Stoops knows how much Snyder loves coaching
Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops has coached alongside and against Kansas State’s Bill Snyder for close to 20 years.
Stoops gave insight during his Monday press conference into Snyder, the coach and the swimmer. The Coach Stoops knows Snyder, so it never came as a shock to him when Snyder retired and then, like so many athletes and coaches do, decided to return to coaching.
“He doesn’t do anything without a lot of thought, but then again I know how much he enjoys the game and the preparations ...,” Stoops said. “Coach is a great competitor, he’s a great coach. So in the end, that’s probably there and he’s thinking, ‘Hey, this is what I do.’ And he’s going to do it longer.”
THE SWIMMER
Knowing Snyder as well as he does, it didn’t take Stoops long to think of something that not many people know about Bill Snyder.
“Way back ... I think he was a swimmer,” Stoops said. “He liked to swim for exercise. Sorry, Coach. Hopefully he’s not mad that I let that out of the bag. I think it’s been a while though.”
Stoops realized that Snyder liked to swim when he visited him at his home in Manhattan, Kan., and saw a swimming lane installed in his pool.
WHO IS OKLAHOMA’S NO. 1 RUNNING BACK?
Dominique Whaley or Damien Williams?
The story of the running back who went from walkon to injured to scholarship player, or the story of the running back who went from junior college to Okla- homa history books in his first two games?
After two games, Whaley has 117 rushing yards. Williams has 259.
Who is Oklahoma’s No. 1 running back? Stoops won’t say. “What’s it matter?” Stoops said from the podium during his weekly press conference. “They’re both going to play and so is Brennan Clay.”
LOCKETT NAMED SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kansas State sophomore Tyler Lockett, a former Tulsa Washington standout, was named the Big 12 Conference’s Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday.
North Texas took an early 7-0 lead Saturday on the Wildcats, but Lockett returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. It was his third career kick return for a touchdown; he now sits alone in second place in K-State history. Lockett is two away from tying the school record.
He finished the night with 119 yards on two kickoff returns.
STOOPS JOKES THAT OU WON’T USE BELLDOZER
Stoops was asked Monday about the similarities between Kansas State quarterback Collin Kleinand OU’s backup, Bell.
“Blake is similar to him in that he’s a big guy, a strong guy,” Stoops said. “So, there’s similarities there.”
The Oklahoma coach admitted Klein was the inspiration for the shortyardage “Belldozer” package, in which the sophomore Bell enters games and plows ahead for first downs and touchdowns.
But Bell won’t play the role of Klein for the Sooners’ scout-team offense this week. True freshman- Trevor Knightis simulating Klein against OU’s firstteam defense.
“We’re not going live in practice,” Stoops said. “Trevor is perfectly capable of running in the same spaces as Collin Klein is gonna run in. We just have to make sure we’re there in those spaces with the discipline of our reads that we’re where we should be.
“Whether we tackle him or not doesn’t matter. We’re not tackling out there every day. If we did, I wouldn’t have anybody ready for Saturday.”
When asked if Bell will play Saturday against the Wildcats, Stoops joked: “No, we’re not going to use Blake anymore. We’re done with that package. Why don’t you put that out there.”
Through two games this season, OU has scored touchdowns on all 10 of its trips into the red zone, and none of them have been on Bell runs.
So does that fact have any bearing on future games, when Stoops is deciding whether to bring Bell in or not?
“Not really,” he said.
LANDRY JONES RELAXED DURING BYE WEEKEND
Like many college football enthusiasts who had Saturday off, Landry Jonessat down to watch an afternoon game.
But for a moment during Monday’s news conference, Jones had trouble recalling exactly which game it was.
“I watched a little bit of ... golly, who was it?” Jones said.
“I can’t remember who I watched, but I fell asleep right in the middle of it.”
A few moments later, he remembered.
“I didn’t watch USCStanford,” he said. “I watched a little bit of Alabama, but then, like I said, there was a little bit of a nap in there.”
No. 1 Alabama, of course, routed Arkansas 52-0 in Fayetteville. There were probably plenty of Razorbacks who wish they’d slept through the scoreless loss, too.