After 'completely unexpected' postponement, Lincoln Riley ready to 'try again' with West Virginia
As he stepped to the podium for his regular Tuesday media availability, Lincoln Riley quite understandably felt a bit of deja vu.
“We’ll try again with West Virginia,” Riley chuckled. “First time I’ve ever had two press conferences for the same game.”
As the Sooners prepare for their 10th and final game of the abbreviated 2020 slate, they've already locked up a berth in the Big 12 championship game. They'll face off with Iowa State on Dec. 19 in an effort to secure their sixth consecutive conference title. Last Saturday, the Cyclones dispatched West Virginia 42-6, suggesting that the Sooners' tilt with the Mountaineers won't be much more than a tune-up. Nevertheless, Riley disavowed the notion that his team is looking past their road date with WVU.
“We need to play games," Riley emphasized. "We’ve had so many bye weeks. And obviously had one bye week that was completely unexpected. … Just for us to play the quality of ball and make the improvements that we need to make, we need to play. And I’m excited that we have the opportunity to play.”
Oklahoma is still very much recovering from a COVID-19 outbreak over Thanksgiving, which prompted an activities shutdown that lasted five days. The Sooners' matchup with West Virginia was initially scheduled for Nov. 28, but because of Oklahoma's rash of cases, the Big 12 agreed to postpone the contest until Dec. 12, an open date for both teams.
“Having missed those five days this previous week, this week’s important for us,” said Riley. “We know the challenge that going to Morgantown presents. It’s always been a tough place to play.”
The last time Riley's squad ventured to the Mountain State, Oklahoma needed a couple of fortuitous fumble return touchdowns to forge past West Virginia. In one of the highest-scoring affairs in conference history, the Sooners prevailed 59-56 in their 2018 regular season finale.
This time around, there's a new head coach at the helm for the Mountaineers. Neal Brown is in his second year as successor to the departed Dana Holgorsen, and though West Virginia owns a middling 5-4 record, Riley sees a more dangerous team than the casual observer would perceive.
“There’s just not a ton of weaknesses,” Riley said of the Mountaineers. “You don’t look at the film and say, ‘Well they’re really good at this or really bad at that.’ There’s not really anything that they’re really bad at. They’ve been able to make a lot of big plays.
“They’ve been able to get a lot of pressure on the quarterback without having to load up and blitz everybody to get it done. They’re good in the back end. They do a really nice job schematically. Every part of them is challenging.”
The good news for the Sooners is that they should recover some of the depth they lost last week against Baylor. Oklahoma took on the Bears sans Nik Bonitto, Brendan Radley-Hiles, Woodi Washington, Patrick Fields and several others. Though the Sooners were more shorthanded on the two-deep as they'd been since their season opener, several reserves stepped up to make key plays. Freshman cornerback D.J. Graham snagged his first career interception, Tre Norwood added his third pick of the year, and Brayden Willis snagged his first touchdown catch of the season.
“There’s so many guys there that have stepped up and become good football players for us, and become dependable players that we want to put in the game," said Riley. "The competitive depth is certainly better, and there’s just more guys that we are not only confident putting in the game, but we want to get snaps.”
Kickoff from Milan Puskar Stadium is set for 11 a.m. Saturday.
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