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We have two head coaches, employed by two storied programs, with both men walking a similar path. Oklahoma hired Bob Stoops in 1999, and a year later, the BCS Championship Trophy is in Norman. Ohio State hired Tressel in 2001, and the Buckeyes stood atop the football world in 2002. Both men have dominated their biggest rivals this century, with Ohio State going 7-1 against Michigan, and the Sooners going 6-3 against their longhorned nemesis. But similarities don’t end with success, and eerily continues with common failures.

After upsetting No. 1 Miami to give the Buckeyes the crown, Ohio State followed with victories over Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Notre Dame. Jim Tressel reeled off 4 straight bowl victories, which included 3 in the BCS. His warm welcome and celebrity status then came to an abrupt end, losing BCS championship games in consecutive years, and most recently falling to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl. The “Professor” in the sweater vest is on a losing streak, which continues to apply the heat to this X’s and O’s wizard of bowl games past.

Bob Stoops followed the Sooners’ Championship season of 2000, by defeating Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl and Washington State in the Rose Bowl. Then the schooner’s wheels began to fall off, as his program, like Ohio State, was also defeated in consecutive BCS Championship games. A 17-14 Holiday Bowl victory over Oregon momentarily ended the bowl skid, but the misery would soon return, as they dropped 2 straight Fiesta Bowls, before losing for the third time in the BCS Championship Game, and this time to Florida.

After an undefeated start in BCS Bowl Games, Tressel is now 3-3. After prevailing as the victor in the first two BCS Bowl games, Bob Stoops is 2-5, and riding a 5-game losing streak. The Big 10 is 1-2 in BCS Championship games, with the Buckeyes being the conference’s lone representative. The Big 12 is 2-4, making more appearances than any other, with the Sooners losing 3 of those games. In contrast, the SEC is 5-0 in the biggest game, collecting 4 of those victories against Ohio State and Oklahoma. If the Buckeyes have recently been tagged as an overrated program playing in an overrated conference, can the same be said about Oklahoma and the Big 12? In 2008, without a doubt, no single division in college football was more glorified than the Big 12 South and their explosive offenses. The division finished 1-3 in the postseason, with only Longhorns heroics keeping this prized division from going winless.

Even with all the similarities, there is one great difference between these two men.  Bob Stoops and Oklahoma will be given a media pass for their failures, while Jim Tressel and his Buckeyes will not.