Lincoln Riley: ‘There’s a lot we need to get better at’

Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley opened his weekly press briefing on Tuesday with a statement of the obvious:

"“There’s a lot we need to get better at, and we’ve been very, very focused on that this week.”"

He followed that comment by saying he and his coaching staff haven’t turned a blind eye either on the many good things that went well on Saturday in the game with Tulane.

“There’s still a ton of excitement among the players and the staff,” Riley said. “The flashes of good (from Saturday) were excitingly good. But obviously, there’s got to be a lot more of it, and it’s got to be a lot more consistent, from top to bottom: the coaching the playing, the preparation.

"“You just have to have a healthy respect for what it takes to play well for a full four quarters."

The OU head coach said he anticipates the team will take a big jump there. “That’s our expectation, and that’s our goal,” he said.

On the defensive performance

Riley said the Sooners didn’t start the game well. We made some mental mistakes early on. That wasn’t so much because of lack of focus, he said. Rather because the guys were juiced up and hyped about playing the first game of the season. He said he thought the defense settled in after the second Tulane offensive possession and played pretty well the rest of the half.

In the second half, we lost our edge,” he said. “Our effort, our mentality, our execution,” all of it was off.

“As a defense, when the offense is in four-down territory (a good part of the second half), you’ve got to defend a lot of plays and do it well,” Riley said. The Sooners lost their edge and their mental focus and quickly turned into an average team, the OU head coach reiterated.

On Spencer Rattler’s performance

Riley said he thought there were times in the game when the young OU quarterback showed his frustration, especially in the second half, and he tried to make too much happen.

With the opening game of the season now behind him, Rattler has the opportunity to reset, Riley said, and realize how laser-focused he needs to be, and when he’s a tick off, because of the OU offense and what we put on and expect from the guys in it, it shows up.

Regarding Rattler’s role as the Oklahoma quarterback, a team captain and leader of this year’s Sooner team, Riley said he’s not yet the comfortable or established leader that some of the past guys in that role have been. “Some of that is his age,” the Sooner head coach said, “but he’s starting to grow there and definitely taking big steps.”

Rattler’s learning how he should lead, as various situations come up, but also how to balance leading with being an effective player. “He’s heading in a really good direction,” the head coach said of his second-season starting quarterback, “and I think he’ll become a really good leader for us as time goes on and he continues to get these experiences.”

Riley closed his opening remarks saying, “This is the fun part of the season. You get that litmus test of where you’re at, and then it’s all about the climb. That’s something we’ve embraced throughout the years, and we’re ready to embrace it again.”