River Boat Bob is Back

November 6th, 2006

While I am certainly no proponent (in fact it is one of my most hated sports clichés) of the idea of someone having “mojo” or “swagger”, whatever it was that separated Bob Stoops from the rest of college football for his first six years is back. Local and national media liked to label him “River Boat Bob” or “Big Game Bob” for the better part of those years and have loved to talk about how he has lost it ever since. Starting in Columbia and being solidified on Saturday night in College Station, Bob Stoops has the big game mentality back and is ready to return to prominence.

This ability to make the right momentum call or the right call to finish a team off to walk away with a victory is not easy and it wasn’t this time. Go back to last week in Missouri and Oklahoma faced a 4th and 1 in Mizzou territory with a 16-3 lead in the first half. Paul Thompson faked the handoff and looked deep down the field to Malcolm Kelly for a big play. However, Kelly couldn’t get to the ball and Oklahoma had to punt. The play didn’t work, but the Sooners went on to play well and win the game anyway.

Fast forward to Saturday night and Oklahoma leads 14-3 in College Station with the first quarter crawling to a close after the Sooners just rolled 80 yards once again. The ball was hit perfectly by Garrett Hartley and Jason Carter flew by the ball with hands grasping to hold on the entire time. The ball hit the ground and Oklahoma seemed to have it again, but once again the Sooners lost on an onsides kick, although this time it was legal. Again, Stoops tried to take momentum and become “River Boat Bob” or “Big Game Bob”.

Finally, with 1:29 to go inside the toughest place to play in the Big 12 conference, Stoops made the gutsy gamble in the big game that actually paid off. Just a mere few inches from clinching victory in a massive game for the program’s present and future, Stoops gave the “okay” to go for a 4th down attempt. After Paul Thompson converted the first attempt, nullified after Bob Stoops called timeout, Thompson then converted again. Turns out, the play wasn’t even needed as A&M took a tradition a little too seriously and had 12 players on the field for the fourth down.

Now, you may say that the play shouldn’t count for Stoops gut-check calls because of the penalty, but consider this. After A&M called timeout when the measurement showed a fourth down was necessary, Stoops called a timeout to let officials look at the spot again. After that, Stoops called a timeout just before snapping the ball, which may have been the reason for the penalty in the end. Stoops wanted to see how the Aggies would line up, which usually in turn makes the opponent put in a new look. During that time and the next play confusion reigned for A&M and the penalty was a result. Either way, rest assured that A&M wouldn’t have had 12 players on the field to return a punt.

In the end this game won’t go down with a lot of others in Sooners history because it won’t lead to a national title, or even a Big 12 Title, but it will lead to bigger things. Oklahoma should be 8-1 right now with a shot at finishing 11-1, but most Sooner fans will (and should be) impressed with a 10-2 finish all things considered. No, this won’t lead to a title for 2006’s version of the Oklahoma Sooners, but it could be a giant step to creating champions for the 2007 version.

“Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.”
- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

Entry Filed under: Oklahoma Sports