(Editor's note: Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops will file a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more on the Sooners, visit the official Oklahoma site.)

Oct. 20, 1999

We're glad to finish up the off week. It gets kind of boring on Saturday watching everyone else play, so we're anxious to get at it this week.

	THE FULL DOSE OF DIARIES
	Miami's André King: A different kind of Hurricane
	Oregon State's Ken Simonton: Getting back on track
	UCLA's Danny Farmer: Credit the Cal defense
	USC's Travis Claridge: Time to put up or shut up
	Oregon's Reuben Droughns: Getting his groove back

We have a good Texas A&M team coming in, obviously. They're the defending Big 12 champs. It's good to have them here at home. I think with homecoming it'll be exciting.

I think it's also good to get back in our stadium after being on the road for three weeks. It's a plus for us. We spent the past week and this one working on correcting mistakes and playing as well as we can play. That's what we're focusing on.

I'm concerned about our defense as much as our offense. Both, at times, have played well, and both, at other times, have not played well. Some of the time it has to do with who we're playing, but most of the time it has to do with what we're doing -- whether it be in our technique or responsibilities. In both games we lost, we played pretty well in the first half, but in the second half of both games, we didn't play well. It's my job as a head coach to get our players to play four quarters.

I appreciate that Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum has recognized we have a good football team. I've said that as well and feel confident that we have a good football team. I believe as the year goes on, we'll get stronger and improve. I've got great respect for their program as well. Let's face it -- he has won a bunch of championships, most recently last year.

A large part of the Texas game had to do with me. I got too aggressive but you've got to be able to mix it up and hopefully we'll be able to do that against Texas A&M.