Lincoln Riley was impatient at times at the University of Oklahoma, but not all the time. At his very best, Riley displayed notable patience and an ability to immediately adjust to the looks presented by good opposing defenses.
Riley Files expert Kegan Reneau offers an example:
“If you go back and you watch every play of Lincoln Riley since he became the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and on, and because I’m a sicko, I’ve done that,” Reneau said as he laughed during our podcast one year ago. “It’s really all the same stuff up front, out of different formations and different looks. That’s all — he’s very, very good with the way they’re able to window-dress some of their best plays. I think you saw that catch up to him a little bit; you saw some interceptions on some plays that you’ve seen Oklahoma hit (previously) in 2021.
“Teams really locked in and focused on it. Then you look at the Kansas State game in Manhattan in 2021. (Kansas State) again ended up being one of the best defenses in the country. They attacked him and he (Lincoln Riley) said, ‘Okay, Kansas State, you’re gonna keep us in front of you. Okay. We’re just gonna let a really accurate young quarterback who does struggle throwing and processing stuff down the field throw short instead. We’re just gonna take that away from you. We’re gonna run a bunch of crossing stuff underneath those three-high safety looks. They shredded ’em. It was Spencer Rattler, the best game of his career at Oklahoma. So he’s also capable of doing that (adjusting to defenses which take away deep passes). I mean, this guy is so talented as an offensive mind. It’s crazy.
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