Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says playing the Iowa Hawkeyes in Friday’s Insight Bowl gives this game a much different feeling. Stoops played on Hayden Fry’s first Big Ten championship team back in 1981 and later served on Fry’s staff.
Stoop says he is great friends with Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff and many people in Iowa. He says it will be good to see them and reminisce and says he knows he wouldn’t be where he is without the experience he had at Iowa.
Stoops says having been a part of the Iowa program he knows the last thing his Sooners should do is take the Hawkeyes lightly. Oklahoma is a better than two touchdown favorite. Stoops says he talked about how Iowa came in as the underdog and beat Missouri last year and he says playing in different leagues makes it hard to judge different styles of play.
Stoops expects a hard fought game, as he says Ferentz and his staff do a great job of teaching and coaching.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says it was no surprise to him that Stoops led the Sooners to the national title in only his second year at the helm. He says Oklahoma took a dip in the 1990’s and he says Stoops did a wonderful job of turning that around and he says this looks like a traditional Oklahoma team.
This is the second straight trip to the Insight Bowl for the Hawkeyes who beat Missouri in last year’s game. Ferentz says they found out it was a great bowl last year and says they played a highly ranked opponent and face the same thing again.
Oklahoma arrived in Phoenix last night.