There’s a difference between throwing the ball because big plays are available, and throwing the ball as a purely tactical approach which de-emphasizes the running game.
On The Riley Files, Oklahoma insider Kegan Reneau explained this difference when talking about Lincoln Riley’s play selection and overall tendencies with the Sooners.
“In my neck of the woods these days, being on the sports data science and analytics side of what we do, they tell you to throw the football more,” Reneau said. “He (Riley) wasn’t doing what he was doing at East Carolina. The passing rate was 60% or higher. The passing rates in 2018 and 2019 were lower than the rushing rate. I think Lincoln Riley’s gonna maximize what his talent is going to be. Again, it all starts up front. If they can’t run the football, Caleb’s gonna get out of some crazy situations as you guys have seen with Caleb Williams.
“Whether it’s running it or passing it on early downs, they need to get into as many favorable situations as they can, because that’s when Oklahoma’s offense was at its best. That was when you saw Marquise Brown catching long touchdowns, you saw CeeDee Lamb having his highlight plays when that was going down.
“Oklahoma got away from that because the offensive line play just wasn’t as good as what it was in his (Riley’s) early years (2017). That’s probably the tendency from my eyes when I think of what the offense was under Lincoln Riley.”
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