Wranglers Losing Style is Baffling
Mick Cornett
Monday June 11, 2001
Every week, there is a new reason for Wrangler observers to shake their collective heads and say: “Wow! How did that happen?”
Common sense never saw the 2001 Wranglers. Maybe I can best describe this team with a series of clichés. This team shoots itself in the foot more than any other. If it weren’t for bad luck, they’d have no luck at all. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. And it will go wrong at the worst possible moment.
The problem doesn’t seem to be talent. It doesn’t seem to be preparation. It simply seems to be something new every week.
In the most recent game at Arizona, Oklahoma was beaten 69-27. You would assume the statistics would shed some light on the situation. But no. Arizona completed only ten passes in the game. Ten passes? How can a team complete only ten passes, rush for a total of 16 yards and score 69 points? I saw it happen. Both teams had the same number of total yards: 201. The Wranglers even kicked a 59-yard field goal which doesn’t show up in the total yards department. But they lost by 42. Oklahoma had more first downs: 14 to 11.
There’s more. Only against the Wranglers could a team score a touchdown and then attempt a point-after, two-point drop-kick, miss the kick, and still score two points. There’s no statistic for that either.
The Arena Football League bills itself as wild-and-wacky, balls-bounce-crazy, point-a-minute football and the 2001 Oklahoma Wranglers are exhibit ‘A.’
Mick Cornett was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2001.
