Big 12 Media Days: An Oklahoma National Title? 'Every Year is the Year to Do That,' Riley says
ARLINGTON, TX — The expectations on Oklahoma are enormous.
Magazine magnate Phil Steele has picked the Sooners to win the 2021 college football national championship. So have a few others. If that doesn’t happen, this is widely believed to be the Sooners’ best shot at a playoff win — OU’s first. And quarterback Spencer Rattler is projected by Las Vegas oddsmakers and others as a strong frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy.
“This is Oklahoma,” coach Lincoln Riley said Wednesday at Big 12 Media Days. “Every year is the year to do that.”
Riley knows massive expectations are the norm at OU. He’s going into his fifth season as the Sooners’ head coach, and he learned it on the fly as offensive coordinator in 2015 and 2016.
But the reality is those early teams didn’t possess the combination of high-level quarterback and top-shelf defense. Before 2020, OU was a one-trick pony — lots and lots of offense, and very little defense.
Now starting Year 3 as Riley’s defensive coordinator, Alex Grinch has eliminated that mindset. This OU defense could be as good as any since 2009. And with most of an offensive line back, plus the usual dynamic talent at the skill positions, the Sooners have become a trendy pick in 2021 to go beyond a seventh straight Big 12 Conference title and move on to win the program’s eighth national championship.
“Every year they’re really, really hard,” Riley said. “We say that every year, but they are. It’s really hard to win the Big 12 championship. It’s hard to get to the playoffs. It’s hard to win. You gotta be at your very best to do it.
“Really, really proud of our team for how they’ve handled it up to this point. I think there’s a lot of anticipation right now on this season.
“For us, our focus kind of zeroes in on getting to the best version of ourselves. If we do that, then things will happen the way they’re supposed to happen.”
