How does Oklahoma fix the running game this week? It's complicated, so Lincoln Riley explains

There’s not a lot of spots to pick at Oklahoma’s result in the season opener against Missouri State.

Quarterback Spencer Rattler was fantastic — nearly perfect, in fact. The Sooner receiver corps was dynamic and versatile. The defense pitched a shutout — hard to beat that.

But Lincoln Riley sees the game differently.

“I thought there was a couple things in the run game that we missed,” Riley said in postgame interviews.

On Monday, during his appearance on the Big 12 coaches teleconference, Riley expounded on why the Sooners struggled to run the ball against an outmanned defense.

“Just a bunch of 9- and 10-man football,” Riley said. “I don’t know that there was one, you know, just one constant problem — other than we didn’t get all 11 doing their job at a high level consistently. And in offensive football, when you don’t do that, it’s gonna show up. No matter if it’s run game, throw game, whatever. And it did. It showed up.

“So yeah, just trying to take steps, trying to improve. I mean, it’s not one position group. It’s not necessarily just one type of mistake. But anything at this level of ball can bite you, and we’ve got to be sharper at all levels of it.”

He clarified on Sept. 12 that the run-game struggles weren’t all on the offensive line, which returned five starters from last year and was playing a struggling FCS team. It was, Riley said, a group effort.

“The run game was just OK tonight,” he said after the game. “Honestly, probably, I wouldn't even give it that. Was probably a little bit worse than OK. So we've got to run the ball better.”

Now for the kicker: working to improve one specific area is tricky in the age of COVID. Riley needs all five of his offensive linemen healthy and participating. Building that kind of unspoken chemistry is paramount up front.

But he also needs the H-backs and tight ends to be more in sync with what’s going on in the front five, especially when the play starts and things suddenly look different.

He also needs quarterback Spencer Rattler to read the defenses better and get into and out of certain checks when the opposing scheme shows a specific look.

He also needs the running backs to see the defensive pursuit a little better and make more decisive cuts.

He also needs the receivers to block better downfield.

And, well, he needs everyone available.

“There’s some mistakes I made in calling it,” Riley added. “I mean, we all had our hands in it.”

Some players were playing out of position. Adrian Ealy shifted from right tackle to left to deal with two COVID-related absences. Erik Swenson, who started at left tackle last year, was listed as the backup on the right side before kickoff and found himself starting. That’s just the way life is in 2020.

One particularly bad showing came early in the second quarter when, after tight end Austin Stogner dropped a touchdown pass on second-and-goal from the Missouri State 3-yard line, Riley called for a handoff to Seth McGowan. The blockers didn’t adjust to a defensive overload to the right side, and two blocks were missed as McGowan was thrown for a 3-yard loss on third down, forcing a short field goal.

Not a big deal when the first quarter score is 31-0. But that won’t happen in Big 12 play.

So how has Riley spent the last eight days trying to improve the running game — 124 yards on 35 carries, one short-yardage touchdown — when he’s not sure who’s going to be available for the Big 12 opener?

“You’ve got to think outside the box,” he said, “find a way to get as much done as you can with the numbers you have and understand that, on any given day, the guys you have out there are what you have out there.

“And you’ve just got to try to simply make it work the best you can.”

To get the latest OU posts as they happen, join the SI Sooners Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow SI Sooners on Twitter @All_Sooners.