Who knows. Stoops had an incredible run there. Multiple conference titles, Heisman trophy winning QBs and (gulp) a winning record over Texas. Despite all that success, he only won one title in year two with John Blake’s players.
Even Lincoln Riley benefited from what Stoops left behind at first, but if you paid close attention, the cracks began to show even back then. They never fielded a competent defense due to keeping Mike Stoops too long and Riley’s philosophy towards defense in general. So while they continued to win conference titles, beat Texas, produce Heisman QBs, etc., they never had a competent defense to go any further than that. Slight regression each year Riley stayed until he bolted for L.A. in the middle of the night.
The BV hire seemed like a home run to Sooner nation. This was the guy to make the defense look like early ‘00s OU defenses again and make the transition to the SEC seamless. But he whiffed on his coaching staff hires (especially OC) and here they are now. Regressing to the mean. Not as bad as they were in the ‘90s but not the power they were in the ‘00s and ‘10s.
If ‘25 goes the way I think it will, the new Nebraska talk might be valid. We’ll see if Mateer, Arbuckle, and Nagy can save their future.