Bob and Mack: 15 years across the Red River.

Bob Stoops

Mack Brown

This Saturday will mark the 108th meeting between Oklahoma and Texas in the Red River Rivalry. This game will be number 16 for Texas head coach Mack Brown and the 15th between Brown and Sooner head coach Bob Stoops. National Championships aside, the Texas game is the standard by which OU coaches are judged. Stoops has a 9-5 edge over Brown in this game and an OU victory on Saturday will give Bob 10 wins against Texas, something Sooner legends Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer never did.

Mack Brown will likely be coaching his last OU/Texas game this week as it looks like he will be out as Texas coach at seasons end. Browns looming departure prompted a look back at the two head coaches and what effect one has had on the other, over the last 15 years, as they have led two of the most prominent college football programs in the country.

Wins and Losses:

Overall, very little separates the two when it comes to winning and losing. Since arriving in Austin in 1998,  the Longhorns have posted a 153-45 (77%) record. During the same time frame, Oklahoma was 159-43 (79%). Pretty even. However, It gets interesting when you start to look deeper in to the seasons and time periods. For instance, head to head over the last 15 years, Stoops is 154-37 (81%) while Mack is 144-42 (77%).  But, during the decade from 2000-2009 Mack was 110-19 (85%) and Bob was 110-24 (82%). Clearly the OU National Championship in 2000 affected Mack Brown. Mack won 9 games in each of his first three seasons or, until Stoops won his National Championship in 2000. From 2001 to 2009, Texas had double digit wins every season including two seasons with 13. In 2005 the Longhorns finished 13-0 and won the National title. That same season, Oklahoma fell to 8-4.  The Longhorns reached the National title game again in 2009 but lost. Since the 2009 season, Texas is only 25-18 (58%) while the Sooners have gone 37-8 (82%). While both coaches are winners, Stoops has the edge in consistency.

Championships:

Both Coaches have a National Title. Stoops in 2000 and Brown in 2005. However, Stoops is 1-3 in BCS Championship games, Brown is 1-1. In overall bowl championships Brown has a record of 9-4 and Stoops is 7-7. Oklahoma has qualified for a bowl game in each of Stoops seasons, Texas missed qualifying in 2010 when they finished 5-7. The conference championships are no match. Oklahoma under Bob Stoops has played for 8 Big 12 titles winning 6 outright, and sharing the 2012 title with KSU. During Mack Browns tenure Texas has played for, and won, only 2 Big 12 titles.

The Red River Rivalry:

In the previous 14 years Bob Stoops is 9-5 in the OU/Texas game. Mack Brown started a year before Stoops and has a 6-9 record in the series. Stoops has a 5 game win streak in the series and a win this year will give him the last four in a row. Barry Switzer won four in a row twice. Bud Wilkinson won 5 in a row once during his tenure. Mack Brown has had three win streaks of 2.  At Oklahoma and Texas, the head coach is judged by what they do in this series. John Blake had a horrid career at OU but, despite going 3-8 in 1996, he beat Texas. Over the next two season Blake continued to improve winning 4 games in 1997 and 5 in 1998 but he lost both seasons to Texas leading to his termination in 1998 and the subsequent hiring of Bob Stoops. Mack Browns losing record against Oklahoma is an aberration in the series. The four previous Texas coaches had a combined 23-15-3 record against the Sooners and none had a losing record. You have to go back to Ed Price, Texas head coach from 1951-1956 to find a Texas coach with a losing record (1-5) against OU. A win Saturday, and Bob Stoops will have the best record of any OU head coach in the series. In Oklahoma's 9 victories under Stoops the Sooners have outscored the Longhorns by an average of 40-15 or, by 25 points per game. In the 5 victories posted by Texas the average score has been 34-20 or a differential of 14 points per game. When OU wins they are usually dominant. The Sooners under Stoops exceeded 50 points scored on four occasions and exceeded 60 three times, including the all time record score of 65-13 in 2003. The Longhorns scored 45 twice and their largest margin of victory was 45-12 in their National Championship season of 2005.

Its clear that Bob Stoops and Mack Brown are both quality coaches. Stoops is certainly more consistent and probably would have enjoyed the same success against any Texas coach. Mack Brown probably wishes John Blake had hung around a couple of more years. As for the Rivalry, the biggest difference for both coaches was the play of their quarterbacks. Mack enjoyed most of his success with Vince Young and Colt McCoy at quarterback. Had Mack not insisted on playing Chris Sims over Major Applewhite early in the series, it might have been closer. Since the departure of Colt McCoy, the Longhorns have struggled at quarterback and on defense. The lack of production on one side of the ball typically hurts the teams performance on the other side.  Bob has always focused his teams on strong quarterback play, a sound running game and a solid defense. With the exception of the Rhett Bomar era, OU has had a full stable of quality quarterbacks and has always been able to reboot at running back, often by committee. Defensively,  the Sooners have faltered in recent years. However, Bob recognized the changing game, made the necessary adjustments and the defense is again a strength of the team. Stoops has been consistent with decision making, easily admits mistakes and has adapted well to the constantly changing game. Mack's lack of ability to make sound decisions, admit bad moves and adapt to a changing era in college football has left him in the dust.

Bob and Mack have won a lot of football games and have played on the biggest of stages. despite both playing for, and winning National Championships, it is clear that their biggest stage is the Cotton Bowl. Remove or reverse the Red River Rivalry and the two head coaches are pretty even. Unfortunately, its evident that the biggest difference between Bob and Mack is how their teams fared against each other, every fall, on an October Saturday, at the Texas State Fair.