Lincoln Riley on Oklahoma defense: I can see this coming together

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley was furious with how his defense played against Kansas. The Sooners allowed the Jayhawks to control the tempo early with their rushing attack Saturday as they fell behind 10-0 at halftime.

The coach got on a plane fuming, still needing some time to unwind after escaping with a 35-23 victory. But after Riley got a moment to watch the film from that game, he instantly felt better.

“I left the Kansas game like a lot of people: very disappointed with how we played defensively,” Riley said. “I get on the plane flying home and start watching it with a calmer head. I look at it saying, ‘We’re close. We’re so close.’ We’re agonizingly close and the things that have hurt us have for the most part been our errors. It’s not just guys getting beat. The capability is there. When you’ve got four starters out, I don’t care who you are. It’s just different. With the anticipation of building this roster back up and adding some key pieces, I can very clearly see this thing coming together.”

Oklahoma has had plenty of defensive issues over the past few weeks in Big 12 play. After opening with a 16-13 leading against West Virginia, the Sooners have allowed 33.3 points per game over their last four.

They’ve managed to stay undefeated thanks to the spark that true freshman quarterback Caleb Williams has provided the offense. However, it is concerning to see the defense struggle, especially after playing well in the first half of the year.

Riley said he has noticed teams lean on the run against OU in attempt to keep the ball out of the offense’s hands. That strategy worked early for Kansas as the Jayhawks put the Sooners on upset alert in the first half of Week 8.

“We’ve had people try it,” Riley said. “I think the league as a whole runs the ball very well. Maybe from top to bottom (running back talent) is as good as it has been in a long time. For a while, everybody was just dropping back no-huddle, temp and throwing it. For us, the biggest thing I’ve seen is our ability to get three-and-outs and get off the field. (Running the ball) is a great plan, but if you go shut somebody down and force a three-and-out, that plan doesn’t work very good. It’s like playing an option team, a lot of times if you get off to a fast start you feel like you have the advantage. Other than the TCU game, we haven’t gotten off to very many fast starts. …We’ve tended to finish pretty well. This group finishes as good as any team I’ve ever been around. If we can connect all the wires, we might have a score out here.”

Another example of a slow start from the Sooners came in the Red River Rivalry game. They had to come back from 21 points down to win, the largest comeback in the history of the rivalry.

OU is set to face Texas Tech on Saturday in Norman before entering a bye week. The Red Raiders just fired coach Matt Wells, who was in his third season at the helm. This game represents a chance for Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma defense to get back on track and continue their journey to their seventh-straight Big 12 title.