For Oklahoma football fans, the 2022 season has not been one to brag about. The Sooners still have a game to play, but it’s more like a participation prize than what this proud program is accustomed to at this stage of the season.
The 2022 season hasn’t worked out to the satisfaction of any Sooner fan, but there’s got to be some joy in Soonerville knowing that Lincoln Riley and USC whiffed big-time on Friday.
Sitting comfortably in the No. 4 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings and only needing a win in the Pac-12 Championship to lock its playoff berth in cement, USC blew the whole deal, suffering a 47-24 beatdown at the hand of the 11th-ranked Utah Utes.
Similar to what we saw while Lincoln Riley was at Oklahoma, USC suffered a defensive meltdown in the second half against Utah. A number of analysts were calling it the worst display of tackling they had ever seen by a college football team — sound familiar Sooner fans? — and the Trojan defense (led by former OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch) allowed 535 yards of total defense.
Which city is happiest tonight?
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 3, 2022
Former Sooner Caleb Williams threw for 363 passing yards and three touchdowns but wasn’t quite the same after injuring his leg on a long run in the opening quarter.
USC struck quickly, scoring touchdowns on its first two possessions and led 17-3 early in the second quarter. From that point forward, however, Utah outscored the high-powered Riley-led USC offense 44 to 7 and outgained the Trojans 444 yards to 191.
In a postmortem opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times, veteran sportswriter Bill Plaschke, described USC’s surprising collapse in the Pac-12 Championship this way:
"“The invincible quarterback (Caleb Williams) was hobbled. First the invincible quarterback lost his mobility. Then the genius coach (Lincoln Riley) lost his mind.“Eventually, the streaking USC Trojans limped and stumbled and went splat, their loveliest of dreams dying an ugly death in the (Las Vegas) desert.”"
With the Trojans owning all the momentum early, Riley got conservative in his play-calling — again, something Riley had been accused of often while at Oklahoma — and potentially cost USC additional first-half points and a hold on the momentum.
Usually we have to wait until January to see a Lincoln Riley team have a defensive meltdown like this
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 3, 2022
A giant opportunity lost for Riley and USC. Not only did they lose out on a chance to play for the national championship and a fourth College Football Playoff appearance by the man Oklahoman’s disaffectionately call “Muleshue,” but they will now have to travel to Texas to play in the Cotton Bowl instead of representing the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl.
After the Pac-12 Championship game, a frustrated Riley told reporters,
"“You come as far as this team and this program has come in the last 12 months, to get that close to winning a championship and more, obviously not getting it done, its’ a tough pill to swallow.”"
While Trojan fans are obviously heartbroken and mortified over all that has happened, fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes (the playoff beneficiary of USC’s downfall) and the team and its fans that Riley left behind, are feeling quite the opposite.
There’s very little, if anything, that can make the 2022 season acceptable to Oklahoma football fans, but at least it is some consolation knowing that Riley and USC aren’t going to the College Football Playoff the year after leaving OU for USC.
The next thing that would hit Sooners fans like a double punch to the gut would be if former Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams were to win the Heisman Trophy. Not this year or any year. Players just don’t leave Oklahoma to win the Heisman at another school.