COLLEGE FOOTBALL Stoops brothers write final chapter together on Oklahoma's staff

The Oklahoma-Kansas St. game was not completed in time for this edition.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- In five years at Oklahoma, Bob and Mike Stoops have won a national championship, two Big 12 titles and completed the resurrection of a once-mighty program that was in shambles when they arrived.
The final chapter of the brothers' ascent to the top together came Saturday night, when the No. 1 Sooners (12-0, 8-0) went for their third league title in four years against Kansas State (10-3, 6-2).
By noon today, younger brother and co-defensive coordinator Mike will be on a flight for Tucson, Ariz., where he accepted Arizona's head coaching job last week.
An intense week of preparation for No. 13 Kansas State had prevented an outward display of emotion from either of the brothers.
Head coach Bob Stoops prefers it that way -- he doesn't want anything to interrupt the Sooners' normal weekly routine.
"Everything is the same as it's been for five years," he said Friday. "[Mike] wouldn't let me to go in there and ruin everything he's done."
Consistently-tough defenses
The Stoops brothers have continually churned out some of the nation's top defenses in five seasons in Norman.
This year's unit, which had five players on the all-Big 12 team, including player of the year Derrick Strait, is a major reason why the Sooners are likely headed to their second national championship game in four years regardless of the outcome against Kansas State.
Oklahoma has the nation's top-ranked defense (234 yards per game) and is third in scoring defense (13.2 points per game). The Sooners set a school record with 45 sacks and had a three-game span in which they didn't allow a touchdown.
That kind of defensive dominance has kept Oklahoma in the running for the conference title nearly every year since the brothers arrived.
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder saw this coming for a long time, knowing it would likely mean a change in the Big 12's hierarchy.
Coached the brothers
Snyder coached the brothers at Iowa and then hired them as assistants -- Mike succeeded Bob as a co-defensive coordinator -- on his staff at Kansas State.
"You could just see it in their blood," Snyder said. "They're very competitive, hard workers, guys that don't try to skirt around the edges."
Bob and Mike are the sons of a longtime high school coach and are two of four coaching brothers. Both were All-Big Ten defensive backs at Iowa, then moved into the coaching shortly thereafter, following similar paths en route to becoming head coaches.
Mark Stoops, now a defensive backs coach at Miami, will join Mike at Arizona as a defensive coordinator. Ron Stoops Jr. is now the defensive coordinator at Cardinal Mooney High School, just like his father was for 28 years.
With Mike's impending departure, however, it likely signals the end of a nine-year professional relationship between the two oldest Stoops brothers.
"It's just hard leaving," Mike Stoops said. "We've had such a good time and a lot of success. You just have to let it go when it's time to go."