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Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is new to all this national championship stuff. Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops has been here before many times, often enough to get tagged with the “Big Game Bob” moniker.
The two coaches will match wits in the first College Football Playoff game Thursday, a 4 p.m. kickoff in the Orange Bowl to determine the first representative in the national title game.
It should be fun. There are far more differences than similarities between the two.
While Clemson is the only undefeated team in the playoffs and ranked No. 1 in the nation, the Tigers are still 3-point underdogs to Stoops and the Sooners. That doesn’t bother Swinney one bit. The underdog label is one Swinney wears with pride. He’s been doing it for years.
A walk-on at Alabama, Swinney earned a scholarship and a starting spot at wide receiver on the Tide’s 1992 national championship team.
Swinney’s first coaching job was at Alabama, but it was short-lived. Swinney was fired along with the entire Mike Dubose staff in 2001 and he then spent nearly two successful years in the real estate business instead of coaching.
But Tommy Bowden, his position coach at Alabama, gave Swinney his break at Clemson in 2003, hiring him as wide receivers and assistant head coach. The rest, as they say, is history. Swinney replaced Bowden as head coach in 2008 and two ACC titles later, the 46-year-old has the Tigers within two wins of their first national championship in 34 years.
It’s the third time Swinney will bring the Tigers to the Orange Bowl game. He’s 1-1 in two previous appearances, but neither were as important to the program or his legacy as Thursday’s showdown with the Sooners.
This one is a playoff game., with national title implications.
“Well, we’ve been here for a couple of these. It’s always neat when you come to the Orange Bowl because you don’t usually have a welcome like this,” Swinney said while addressing the media Tuesday in South Florida.
“The guys are excited because they know we’re in the final four. We started the year with hopes to achieve this. To get on the plane today and know that it’s finally here, it’s finally game week, you feel like now it’s time to go.”
He plans on keeping a business-as-usual attitude despite the fun and frolic that normally accompanies a bowl trip. “It’s all about execution and details of the plan and the guys just getting themselves physically and mentally ready,” Swinney said.
“I mean, you always want to win your games. We were in the Russell (Athletic) Bowl last year and heck, we wanted to win. This is an opportunity to play in January, but the players have to earn it. 2015 is going to come to end on the 31st, and regardless whether we win or lose, we want to make them print one more ticket to see the Tigers play.”
Swinney has the upper hand in head-to-head matchups with Stoops. The Tigers demolished Oklahoma 40-6 in the Russell Athletic Bowl last season, but Swinney quickly pointed out that last year’s results have nothing to do with Thursday’s encounter.
“They’re a different team, we’re a different team,” Swinney said. “They’ve had a great year; we’ve had a great year. Both teams want to win, so motivation won’t be an issue for either team. It’s just going to be who plays well. You don’t get voted into this deal, you earn it. They earned it just like we did. It will be a great, great matchup.”
Swinney’s coaching experience has always been on the offensive side of the ball and he’s helped build a program at Clemson that is enjoying its fifth consecutive season of at least 10 wins.
Stoops, in contrast, is a defensive-minded coach who is in his 17th season at Oklahoma. He resurrected a once-proud program that hadn’t won 10 games in a season in the 11 years prior to his appointment as head coach. Under Stoops, the Sooners have won at least 10 games in 13 seasons, including this year where they are 11-1 so far.
Stoops won a national championship in just his second season with the Sooners. However, he’s been back three times since and hasn’t come away with the big priz, losing to LSU and USC in back-to-back seasons (2003-04) and falling a third time to Florida in 2008.
And that’s why, despite seven of nine seasons with 10 or more victories, the 55-year-old Stoops was on the hot seat heading into 2015 after an 8-5 campaign a year ago that ended with the lopsided bowl loss to Clemson.
Stoops coached eight seasons before becoming the co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State. He moved over to Florida from 1996-98 as the Gators’ assistant head coach and defensive coordinator under Steve Spurrier. He was named Oklahoma’s head coach in 1999.
Like Swinney, Stoops is 1-1 in two previous Orange Bowl appearances. He loves it in South Florida, too.
“It’s beautiful and there’s sunshine. The people here are fabulous. It’s great and we’re excited about the opportunity,” Stoops said.
With the afternoon kickoff, heat will be a factor and Stoops said he hopes the team is ready for it. The forecast calls for sunny skies and 83 degrees at kickoff on Thursday.
“We had our indoor facility turned up pretty hot,” he said. “That’s all you can do. When you’re here, pay attention to nutrition and hydration. Guys are trying to do that.”
It’s been a great bounce-back season for Oklahoma in 2015 and the future now looks even brighter for the Stoops and the Sooners. He had one standout quarterback fall into his lap in current starter Baker Mayfield, and now it appears he has a second. Former Texas A&M QB Kyler Murray has transferred to Oklahoma and will be eligible to play in 2017.
Mayfield came to Oklahoma in similar fashion, transferring from Texas Tech. Mayfield and Murray were both Texas high school stars and Stoops knew them both well from his time recruiting them. He had to be patient, but he got them both.
But first things first. Stoops and the Sooners are focused on the No. 1 Tigers. The winner advances to the national championship game on Jan. 11 in Glendale, Ariz. The opponent will be the Alabama-Michigan State winner in the Cotton Bowl Thursday night.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
