Personally I think that Stoops is in between a rock and a hard place. I think he knows that power (pro-set, play action) offense and run stuffing defense is the way to go. That's basically what he ran when he first got to OU. However, he morphed his team into a wide-open spread attack. Needless to say, his defense has subsequently let him down in big games. He knows you cant consistently beat a physical SEC team with an up-tempo finesse team for the national championship but at the same time his entire conference schedule consists of spread oriented teams. Therefore he needs a defense more suited to stop those teams - but invariably that will guarantee 1 or 2 losses each year. But this style defense is no match for the SEC offenses by and large who still attempt to control the clock.
I think Stoops would like to switch his team back to the more traditional model that will championships and send players to the NFL; but he would likely endure a few subpar seasons doing so and, today, he may not have enough job security even with his OU record to make the transition. In opposite effect with RichRod at UM, Tuberville and Chizik, we have seen what dire consequences are out there when switching to and from the spread attack.
If Stoops indeed wants to get over the hump and get back to more traditional football, he may likely have to do it by going to another program where under new administration he reset the vision for the program. I dont know if they did or not, but if I had been Tennessee I would have made a hard run at Stoops on this basis.
OU is a traditional program that ought to be built on physical offense and defense - they have the cache to recruit the players need to run that style. Until they do I dont see them challenging nationally. Notre Dame has come out of nowhere in no time doing just that - no reason OU cant do the same.