have gotten caught with their drawers down and could not recover in time.

But as 518 states, the other losses were horrid. I think it is not so much what you lose, rather how you lose it. And I agree that our nail biter v. Iowa gives Horn fans chest thumping carte blanche either. At least OU was there in the BCS that year. We would have gotten blown away at that level.

I am proud of our undefeated BCS record even though we have not been to as many. And we beat a very sound team in Michigan and the team of the Solar System in USC. Perhaps the best team they have fielded.

I am also proud of our beating a solid LSU who went on to win it all the next year. I have forgotten about Washington State and Aflac.
 
I can't speak for anyone else but of course it is important to win as many of your games as you possibly can. It is after all the one and only objective of playing them.

You can't win them all but you can't win any if you aren't there.
 
The problem is, when you lose BCS Bowl games like that, EVERYONE sees it. Not everyone in the country pays attention to what Texas or OU does when playing guys like North Texas or Rice.

When it has come down to money time lately in OU's BCS bowl games, they've gone limp like an 80-year old man's penis.
 
I, personally, would kill to see my lads play in as many BCS Bowls as OU has played in. Yes, they have a rough go of things of late but they are in the arena.

And just like Stoops went through that stretch where he never lost a big game, I am sure this is cyclical and they will win some.

(And people make too much of that Boise State game.....they were a good team......the real pathetic display was that Miami OB game against USC......that was just embarrassing)
 
Put me in the contingent that would switch places (other than our MNC win, of course). I'd much rather attend BCS games and have the crystal bowl conference champions trophy and lose to a respectable team. Getting stuck in San Antonio or San Diego is kind of a joke.
 
Umm.. correct me if I'm wrong people, but isn't the point of the football season to end up taking home the biggest, best trophy you can? And not just one at that.. but multiple ones?

In this regard, I'd rather win a bowl game just below a BCS bowl, than lose in a BCS bowl game.. at least lose to the caliber that OU has been losing to them. This argument is like the Giants vs Patriots. So what.. the Patriots lost ONE game.. ONE GAME! The Giants still came back and one the game that counted most! Any games before your final game are just "fillers" to get you to the best bowl you can. From there, the only way I see you walking away from your season "happy", is by winning the game. Until you win a bowl game, I wouldn't consider it a good season. Besides, playing a bunch of bad teams can give you a GREAT record.. but TRUE skill is shown 1-1 in a bowl.

It all comes to this.. who is walking away w/ the rings on their fingers or that extra "W" on schedule? Ya, by all means, conferences champs get trophies, so that's great stuff. However, I would never consider my season "good" unless I win that bowl game! You play the easiest schedule possible, and play in the worst conference possible.. then walk away conference champs and in a BCS game due to being undefeated. But when you get matched against another team that had a MUCH tougher schedule, that's the only way to truly tell which of the two teams is better, and the one walking back carrying the trophy is the only "successful" team out there.

see: Hawaii
 
I can see sooner fans having internal discussions like this on their boards. Over here we see that OU has lost 4 BCS bowl games in a row that they have been to and that means they suck ***.
 
I would rather go to a BCS bowl than not go to one (win or lose)

I would rather win a BCS bowl than lose one.

I would rather go to a BCS bowl and lose (as painful as that is) than go to a lower tier bowl and win. although if the current trend continues much longer I may re-evaluate that.

I would rather win a conference championship than go to a BCS bowl.

I would rather go the MNC game than win a conference championship (it is possible right).

I would rather lose in the MNC game than win in one of the other BCS bowls (unless they are all like the orange bowl against USC).


any Texas fan that has half a brain, and isn't scared of competition would rather go to a BCS bowl (not knowing the outcome) than go to a lesser bowl (cotton, houston, alamo) and be assured a win against a lesser opponent (most of the time - see FSU).

the UT fans that don't feel that way, are the same ones that say you shouldn't schedule anything but creampuffs in the OOC schedule.

it is weak, it is cowardly, and it shows that you really don't care if your team can compete and win against the best.... you just care what the record is (see another 10 win season).
 
The outcome of a program's bowl game is very important for several reasons.


Being the last game for 8 months or so...a glorious bowl victory or a staggering bowl defeat can resonate throughout the program for the entire year. In the case of a loss, players and coaches have to constantly answer questions about how the season ended, fans are generally unhappy...and media outlets tend to focus on the loss and deduct a few points in the next preseason polling process.


Losing several bowl games consecutively (especially in an embarrassing manner) can also begin to erode the confidence and self-image of a program within its own walls....much less from the outside looking in. When a program develops a negative reputation of not being able to "win the big one," players and coaches know it. That rep also can sink into the living rooms of high profiled recruits...and the media loves a good narrative, so it won't go away unless the program rights the ship on the field. Even some of the all-time greats have had fits in their bowl performances. Osborne's Huskers were notoriously awful in bowls (and big games in general) until the mid-90s.


As for OU...the bowl losses are disappointing. We've played poorly in 2 NCGs, and we've been beaten by 2 other teams which we should have defeated had we brought our A games. No excuses...we've just been outplayed and out-schemed. Still, the Stoops/OU brand is unlikely to take a sharp dive for many of the reasons discussed above.


OU is regularly winning the Big XII -- a conference that's well regarded for its football culture and history. The BCS losses haven't sabotaged the Stoops regime on the recruiting trail. And the BCS losses haven't prevented more Big XII titles and more return trips to the BCS. The "can't win the big one" label also is difficult to attach to Stoops because of his record in the high profile RRS...and OU's performances in the conference championship games. People are quick to forget that Missouri was ranked #1 heading into San Antonio.


OU's Big XII resume is great -- couldn't ask for much more in that category. Even with the importance of bowl results, most OU fans would rather win the Big XII than win a second tier bowl game....it just means more. But it shouldn't be an either/or discussion -- OU fans expect to win the Big XII and contend for a BCS national championship. Stoops and co. need to do better on the big stage...no doubt about it. But just like Osborne and Nebraska, all of this will largely be forgotten with the next BCS victory or another crystal ball.
 
Great thread question.

Give me the limelight of the BCS (win or lose)
over
A lesser bowl that no one watches.
 
Sooner Man last year we played the 11th ranked team in the BCS that had a 9-2 record going into our bowl game. We won comfortably. OU played the 9th ranked BCS team that also had a 9-2 record. You lost comfortably. Just because you are not in a BCS game does not mean you will play an unranked 6-6 team.
 
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