NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has been piling on the SEC for the better part of two years.
Not as good as everyone thinks, Stoops said. Too much credit goes to the league where the teams at the bottom aren't very good.
And the thing is, Stoops has been right.
But now Stoops needs to be wrong. Like really wrong.
The Sooners need to beat Tennessee, and badly on Saturday, but worse than that, the Sooners need Tennessee, one of those bottom-half teams Stoops has talked about, to be good. And it wouldn't hurt that the rest of the bottom-feeders in the greatest league to grace this Earth play a bit better, too.
What a time to be alive. Stoops, the biggest SEC detractor, alone on his mountaintop, shouting to the masses about how the SEC isn't all that, needs the opposite. He's gone from foil to fan.
But he wasn't going to really admit to that. It's OK, he doesn't have to. We sorta know the truth, right?
"We don't need to go there again," Stoops said earlier this week when asked to revisit the whole Big 12-SEC debate. "That's been overblown."
Yet, here we are with Stoops blowing some hot air on the Tennessee situation, trumpeting them as a "Good football team, when you see them on tape." Tennessee is 2-0 this year and 2-28 against ranked teams since 2008.
Certainly Stoops could have anticipated this situation when he got attention from Tulsa to Tuscaloosa for talking down the SEC. Stoops might not have known the Sooners would take on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and Stoops couldn't have known this matchup would be happening in the changed world of college football where who you play matters more than ever. There are no polls, no voting, no anything. Just a group of folks behind a closed door deciding who's in and who's not good enough to make the four-team playoff.
But he did know his team would face a lousy Tennessee team, owner of four-consecutive losing seasons.
If the Sooners win out, there's no problem. Go unbeaten and OU is in the playoff. But a loss in Big 12 play, and suddenly a September win over a lower-tier SEC team becomes so very important when it comes to measuring resumes between the two conferences -- especially if that lower-level team can rattle off a few wins.
A glance at some of the game on the Tennessee schedule after this week: At Georgia, vs. Florida, at Ole Miss, vs. Alabama, at South Carolina, vs. Missouri. The Vols have every opportunity to help OU look good with all those names on the schedule. But the problem is, they also have a chance of coming undone which would certainly help to mute OU's victory.
Meanwhile, back in the Heartland, Stoops can't count on the Big 12 to help carry his flag. Oh, sure, a Kansas State win over Auburn would be good a week from Thursday, but past that, who else is pulling any non-conference weight at all?
Baylor, the team picked along with Oklahoma to be atop the league, faces off against Northwestern State and Buffalo. Texas? Heck of a schedule, but the Horns got exposed against BYU and now have UCLA to deal with. Texas Tech has Arkansas, but Tech has been most unimpressive through two wins this season so far. Probably don't need to discuss Iowa State or Kansas. West Virginia's showing against Alabama was noble, but it wasn't a win. The Mountaineers have Maryland this week, giving them a hearty non-conference schedule, but will have they have the wins at the end of the season to make it hold up?
So that leaves Stoops having to count on Tennessee. A dangerous proposition considering Tennessee's recent history -- 20 games under .500 in the SEC over the past 58 conference games.
"We've got great respect for the program," Stoops said of Tennessee. "They're 2-0 and have looked really good."
Keep in mind, none of this is OU's fault and because of it Stoops has been cornered. He has to come out in favor of good ole Rocky Top. The Sooners did their diligence, scheduling a big-name, SEC team that hasn't done its part. It just happens to come during the same season the Big 12 happens to be down.
And it also comes during the first year of the college football playoff where looks matter.
"We all know how coach Stoops feels about the SEC," OU linebacker Geneo Grissom said. "We'd like to go out there and make a statement. We're 100 percent behind him."
So far, Stoops has changed his mind about how he feels about the SEC. And if the Sooners do lose a game this season, Stoops will be lined up right behind Tennessee.
Follow Andrew Gilman on Twitter: @andrewgilmanOK
