Cavalier Corner Digital

✦ top storylines: notre dame vs. Oklahoma By Lou Somogyi "We had one of, probably, the best bye weeks that I've been a part of as far as practice-wise went," Sooners senior fullback Trey Millard told The Oklahoman when asked about his team's preparation for Notre Dame. "We had a lot of good on good, just knowing that the competition is going to be good again this weekend and we would have to come out and compete." Fifth-year senior center Gabe Ikard said they had a good chance to work against Notre Dame's three-man front alignment. "Had a couple of the hardest practices of the year," Ikard told The Oklahoman. "I thought we got better." 'Bye' The Numbers How many times has it been said, "Give Nick Saban, or Urban Meyer, extra time to prepare, and they will use that to their advantage to beat you"? Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma staff will have that supposed edge against Notre Dame by coming off a bye week Sept. 21. With a career record of 152-37 (.804 winning percentage) in 15 seasons at Oklahoma, eight Bowl Championship Series bids, four appearances in the BCS National Championship Game and a national title in just his second season with the Sooners (2000), Stoops has earned the right to be ranked among the handful of current elite Football Bowl Subdivision coaches. "Bob Stoops' program has been a benchmark for consistency and success," said Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, who is 1-1 versus Stoops, a 52-26 loss at Norman, Okla., while at Cincinnati in 2008 and the 30-13 victory last season. It speaks to the job Stoops has done when back-to-back 10-3 seasons the past two years are deemed as disappointments and evidence that his best days might be behind him, similar to Lou Holtz's last three seasons at Notre Dame (1994-96) when he was 23-11-1 with no top-10 finishes. In fact, after starting his career 9-0 after bye weeks during the season, Stoops is 3-3 since 2009 when coming off a bye week, with losses at Miami (21-20 in 2009), at Baylor (45-38 in 2011) and at home last year to Kansas State (24-19) in a Big 12 showdown. The highlight the past five years after a bye week was the 23-13 victory at Florida State in 2011. However, Stoops did bristle during a recent press conference when asked about the idea that Notre Dame might not be Physically Challenged Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, who owns a career mark of 12-3 after a bye, had an extra week to prepare for Notre Dame. photo courtesy oklahoma as difficult a challenge this season after a sputtering start, plus Oklahoma's extra time to prepare. "How could going to Notre Dame be easy?" Stoops shot back. "At the end of the day, that's ridiculous. They're an in- credibly great, physical football team. Great quarterback play. Tough and good. It'll be a huge challenge." Even with the extra week to prepare — which hasn't necessarily been beneficial to the Sooners in recent years. ✦ Page 8 There is one stat from Notre Dame's 30‑13 victory at Oklahoma last year that raises the hackles in Bob Stoops: The Fighting Irish totaled 215 rushing yards compared to the Sooners' 15. Even taking away the sacks of graduated quarterback Landry Jones, Oklahoma's 20 rushing plays netted only 50 yards. Notre Dame physically dominated the line of scrimmage — although Stoops might remain a little defiant about how the game played out. "We'll see," said Stoops during the bye week prior to playing Notre Dame. "Last year, it was a 13-13 game into the fourth quarter, they got the one long run [Cierre Wood's 62-yard touchdown in the first quarter]. But it wasn't like they ran the football all day going up and down the field. They made some critical plays down the stretch, and we didn't." With the score knotted at 13 after Oklahoma quarterback Blake Bell's one-yard TD run with 9:10 left, Notre Dame broke the game open on a 50-yard pass completion from quarterback Everett Golson to then-freshman wide receiver Chris Brown that set up the touchdown that moved the

• Cover