Image of Bob Stoops via NewsOK.com
Early this spring, I started thinking about going through all of Bob Stoops’ wins. My desire was to find out what fans really thought were the best wins of the Stoops era. While there is a fair argument to be made that some wins stand far above others, I still wanted to see how the wins would match up. The morning of June 7th, I was working on going through all those wins again for the first time in about a month. And then, several hours later… OU had a new head coach. Now, it seems even more relevant to back through the top wins of Stoops’ career.
My goal with this is twofold. One goal is to determine the greatest wins of the Stoops era. The other goal, and just as important, is to encourage all fans (and myself) to take a journey back through Stoops’ illustrious career and relive some great Sooner Magic moments they may have forgotten. And to clarify “greatest wins,” this can mean whatever you want it to. Trophies, bowls, conference championships, rivalries, highly-ranked opponents, blowouts, great single plays – whatever you wish to classify “greatest” as.
To allow an easy way to go through the wins, I have created a bracket, in which different wins will go up against each other. Then, everyone can vote on the wins for a few days; whichever win gets more votes will move onto the next round. In building the bracket, I did have to stop at a certain amount of wins, so some of my favorites (and possibly yours) didn’t make the list. That’s the pleasant downside to winning as many games as Bob Stoops did. I also randomized the slots as much as possible.
Bracket
For consistency, I made the year for each game the season it happened in, not the calendar year. For example, the Sugar Bowl OU played in against Auburn this January is labelled “OU vs. Auburn 2016.”
As I noted above, I do want this to be a task that gets people remembering games they may have forgotten. As such, I included the Sooner Sports game recap links for all games below. Unless you vividly remember the game, try to give it a quick look. Hopefully, this limit picking a game just because the other one isn’t fresh in your mind. (I recommend opening the game links in a new tab). After you’ve caught up on the wins, vote for which of the two you think was the better win.
This is Round 1 of the tournament. Voting will end Sunday at 3:00 pm (CT). Monday, I will post the results with an updated bracket. Then Friday, we’ll do this again for Round 2. We’ll continue that process each week until we have one win left. Let the voting begin!
(Please vote! No login is necessary, just a click of the mouse).
Game 1
OU Missouri 2008 vs OU TAMU 2000
Which win was better?
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OU vs. TAMU 2000 (79%, 1,141 Votes)
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OU vs. Missouri 2008 (21%, 311 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,452
Game 2
Which win was better?
-
OU vs. FSU 2011 (71%, 1,028 Votes)
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OU vs. WSU 2002 (29%, 411 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,439
Game 3
OU FSU 2000 vs OU Notre Dame 2013
Which win was better?
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OU vs. FSU 2000 (94%, 1,369 Votes)
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OU vs. Notre Dame 2013 (6%, 81 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,450
Game 4
Which win was better?
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OU vs. OSU 2015 (83%, 1,162 Votes)
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OU vs. TAMU 2006 (17%, 243 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,405
Game 5
OU Texas 2012 vs OU KSU 2000 (1)
Which win was better?
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OU vs. KSU 2000 (1) (72%, 1,003 Votes)
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OU vs. Texas 2012 (28%, 399 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,402
Game 6
OU Tennessee 2015 vs OU Bama 2002
Which win was better?
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OU vs. Tennessee 2015 (82%, 1,147 Votes)
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OU vs. Bama 2002 (18%, 252 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,399
Game 7
Which win was better?
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OU vs. Texas 2001 (86%, 1,191 Votes)
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OU vs. OSU 2010 (14%, 189 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,380
Game 8
Which win was better?
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OU vs. TTU 2008 (88%, 1,208 Votes)
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OU vs. TAMU 2003 (12%, 158 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,366
Game 9
OU Baylor 2015 vs OU Oregon 2005
Which win was better?
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OU vs. Baylor 2015 (80%, 1,099 Votes)
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OU vs. Oregon 2005 (20%, 272 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,371
Game 10
OU Texas 2000 vs OU Auburn 2016
Which win was better?
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OU vs. Texas 2000 (79%, 1,076 Votes)
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OU vs. Auburn 2016 (21%, 293 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,369
Game 11
OU Nebraska 2010 vs OU OSU 2012
Which win was better?
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OU vs. Nebraska 2010 (72%, 961 Votes)
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OU vs. OSU 2012 (28%, 373 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,334
Game 12
OU Nebraska 2000 vs OU Missouri 2007
Which win was better?
-
OU vs. Nebraska 2000 (94%, 1,268 Votes)
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OU vs. Missouri 2007 (6%, 75 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,343
Game 13
OU TAMU 1999 vs OU Nebraska 2006
Which win was better?
-
OU vs. Nebraska 2006 (66%, 874 Votes)
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OU vs. TAMU 1999 (34%, 445 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,319
Game 14
OU KSU 2000 (2) vs OU Texas 2011
Which win was better?
-
OU vs. KSU 2000 (2) (71%, 940 Votes)
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OU vs. Texas 2011 (29%, 379 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,319
Game 15
Which win was better?
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OU vs. Texas 2003 (65%, 860 Votes)
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OU vs. OSU 2013 (35%, 459 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,319
Game 16
OU Alabama 2013 vs OU FSU 2010
Which win was better?
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OU vs. Bama 2013 (98%, 1,342 Votes)
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OU vs. FSU 2010 (2%, 34 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,376