MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Back to Miami, back to the Orange Bowl where the college football playoff journey first begun for the Oklahoma program.
The Sooners, getting ready to face No. 1 Alabama on Saturday evening, are a different team than the one that took on No. 1-ranked Clemson in the Orange Bowl following the 2015 season.
Wide-eyed isn’t exactly the best term to describe it, but there’s no doubt it was a period of adjustment as to how to handle the college football playoff.
OU was up 17-16 at halftime before falling off the cliff in the second half and losing 37-17. There aren’t a lot of players still on the roster from that team, but the ones who were definitely remember what it was like and why it will be different now.
“This is a lot different,” offensive tackle Cody Ford said. “Three years ago, I wasn’t even going to see the field. Now I’m starting in it. I grew up a Miami fan so to play in this stadium is a huge deal for me. The way we’ve gone about it, the journey to get here is way different than the first time here.”
Ford was a freshman at the time, about to end his redshirt season. There’s only one player on the roster from that initial game that played a lot vs. the Tigers.
Back then, offensive lineman Dru Samia was still experimenting with right tackle. A lot has changed for him since that season. Not only the experience, but the lessons learned along the way.
“Now I’m one of the guys. This is our team,” Samia said. “It feels great to be back here but with a little more experience this time.
“Making sure to stay calm this time. As a freshman, I wasn’t sure of my ability. I wasn’t sure of myself. I was trying to do too much. This is a playoff game. I was like it’s time to go, time to play my best game ever. But I know now that if you stay calm and do what you do on a regular basis, your best comes.”
Even the head coach can go through it. Back then, Lincoln Riley was the offensive coordinator, and he has admitted he had the team ready a little too early. That by the time the game came around, his offense wasn’t as sharp.
He figured it out a bit the next year in the win against Auburn in the Sugar Bowl and then really put it together in the first half of the Rose Bowl against Georgia. The goal? To continue doing the necessary tweaks to bring about the complete performance.
“The playoff was new to us as a program,” Riley said. “New to every coach, every player, every administrator. The overall – how you handle it all, how you schedule. Not just this week, but the weeks leading up to it. How you handle kids. A lot of that was the biggest adjustment or learning curve we had to understand, and we’ve done that. I thought we were much more prepared last year heading into the Rose Bowl and feel the same way this year.”
If the preparation has improved leading up to the game, now they know it’s time for the execution to take a bump, too.
Just like Clemson three years ago, the Sooners held an advantage at halftime last year as well against Georgia. A 31-17 lead quickly turned into a 38-31 deficit in the fourth quarter as the Sooners and Bulldogs played a double-overtime instant classic.
But one that they were on the wrong end of once again. Maybe the third time’s the charm, maybe returning to Miami to erase one memory and build another is in store Saturday evening.
Every year, OU has been closer and closer to breaking through. There’s only one step left.
“I know one thing that is going to have to change is after halftime,” Ford said. “The last two times, we’ve been up and came out and been stonewalled in the second half. That’s going to have to change. Against Alabama, you can’t let them stonewall you. It has to change. We have to come out strong and make a statement.”
