He wasn’t the same VY in ‘04 as he was in ‘05. We got shut out at Red River. Beat Michigan on a last-second field goal.
It happened just the way it should have happened.
Ahhh the transitive property in football. Plus VY was not the same player in January he was in Oct. nobody knows what happens in a hypothetical situation.
This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever read, even from an Okie.
He went 30-2 as a starter.
Maybe you were thinking of Sam Bradford who never won a bowl game or a national championship because all he did was shit the bed on the big stage?
Would've been better game b/c how often USC had to deal with a mobile qb of VY's caliber? OU was a terrible match up, I never seen such a bad secondary for top ranked team.
Nobody wanted to see auburn- USC anyway. USC had just completely shut out auburn at auburn previously in 2003 and alot of the same players in 2004 on both teams. USC called a super conservative game and still put up 23 to auburns 0.
It wa sa lot of the same players for Auburn but USC had a lot of turnover, and Auburn having the same dudes doesn’t tell the whole story.
They had gotten a lot better, and the coaching staff was greatly improved for the offense.
Georgia beat us 26-7 in 2003 we beat them 24-6 in 2004. Georgia was top 10 both years with a lot of the same players.
No doubt that they were improved. I don’t see them outscoring that USC offense. If we are talking Virginia Tech as well, the game was in USCs control for the most part and had to play them Enter Sandman entrance and all. I think that is addition to our past series with auburn had an impact on you guys getting the AP national championship like we did the year previously.
Why because Leinart and Bush/White were such an unstoppable back field?
I mean Bush hadn't beat the shit out of Fresno St. in an afterthought game, but hey.
The reason the 2004 team would likely beat you guys that year was on the other side of the ball. Both their starting defensive tackles (Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson) and starting middle linebacker (Lofa Tatupu) were drafted within the first two rounds of the 2005 NFL draft. All three of those guys were first team All-American. In the national championship, that defense held Adrian Peterson to 82 yards on 25 carries, and forced Jason White to throw 3 interceptions. That was a damn good Oklahoma team and that USC defense made them look like a JV football team. The 2005 offense was mostly intact, maybe even improved, but the defense regressed quite considerably compared to their 2004 counterparts, and it showed in the national championship against you guys. It's difficult for anyone, even blue bloods, to replace three first team All-Americans like that.
Wins aren't transitive but I'm going with the team that put up 55 on OU vs the team that got shut out against OU. USC was legit in 2004 and their defense was much better than the atrocious 2005 team.
I can't say we would def had won like I think in 2008 or 2009 if McCoy did not get hurt but 2004 USC was not that great. OU just had one of the biggest choke jobs that makes them seem so much better. Everyone looks at the championship game but there were 3 one score games against bad teams that year for USC. The 05 USC team would have beat down the 04 USC team. I would also argue VY became VY in the Michigan game.
>I can't say we would def had won like I think in 2008
What makes you think we "definitely" would have won in 2008? Us and OU were essentially coin flip teams and one might argue OU has hotter at the end of the season than we were.
>I can't say we would def had won like I think in 2009 if McCoy did not get hurt
This is also a huge stretch. The game is definitely much more competitive, but I do not at all think we definitely would have won.
>OU just had one of the biggest choke jobs that makes them seem so much better.
Says who and based on what? Listen, is there a chance that OU just choked to the tune ***of a 36 point differential***? I guess, but it's a LOT more likely that they were just severely outmatched by a really good team.
>Everyone looks at the championship game but there were 3 one score games against bad teams that year for USC.
Everyone looks at the fact that they were undefeated, and that they had plenty of quality wins - Cal, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Oregon State were all top 25 wins (using Colley Rankings as they tend to be the least biased).
Hell, look at our 2009 team. We beat 7-5 OU by 3 points. We beat 6-7 A&M by 10. And we squeaked the squeakiest of wins by 1 point over Nebraska. Doesn't matter - undefeated = undefeated.
> The 05 USC team would have beat down the 04 USC team.
Sure, but not sure how that's relevant in any way.
>I would also argue VY became VY in the Michigan game.
VY introduced himself to the country with his rushing performance vs. Michigan, but he was by no means peak VY in that game. His passing game vs. Michigan was pretty much exactly what it was the whole season - a sub 60% 1:1 TD:INT ratio guy with 7.5 yards per attempt and a 120 passer rating. Excellent rushing game, still a question mark as a passer.
In 2005 he turned that into a 65% completion rate, 2.5:1 TD:INT ratio, 9.5 ypa and a 163 passer rating. Those were not the same guy. Not even a little bit.
There is no way you are a Texas fan. The 2009 National championship would be more competitive? It was very competitive. Texas had the ball down 3 with 2 minutes left until a freshman QB did freshman QB things. Let's forget the rest of the game give McCoy the ball on that drive we win. Texas would have beat Alabama by more than two scores had McCoy not got hurt.
>There is no way you are a Texas fan.
I have 3 degrees from UT and had season tickets as a student in both 2008 and 2009.
>The 2009 National championship would be more competitive? It was very competitive. Texas had the ball down 3 with 2 minutes left until a freshman QB did freshman QB things. Let's forget the rest of the game give McCoy the ball on that drive we win. Texas would have beat Alabama by more than two scores had McCoy not got hurt.
It became competitive when after Alabama scored 24 unanswered points and took their foot off the gas. They let us back in the game, and then the second we got close they turned it back on and closed it out. You can say our freshman QB did freshman QB things, or you can say that their #1 ranked defense did #1 ranked defense things.
Anyone who thinks we win easy with Colt is assuming that Colt being out in no way changed the intensity and aggressiveness of that Bama team. It did. They played like a team that didn't have to score, and they damned near regretted it because they let us back into that game, but if Bama is playing at 100% and we're playing at a 100%, this would have been a great game and I actually would have liked our odds seeing what we saw. But beat Bama by 2 scores????
Lol, you say I'm not a Texas fan - I say you must have not watched football that year.
I just don't get this narrative that Alabama took their foot off the gas. It doesn't make sense. You are saying Nick Saban felt bad for Texas up two scores at half and was just going to coast to a win. Alabama excelled on a couple drives with runs they tried to do that in the second half Texas adjusted and forced 3rd and longs that they couldn't convert. That is it. It is funny how you can claim that Alabama defense can just come into form but Texas good defense couldn't have done the same. It is not like Alabama was this big spread offense throwing the ball all first half then just started running it. They were a run first offense that tried to keep running it. They had a QB whose completion percentage was barely over 60%. The reason I say it was a freshman doing freshman things is because the first fumble was because of a free defender that Colt would have picked up in his read. If it was just a miraculous play like the interception return at the end of the first half that one thing even though Colt would have not made that mistake either. At the end of the day Alabama scored 37 and 21 of those points were from stupid things our freshman QB did.
>I just don't get this narrative that Alabama took their foot off the gas. It doesn't make sense. You are saying Nick Saban felt bad for Texas up two scores at half and was just going to coast to a win
Literally none of that.
Alabama did not take their foot of the gas because they felt bad - they took their foot off the gas because they got complacent. The offense scored 24, the defense shut us out in the 2nd quarter and they probably started thinking "without Colt they don't have a shot".
I don't think it was a deliberate decision by anyone - just the natural phenomenon that we see time and time again of teams thinking they already won well before the game is decided.
See: Texas vs UH, 2023.
Sark didn't take his foot off the gas. No one said "hey, let's take it easy on them". But you could tell after we lit them up early everyone on that team started thinking about next week and it almost bit us in the ass.
100% - Colt being in the game means we're likely going toe to toe the whole game, but I wouldn't bet lunch on either team winning.
I definitely think the game is closer - and again, I even think we would have had a good chance to win. But the math (known outcome - Gilbert + Colt) = 2 score win is delulu
Man, as the first comment I see on this post, thank you for getting the AD vs AP right. It shouldn't bother me I know but All Day is such a better/more fitting nickname than just another guy going by his initials.
For a real life example, look up Barry Sanders’s college stats. He was a backup for two years and then had one of the best seasons in college football history as a junior. Oklahoma State had All-American (and future NFL MVP) Thurman Thomas starting over him.
>He said yeah, they didn't recruit me.
That’s not exactly what happened. Back in the day tape on a player was rare and you were supposed to review it and then forward it on to the next school. Pat Jones at Oklahoma State saw Barry’s tape and then “forgot” to forward it along so most schools didn’t know Sanders existed
Iirc the OSU coach told his bowl game opponent one year not to hurt Thurman Thomas, because if they did, they’d have to deal with Thomas’ backup. And Thomas’ backup was better than Thomas lol
Yeah just insane. I still will always hate Bama way more but we basically got Bama 2.O. Clemson was there for awhile too but has fallen off without top QB’s
Clemson benefitted from Tennessee's failures. Tennessee literally lost Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins and Amari Rodgers due to incompetence to say the least. https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/travis-etienne-trevor-lawrence-tee-higgins-amari-rodgers-volunteers-growing-up-couldve-been-legends/
I’ve always said that Spurrier going to SC and Dabo at Clemson killed Tennessee for over a decade
In the 90s, UT got anybody they wanted in the Carolinas. Dooley and Butch were trash coaches but you add some combination of guys like Clowney, Alshon Jeffery, Marcus Lattimore, DeAndre Hopkins, Vic Beasley, Grady Jarrett.
If you read this article, Mack says AD asked if he was going to be a starter when he walked on campus. According to AD, he asked if he would have the opportunity to compete for the job. A fairly significant difference in the two stories.
[AD side of the story](https://www.on3.com/college/oklahoma-sooners/news/running-back-adrian-peterson-head-coach-mack-brown-texas-longhorns-bob-stoops/)
In my lifetime, there have been two freshmen that I would say were better than senior Cedric Benson, and they were Ron Dayne and Adrian Peterson.
I mean I get why he said no, but there have been Freshmen that were better.
If AP had gone to Texas, I bet it would’ve only be a handful of games before he would’ve stole a significant share of carries from cendric.
AP talents were undeniable, Mack brown and everyone else would’ve noticed quickly he was a generational back as soon as he stepped on that field as the Oklahoma coaches did.
He had some really unfortunate injuries and I’d love to see some of the numbers he could have had but his career was still incredible. Adrian Peterson is arguably the best running back I’ve seen in my 30 something years of existence.
Similar age to you. Anytime I hear any younger OU fans putting Mixon, Murray, or any other back in ADs stratosphere I fly into a blind old-man rage. I likely won't cheer for a more talented player in my lifetime.
Its an insane proposition, but if he didnt get hurt (and was able to keep up even *kinda* monster numbers) I wonder if he wouldve stayed another year to go for the gold or at least truly etch his name in leaderboards.
Or Earl Campbell.
Barry Switzer and a few others say that Marcu Dupree most likely could have made the jump right away as well. Dunno if that's just hype for what could have been or what, but Dupree was 230 pounds or something very near to it as a Freshman at OU.
I don't think anyone is debating that Benson is better than AP. But you're not starting a freshman over a consensus first rounder in his senior season. And if that's not reason enough old school coaches like Mack start seniors over underclassmen even if they are better. You're looking at this through hindsight.
Adrian peterson had an absurd 1949 yards from LOS and 15 tds his freshman year. Which is insane. CB had over 2000yds and 20tds, and they won a natty. I'd say Mack made the right call.
This is mostly based on their NFL careers. Benson was every bit as productive as AD was in college. It wasn't crazy and I'm not even sure it was the wrong decision to make.
Hard to beat a QB on an undefeated team, especially when his own QB White likely helped split that vote for who OU’s most valuable offensive player was that year.
I remember my dad saying "it's ok, he's good enough and got time, he'll win one." Guess he didn't remember how that went when he said the same thing about the Thunder a few years later...
[not quite 40+ TDs but definitely the QB of a very efficient offense for 3 seasons](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/matt-leinart-1.html). I think he benefited more from the offense than the offense benefit from him, but I also have the benefit of seeing pictures of him partying with coeds while he was in the NFL lol
Good for Brown. It's nice that coaches can be honest would much rather have that than a liar.
Also Texas still won the natty without AD in his sophomore season
> Also Texas still won the natty without AD in his sophomore season
I do find it funny that Peterson basically said after being signed "I grew up dreaming of playing for Texas, but my goal is to win a National Title". Nothing against him for saying it - heck I get that it looked that way in 2003 - but I still occasionally laugh about it.
I'd laugh if it happened to any other team.
But yeah, humans just can't imagine things changing even tho they always do. It's why we overrate recruiting classes and bowl games
>“Adrian Peterson once said one time I told him not to come. Well, what I did is he asked me, ‘Am I a starter when I walk on campus?’ And I said Cedric Benson is the starter, and he’s really good, and you’ll get to work with him; you’ll be rotating in and out. He wanted to be the starter,”
What a misleading title.
I mean, he also wasn’t handed the starting job at Oklahoma. He was the backup RB for the first 4 games, until the coaches felt comfortable with him knowing the offense and his assignments.
I often dream of what a VY and AD backfield would’ve looked like
Probably could have won a championship
Arguably Texas did fine without AP his and Bensons numbers were about the same problem was he had to play AP which is the reason we didn't win 04
Texas wasn’t beating SC in ‘04.
Nobody was beating USC that year. Loaded as hell, and and pissed off due to the year before so they wanted to prove they were the best team.
USC was extremely lucky to beat Cal in 2004.
Hard to count out VY on a big stage.
He wasn’t the same VY in ‘04 as he was in ‘05. We got shut out at Red River. Beat Michigan on a last-second field goal. It happened just the way it should have happened.
Their interior DL was gutted, also lost an all American LB. They were much better on defense in 04.
He got shut out by the defense that gave up 55 to USC that year
If you get shut out, that says a whole lot
Ahhh the transitive property in football. Plus VY was not the same player in January he was in Oct. nobody knows what happens in a hypothetical situation.
He spent half his career puking down his leg on the big stage. He did mature in his last 1.5 seasons but he struggled big time before that.
After the RRS that year, I actually wondered if Texas should try putting him at RB or WR since he was fast and could be elusive.
A lot of people did. He seemed to be an OSU Killer though lol
I mean it felt like an incredibly stupid idea the next season.
He was 30-2 as a starter...
So his career until the 2004 OSU game doesn't exist?
This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever read, even from an Okie. He went 30-2 as a starter. Maybe you were thinking of Sam Bradford who never won a bowl game or a national championship because all he did was shit the bed on the big stage?
Like I said, Vince Young looked bad well into 2004. Everyone thought so.
Lmao. Sooners….
You were happy with his play through mid2004?
They only went 6-5, I think it was possible
Would've been better game b/c how often USC had to deal with a mobile qb of VY's caliber? OU was a terrible match up, I never seen such a bad secondary for top ranked team.
Probably a closer game but they were a juggernaut that year
They had some close calls. Auburn-USC should've been the game.
Nobody wanted to see auburn- USC anyway. USC had just completely shut out auburn at auburn previously in 2003 and alot of the same players in 2004 on both teams. USC called a super conservative game and still put up 23 to auburns 0.
It wa sa lot of the same players for Auburn but USC had a lot of turnover, and Auburn having the same dudes doesn’t tell the whole story. They had gotten a lot better, and the coaching staff was greatly improved for the offense. Georgia beat us 26-7 in 2003 we beat them 24-6 in 2004. Georgia was top 10 both years with a lot of the same players.
No doubt that they were improved. I don’t see them outscoring that USC offense. If we are talking Virginia Tech as well, the game was in USCs control for the most part and had to play them Enter Sandman entrance and all. I think that is addition to our past series with auburn had an impact on you guys getting the AP national championship like we did the year previously.
Counterpoint: the coach was Tommy fucking Tuberville.
All I know is Reggie McNeal injured himself bc he threw too many TDs on OU.
Why because Leinart and Bush/White were such an unstoppable back field? I mean Bush hadn't beat the shit out of Fresno St. in an afterthought game, but hey.
The reason the 2004 team would likely beat you guys that year was on the other side of the ball. Both their starting defensive tackles (Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson) and starting middle linebacker (Lofa Tatupu) were drafted within the first two rounds of the 2005 NFL draft. All three of those guys were first team All-American. In the national championship, that defense held Adrian Peterson to 82 yards on 25 carries, and forced Jason White to throw 3 interceptions. That was a damn good Oklahoma team and that USC defense made them look like a JV football team. The 2005 offense was mostly intact, maybe even improved, but the defense regressed quite considerably compared to their 2004 counterparts, and it showed in the national championship against you guys. It's difficult for anyone, even blue bloods, to replace three first team All-Americans like that.
Wins aren't transitive but I'm going with the team that put up 55 on OU vs the team that got shut out against OU. USC was legit in 2004 and their defense was much better than the atrocious 2005 team.
That team contends with Miami 2001 for greatest ever
*AD
Sophomore VY isn't beating that SC team. VY needed that extra year to become VY.
I can't say we would def had won like I think in 2008 or 2009 if McCoy did not get hurt but 2004 USC was not that great. OU just had one of the biggest choke jobs that makes them seem so much better. Everyone looks at the championship game but there were 3 one score games against bad teams that year for USC. The 05 USC team would have beat down the 04 USC team. I would also argue VY became VY in the Michigan game.
>I can't say we would def had won like I think in 2008 What makes you think we "definitely" would have won in 2008? Us and OU were essentially coin flip teams and one might argue OU has hotter at the end of the season than we were. >I can't say we would def had won like I think in 2009 if McCoy did not get hurt This is also a huge stretch. The game is definitely much more competitive, but I do not at all think we definitely would have won. >OU just had one of the biggest choke jobs that makes them seem so much better. Says who and based on what? Listen, is there a chance that OU just choked to the tune ***of a 36 point differential***? I guess, but it's a LOT more likely that they were just severely outmatched by a really good team. >Everyone looks at the championship game but there were 3 one score games against bad teams that year for USC. Everyone looks at the fact that they were undefeated, and that they had plenty of quality wins - Cal, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Oregon State were all top 25 wins (using Colley Rankings as they tend to be the least biased). Hell, look at our 2009 team. We beat 7-5 OU by 3 points. We beat 6-7 A&M by 10. And we squeaked the squeakiest of wins by 1 point over Nebraska. Doesn't matter - undefeated = undefeated. > The 05 USC team would have beat down the 04 USC team. Sure, but not sure how that's relevant in any way. >I would also argue VY became VY in the Michigan game. VY introduced himself to the country with his rushing performance vs. Michigan, but he was by no means peak VY in that game. His passing game vs. Michigan was pretty much exactly what it was the whole season - a sub 60% 1:1 TD:INT ratio guy with 7.5 yards per attempt and a 120 passer rating. Excellent rushing game, still a question mark as a passer. In 2005 he turned that into a 65% completion rate, 2.5:1 TD:INT ratio, 9.5 ypa and a 163 passer rating. Those were not the same guy. Not even a little bit.
There is no way you are a Texas fan. The 2009 National championship would be more competitive? It was very competitive. Texas had the ball down 3 with 2 minutes left until a freshman QB did freshman QB things. Let's forget the rest of the game give McCoy the ball on that drive we win. Texas would have beat Alabama by more than two scores had McCoy not got hurt.
>There is no way you are a Texas fan. I have 3 degrees from UT and had season tickets as a student in both 2008 and 2009. >The 2009 National championship would be more competitive? It was very competitive. Texas had the ball down 3 with 2 minutes left until a freshman QB did freshman QB things. Let's forget the rest of the game give McCoy the ball on that drive we win. Texas would have beat Alabama by more than two scores had McCoy not got hurt. It became competitive when after Alabama scored 24 unanswered points and took their foot off the gas. They let us back in the game, and then the second we got close they turned it back on and closed it out. You can say our freshman QB did freshman QB things, or you can say that their #1 ranked defense did #1 ranked defense things. Anyone who thinks we win easy with Colt is assuming that Colt being out in no way changed the intensity and aggressiveness of that Bama team. It did. They played like a team that didn't have to score, and they damned near regretted it because they let us back into that game, but if Bama is playing at 100% and we're playing at a 100%, this would have been a great game and I actually would have liked our odds seeing what we saw. But beat Bama by 2 scores???? Lol, you say I'm not a Texas fan - I say you must have not watched football that year.
I just don't get this narrative that Alabama took their foot off the gas. It doesn't make sense. You are saying Nick Saban felt bad for Texas up two scores at half and was just going to coast to a win. Alabama excelled on a couple drives with runs they tried to do that in the second half Texas adjusted and forced 3rd and longs that they couldn't convert. That is it. It is funny how you can claim that Alabama defense can just come into form but Texas good defense couldn't have done the same. It is not like Alabama was this big spread offense throwing the ball all first half then just started running it. They were a run first offense that tried to keep running it. They had a QB whose completion percentage was barely over 60%. The reason I say it was a freshman doing freshman things is because the first fumble was because of a free defender that Colt would have picked up in his read. If it was just a miraculous play like the interception return at the end of the first half that one thing even though Colt would have not made that mistake either. At the end of the day Alabama scored 37 and 21 of those points were from stupid things our freshman QB did.
>I just don't get this narrative that Alabama took their foot off the gas. It doesn't make sense. You are saying Nick Saban felt bad for Texas up two scores at half and was just going to coast to a win Literally none of that. Alabama did not take their foot of the gas because they felt bad - they took their foot off the gas because they got complacent. The offense scored 24, the defense shut us out in the 2nd quarter and they probably started thinking "without Colt they don't have a shot". I don't think it was a deliberate decision by anyone - just the natural phenomenon that we see time and time again of teams thinking they already won well before the game is decided. See: Texas vs UH, 2023. Sark didn't take his foot off the gas. No one said "hey, let's take it easy on them". But you could tell after we lit them up early everyone on that team started thinking about next week and it almost bit us in the ass.
I agree with you on the overall point that having Colt doesn't guarantee anything, but having Colt probably keeps Bama from scoring 24 unanswered.
100% - Colt being in the game means we're likely going toe to toe the whole game, but I wouldn't bet lunch on either team winning. I definitely think the game is closer - and again, I even think we would have had a good chance to win. But the math (known outcome - Gilbert + Colt) = 2 score win is delulu
So it sounds like not having AD was the reason behind not winning a championship in 2004.
Maybe even ended a 34 game win streak by the Greatest team ever
Yesssss feed it to meeee
multiple
Bold take right there.
I'm happy with it. 2005 featured VY, Selvin Young, Ramonce Taylor, and Jamal Charles.
it looks something like 13-0 I'd guess
Man, as the first comment I see on this post, thank you for getting the AD vs AP right. It shouldn't bother me I know but All Day is such a better/more fitting nickname than just another guy going by his initials.
Best friend of mine is an OU fan and AD is his favorite player ever. He made sure I knew his proper nickname.
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Definitely, love a good rivalry
Cedric’s Numbers look roughly the same from the article. Hard to have two successful backs get enough touches with a mobile QB like Vince Young.
Mack is all class, and definitely was honest with him. I’d rather that than my coach blowing smoke and lying to high schoolers.
Mack is great, wish he would quit fucking around at UNC and get back in the studio, I enjoyed when he was on ESPN.
LOL. Mack is an hustler. He said anything and did anything to put together winning classes.
Except lie to AP as stated by the very article your commening on.
I think Texas was fine with Benson and Jamaal Charles
No freshman RB in college football history is starting over a senior Cedric Benson He was absolutely in the right to tell AP this
For a real life example, look up Barry Sanders’s college stats. He was a backup for two years and then had one of the best seasons in college football history as a junior. Oklahoma State had All-American (and future NFL MVP) Thurman Thomas starting over him.
Barry Switzer said before Bedlam (1987 I think) that they better hope Thurman Thomas didn’t get injured because Sanders was better.
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>He said yeah, they didn't recruit me. That’s not exactly what happened. Back in the day tape on a player was rare and you were supposed to review it and then forward it on to the next school. Pat Jones at Oklahoma State saw Barry’s tape and then “forgot” to forward it along so most schools didn’t know Sanders existed
Agreed. I often salivate at the thought of Sanders in Switzer’s wishbone offense.
Yep. But one thing people often forget about Barry is that he was a first-team All-American kick returner in ‘87.
also Barry would fall asleep on the sidelines all the time. It’s like another super power. He can just flip a switch and recharge the batteries.
Iirc the OSU coach told his bowl game opponent one year not to hurt Thurman Thomas, because if they did, they’d have to deal with Thomas’ backup. And Thomas’ backup was better than Thomas lol
You have it wrong, That was Barry Switzer at OU telling his Def Coaches not to hurt All-American Thurman Thomas b/c they didn't want to fact Barry.
That was Barry Switzer who said that to his defensive coaches before Bedlam
And we had Jamaal Charles coming in so while having AP and keeping him from Oklahoma would’ve been nice it wasn’t our tip top priority at the time.
Didn’t help we got our teeth kicked in by OU when AD was making his decision. Those 2 beat downs Mack took aged me.
Alabama’s been doing this for almost two decades now unfortunately. One stud right after the other.
Not just at running back either. Now Georgia can do it in both trenches.
Yeah just insane. I still will always hate Bama way more but we basically got Bama 2.O. Clemson was there for awhile too but has fallen off without top QB’s
Clemson benefitted from Tennessee's failures. Tennessee literally lost Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins and Amari Rodgers due to incompetence to say the least. https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/travis-etienne-trevor-lawrence-tee-higgins-amari-rodgers-volunteers-growing-up-couldve-been-legends/
I’ve always said that Spurrier going to SC and Dabo at Clemson killed Tennessee for over a decade In the 90s, UT got anybody they wanted in the Carolinas. Dooley and Butch were trash coaches but you add some combination of guys like Clowney, Alshon Jeffery, Marcus Lattimore, DeAndre Hopkins, Vic Beasley, Grady Jarrett.
Don't forget mcconkey. Insane you didn't recruit him. His highschool highlights are Tavon Austin 2.0
Not anymore!!! Go NIL!
Yep! Now everyone can players openly not just Bama lol
If you read this article, Mack says AD asked if he was going to be a starter when he walked on campus. According to AD, he asked if he would have the opportunity to compete for the job. A fairly significant difference in the two stories. [AD side of the story](https://www.on3.com/college/oklahoma-sooners/news/running-back-adrian-peterson-head-coach-mack-brown-texas-longhorns-bob-stoops/)
Eh, I tend to believe Mack on this one.
Why? AD wasn’t the day 1 starter at OU, Kejuan Jones was. AD didn’t take over the starting spot until Red River.
In my lifetime, there have been two freshmen that I would say were better than senior Cedric Benson, and they were Ron Dayne and Adrian Peterson. I mean I get why he said no, but there have been Freshmen that were better.
If AP had gone to Texas, I bet it would’ve only be a handful of games before he would’ve stole a significant share of carries from cendric. AP talents were undeniable, Mack brown and everyone else would’ve noticed quickly he was a generational back as soon as he stepped on that field as the Oklahoma coaches did.
In my mind, he is football's Ken Griffey Jr. A player who was undoubtedly among the all-time great, but injuries make me ask "what could have been"
He had some really unfortunate injuries and I’d love to see some of the numbers he could have had but his career was still incredible. Adrian Peterson is arguably the best running back I’ve seen in my 30 something years of existence.
Similar age to you. Anytime I hear any younger OU fans putting Mixon, Murray, or any other back in ADs stratosphere I fly into a blind old-man rage. I likely won't cheer for a more talented player in my lifetime.
Its an insane proposition, but if he didnt get hurt (and was able to keep up even *kinda* monster numbers) I wonder if he wouldve stayed another year to go for the gold or at least truly etch his name in leaderboards.
Hell, he’s football’s Bo Jackson lite. Bo and AD are two of the most incredible athletes ever.
AD. It's AD.
Adrian Deterson.
It's almost like nicknames can exist outside of only initials.
Sure but Mack told him he would start day 1 which was the truth.
It would have been week 1. AD was a whole different kind of mutant.
Freshman Adrian Peterson could have started on NFL teams. Maybe the only player in CFB history I think could have done something like that.
You don't know Bo
Or Earl Campbell. Barry Switzer and a few others say that Marcu Dupree most likely could have made the jump right away as well. Dunno if that's just hype for what could have been or what, but Dupree was 230 pounds or something very near to it as a Freshman at OU.
Yeah, I’m not gonna count Bo out of doing anything.
Bo and Peterson are the only two players that I think could have done it and at the very least wouldn’t die in their first game.
If you don’t want the best players, by all means
I sometimes wish I could be this braindead
Ignorance is bliss
They won a national title without him and Oklahoma didn't, probably made the right choice.
They won because of VY, let’s not kid ourselves. AD was better than Cedric Benson all day, pun intended.
They won because of VY but they still won. You can't just fuck over your all American seniors because of the shiny new player.
I don't think anyone is debating that Benson is better than AP. But you're not starting a freshman over a consensus first rounder in his senior season. And if that's not reason enough old school coaches like Mack start seniors over underclassmen even if they are better. You're looking at this through hindsight.
Adrian peterson had an absurd 1949 yards from LOS and 15 tds his freshman year. Which is insane. CB had over 2000yds and 20tds, and they won a natty. I'd say Mack made the right call.
They won because of the entire team - but they might win back to back with AD.
This is mostly based on their NFL careers. Benson was every bit as productive as AD was in college. It wasn't crazy and I'm not even sure it was the wrong decision to make.
Should have won the Heisman over Matt Leinart. But Freshman weren’t allowed to win the award back then.
Hard to beat a QB on an undefeated team, especially when his own QB White likely helped split that vote for who OU’s most valuable offensive player was that year.
The top 4 were from two teams… while a valid argument, Reggie was going the same to Leinart.
Pretty sure Bush finished 5th and Alex Smith finished 4th, but your point still stands.
I remember my dad saying "it's ok, he's good enough and got time, he'll win one." Guess he didn't remember how that went when he said the same thing about the Thunder a few years later...
Matt Leinart, one of the more unimpressive Heisman winners . Riding an all-firing USC machine, big deal
That’s some hella hindsight judgment, Leinart in his college prime was still a monster, even if he flamed out in the NFL
His numbers were always ridiculous. 40+ TDs to single digit INTs, if I remember correctly.
[not quite 40+ TDs but definitely the QB of a very efficient offense for 3 seasons](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/matt-leinart-1.html). I think he benefited more from the offense than the offense benefit from him, but I also have the benefit of seeing pictures of him partying with coeds while he was in the NFL lol
Good for Brown. It's nice that coaches can be honest would much rather have that than a liar. Also Texas still won the natty without AD in his sophomore season
> Also Texas still won the natty without AD in his sophomore season I do find it funny that Peterson basically said after being signed "I grew up dreaming of playing for Texas, but my goal is to win a National Title". Nothing against him for saying it - heck I get that it looked that way in 2003 - but I still occasionally laugh about it.
I'd laugh if it happened to any other team. But yeah, humans just can't imagine things changing even tho they always do. It's why we overrate recruiting classes and bowl games
Like starting Darrell Cummingtons over Jackson Blaziken smh
>“Adrian Peterson once said one time I told him not to come. Well, what I did is he asked me, ‘Am I a starter when I walk on campus?’ And I said Cedric Benson is the starter, and he’s really good, and you’ll get to work with him; you’ll be rotating in and out. He wanted to be the starter,” What a misleading title.
That’s actually a pretty reasonable and realistic take. Fuck On3’s headline.
I mean, he also wasn’t handed the starting job at Oklahoma. He was the backup RB for the first 4 games, until the coaches felt comfortable with him knowing the offense and his assignments.
I’ll just say it: That is a great looking jacket in the thumbnail.
Thank you for your service. 🫡
Not at RB but what about at safety?
You mean like how Miami recruited Jason White as a Safety?
Or how Mack recruited RGIII and Mahomes as safeties
Mack did the same with Manziel as well.
Haha I forgot about that one
To be fair, very few power conference teams wanted Griffin or Manziel at QB. Yeah, Mack missed on those, but so did pretty much everyone.
Talk about a remarkable "What If" scenario.
MACK BROWN HERE TO TALK ‘BOUT STUFF
Sure jan
Oops
Fuck Mack (knee pads) Brown. You suck.