Lincoln Riley says he's lined up with the scout team due to personnel shortages

Oklahoma Sooners head coach: “Me and Coach Gundy and Coach Murray and some other guys have had to pull double duty"

Lincoln Riley's opening statement in his Tuesday press conference was concise and to the point, as he gave an obligatory tip of the hat to the week's opponent before making an acknowledgement that was decidedly ambiguous.

“We know the kind of challenge that it’s going to be,” said Riley.

Was the Oklahoma head coach referring to the Kansas State Wildcats, or the COVID-19 pandemic?

KSU head coach Chris Klieman has repeatedly expressed that his team is facing a significant personnel shortage as they prepare to head to Norman this Saturday. Rumors about a possible game cancellation continue to swirl, and to make matters worse, this weekend's contest is the first of three straight game weekends for Oklahoma. The third of those three contests is the Red River Showdown on Oct. 10.

So when there's no certainty that there will be a game played this weekend, how can anyone know what the next few weeks hold for the Sooners?

“I think it’s really tough to predict," said Riley. "This’ll be the first stretch of three consecutive games. I mean, it was good to have the bye week when we did… obviously, you don’t have that cushion now.”

Though Klieman has made it no secret that his program is shorthanded, Riley admitted that the Sooners have also had to deal with a skeleton scout team. In fact, the former Texas Tech QB said that he's taken practice reps alongside his players on occasion.

“Me and Coach Gundy and Coach Murray and some other guys have had to pull double duty," he laughed.

Riley didn't appear concerned that his team would fail to meet any of the Big 12's positional minimums for competition this weekend. However, those minimums are only in place for offensive linemen, interior defensive linemen, and quarterbacks. When pressed about the possibility of losing most (or all) of a skill-position group without a positional minimum, Riley said he wasn't worried.

"Every team in America's going to have more skill guys than they have big guys," said Riley. "We've got emergency plans, and luckily enough for us, we've got maybe some better options than most would have."

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