(CLICK ON VIDEO BOX TO SEE
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1999 OU - ND GAME)
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| The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
NOTRE DAME 34
OKLAHOMA 30
Notre Dame Stadium
South Bend, IN
October 2, 1999
AS OAS SPECIAL EDITION
BEFORE THE BLOG
A LOOK BACK AT OKLAHOMA vs NOTRE DAME 1999
A LOOK BACK AT OKLAHOMA vs NOTRE DAME 1999
Our Bob is Better Than Your Bob...
The first thing that jumps out at me when I think back to this game was the coaching situation for each program at that time. These two schools would be a great case study for how monumentally important hiring the right head coach can be for your program.
Exhibit A: Oklahoma Head Coach: Bob Stoops
Stoops was in his 1st season as OU's head coach. It had only been three games, but the entire Sooner Nation was excited and reenergized by what they had seen so far. Bob Stoops' first staff would have three future Division I head coaches (Leach, Mike Stoops and Mangino). Four other assistants Stoops hired over the next 10 years would eventually be head coaches as well (Long, Wilson, Sumlin and Pelini).
The Oklahoma program since that game in 1999:
- Same Head Coach
Three x Big 12 Coach of the year
Two x Walter Camp Coach of the year (2000, 2003)
Bobby Dodd Coach of the year award (2003)
- 152 -37 record (.804 winning %)
- 1 National Championship
- 8 Big 12 Conference Titles
- 4 title game appearances (most of any program)
- 2 Heisman Trophy winners
- 14 straight bowl games
- 8 BCS Bowl Games
- 39 game home winning streak
- 0 losing seasons
- 1 Car Salesman QB who didn't ever go to work
- 1 QB w Porn Mustache
Exhibit B: Notre Dame Head Coach: Bob Davie
The 1999 season was Davie's third year as head coach of the Irish. Hired when Lou Holtz retired following the '96 season, Davie was about as popular with Irish fans as a 10 PM curfew at a frat house. Davie had a strange habit of referring to the traditions @ Texas A&M rather than those of the Irish, which is like tying chum to yourself and then going for a swim off the Great Barrier Reef. It will probably get you noticed, but not in a good way. He would coach two more seasons (5 total) before being fired with a 35-25 record.
The Irish program since that game in 1999:
- 5 Different Head Coaches
George O'Leary (never coached a game)
Tyrone Willingham (21-15)
Somebody named Kent Baer (0-1)
Charlie Weiss (35-27)
Brian Kelly (28-10)
- 102-65 record (.610 winning percentage)
- No National Titles
- 4 BCS Bowl Games
- 1 title game
- 5 losing seasons /
- 2 .500 seasons
- no Heisman winners
- 1 Inaccurate Resume
- 1 Dead Fake Internet Girl Friend
The Wishbone - No Longer an 'Option'
On the first offensive play of the Bob Stoops era, the Sooners came out and lined up in the wishbone formation. It was Stoops way of tipping his cap to a style of offense that was as much a part of Oklahoma football as the words Boomer Sooner and the colors of Crimson and Cream.
Then, as if saying goodbye, the OU offense shifted out of the 'bone and into the spread formation. Just to make their point, the Sooners then proceeded to throw the football 6 straight times to begin the ballgame. The times in the Sooner Nation....they were a changin'.
Throwing the football at Oklahoma was like a brown shoe at a formal...it just didn't really seem appropriate. In watching the highlights, the NBC television crew of Dick Enberg and Pat Haden helped point out just how much things had changed when they showed these two passing statistics during the game:
- Here is a list of the how many passes OU completed during each of their 6 National Championship seasons prior to 1999:
1950: 69 1974: 33
1955: 46 1975: 22
1956: 50 1985: 54
In the Sooners first game under Bob Stoops and offensive coordinator Mike Leach, Josh Heupel completed more passes than Steve Davis did in each of the '74 and '75 seasons...and more than the 27 that Jamelle Holieway did the entire 1985 season (Aikman completed 27 as well in '85).
- Most touchdown passes in a season prior to 1999:
Cale Gundy ('93) 14 Bobby Warmack ('68) 11
Claude Arnold ('50) 13 Jack Mildren ('71) 10
Josh Heupel threw his 15th touchdown pass of the season before halftime of his 4th game. Heupel would throw for 33 touchdowns during the 1999 season.
Random Stuff...
The Sooners would go on to finish 7-5 that year and play Ole Miss in the Independence Bowl. The Irish would finish 5-7 and Bob Davie would spend the bowl season collecting 4-sale signs in his front yard.
In 1999, Mike Brown became the first African-American to be the Notre Dame mascot, Leprechaun.
"When I first became leprechaun, there was so much media attention drawn to it because of my race," he said.
"I tried to focus on being the 22nd leprechaun, not the first black leprechaun."
OU's leading rusher that day in South Bend you didn't ask? Somebody named Michael Thornton, who rushed for 56 yards on 8 carries. Thornton was actually a captain for the Sooners that year...I would have guessed he was the captain of Captain and Tennille before I would have a team captain. Just don't remember Mr. Thornton.
Just the opinion of one mildly interested guy
The Overweight Armchair Sooner
Buddy Putty
Just the opinion of one mildly interested guy
The Overweight Armchair Sooner
Buddy Putty
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