Y ou don’t hear it nearly as often any more, what with those losses to Kansas State, LSU and USC, an 8-4 season a year ago, the shenanigans that set the Sooners back at Eugene and a defense that’s played one strong game to date, and that against a team Norman High might give some trouble.

On the other hand, can’t a great football team fall to the Manhattan Miracle, LSU in the Big Easy and Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush? And it’s not like great teams stay great forever. Such is the luck, circumstance and cyclical nature of the college game. It all makes you wonder if the Oklahoma coach has lost the moniker, given it away or had it stripped.

You know the one.

Big Game Bob.

Once there was a day Bob Stoops’ record against the top 10 looked like the rest of the NFL against the Vikings and the Bills at the Super Bowl. Once, not so very long ago, ranked teams playing the Sooners had the same chance as, well, the Longhorns playing the Sooners.

Until last year.

Has Stoops lost the magic?

Has nothing been the same since brother Mike left for the desert?

Has Big Game Bob gone the way of the Big Eight Conference?

From the looks of things, uh … no.

Not saying the Sooners beat the Longhorns Saturday. That prediction may or may not come later in the week. But here’s an observation.

It’s been more than a season since Stoops appeared as relaxed as he appeared Tuesday afternoon at his weekly media luncheon. It’s been many moons since the head Sooner struck as confident a pose.

On the way out of the room, even after making time for every question at the lectern and every question from the stragglers, who regularly wait for him in a slightly less formal format, Stoops noticed Malcolm Kelly, eating a little lunch and answering a few questions.

“Don’t get the big head now,” Stoops told Kelly. “They’re talking like you’re pretty good.”

Though he may struggle with comedy, Stoops appeared not to have a care in the world.