4 CHAPTER 1 STOOPS STEERS SOONERS TO SUCCESS The Oklahoma Sooners were no strangers to being at the top of the college football world But times were tough during the 1990s in Norman Oklahoma The Sooners had just five winning seasons in that 10 year span They played in only four bowl games And they won just two But then Bob Stoops was hired as head coach in 1999. By the end of his second season in Norman he had the Sooners playing for their seventh national championship Oklahoma was set to face the second ranked Florida State Seminoles in the Orange Bowl in Miami Florida on January 3 2001 The Seminoles were a formidable opponent They had won the national championship the year before And they had been ranked in the top four in the final Associated Press AP Poll 14 years in Oklahoma linebacker Torrance Marshall returns an interception for a touchdown during a 2000 win against Texas A M
RED OCTOBER a row heading into the 2000 season So even though Oklahoma was ranked After starting the 2000 season No. 1 at the time Florida State's fast 4-0 the Sooners faced a difficult athletic team was favored by more month against three teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation But than 10 points Oklahoma beat all three of them Stoops's experience as defensive during what came to be known coordinator at Florida was a big as Red October This included benefit for the Sooners though He wins over second ranked Kansas had helped the Gators win the 1996 State and top ranked Nebraska in consecutive weeks It was the first national championship And he had time in National Collegiate Athletic faced the high scoring Florida State Association NCAA history that offense several times so he knew how a team had beaten the top two to defend against it Oklahoma fans teams in the AP Poll two weeks in were optimistic going into the game a row The 76,835 fans who packed Miami's Pro Player Stadium that night expected the two high flying offenses to trade scores throughout the game Florida State's Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Chris Weinke got the game off to a fast start with a 35 yard completion to wide receiver Atrews Bell on the first play of the game But the free flowing nature of the game stopped there Instead it was the two elite defenses that took over Oklahoma senior linebacker Torrance Marshall intercepted a Weinke pass in the first quarter The Sooners offense was then able 6
Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel drops back during the first quarter of the 2001 Orange Bowl against Florida State to get close enough for kicker Tim Duncan to make a 27 yard field goal That turned out to be the only scoring in the first half After halftime the defenses picked up where they left off Duncan hit another field goal in the third quarter The 42 yard kick extended Oklahoma's lead to 6-0 And it was the only score of the quarter 7
