Bob Stoops and Oklahoma were winners together again, just like old times.
Kennedy Brooks ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns, Caleb Williams passed for three more scores, and the 16th-ranked Sooners rode a dominant first half to a 47-32 win over No. 14 Oregon in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Wednesday night.
The victory marked a brief and happy reunion for the coach and school he led to a national championship and 10 Big 12 titles from 1999 to 2016. Stoops was called off a golf course to come out of retirement to coach the bowl game after the abrupt departure of Lincoln Riley for USC.
“I’ve been out of it, came back,” Stoops said. “It was fun. More than anything, I appreciate the young people, the guys in the program, embraced me, were all-in and worked hard.”
Stoops earned career win No. 191 and boosted his bowl record to 10-9. Getting the latest victory was maybe the easiest part in all this.
Just as important were the tasks of steadying the program after Riley’s bolt west turned it upside down. And Stoops had to build a stable bridge to the new era under incoming coach Brent Venables, his former Oklahoma assistant who has spent the past nine seasons at Clemson.
“They’re getting a guy with passion, a guy that loves the game,” Stoops said. “A winner.”
The coach who once earned the nickname Big Game Bob also turned into Big Hug Bob when he got to embrace son and Sooners wide receiver Drake Stoops after a second-quarter touchdown catch. Drake walked on at Oklahoma in 2018 after Bob had retired.
Oklahoma (11-2) raced out to a 30-3 lead as Brooks and Williams sliced up the Oregon defense. Brooks had 127 yards on 10 carries in the first half with scoring runs of 16 and 29 yards and another 40-yard run that set up Williams’ first touchdown pass to Drake Stoops.
Williams’ 55-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Mims Jr. hit the wide receiver perfectly in stride behind two Ducks defenders who were two steps late. Brooks then punched in the final score of the half.
The Sooners…
Source : espn
