Lincoln Riley: Sooners expected to put Spencer Rattler back into game

Just when it seemed like he had been benched for good, Lincoln Riley sent Spencer Rattler back onto the field in Saturday Red River Rivalry game. His backup, Caleb Williams had just thrown a 52-yard pass to Marvin Mims, who spectacularly managed to stay inbounds for the score.

But when the Sooners opted for the two-point conversion to tie, it was Williams who stayed on the sideline. Rattler led the team out before throwing a dart to Drake Stoops to even the score at 41 with 7:25 left to play.

Williams was back in the game by the next drive, but Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said the plan was for Rattler to return all along.

“It was [tough pulling Rattler],” Riley said. “Spencer was seeing some things that we missed early, that weren’t on him. The big thing to me was the turnovers. We made a mental error on the first one, and then obviously  fumble, knowing this game you can’t turn the ball over and win this game. It’s very, very difficult to do. Similar to a little bit to the year past, I really was expecting to put him back in. I didn’t know it was going to be on maybe the single-most important play of the game. He handled it like a pro, I thought we got into a bit of a rhythm when Caleb came in. He did some good things. We were scoring, we were moving it, so I stayed with it.”

Williams, the No. 1 overall recruit in On3’s class of 2021 rankings, started the second half in place of the sophomore. Rattler was 8-of-15 for 111 yards and an interception in the first half. He also had a rushing touchdown. Williams was two of six in the first half, and broke off a 66-yard rushing touchdown.

He continued his stellar play in the second half to bring the Sooners back from 21 down. It was the largest comeback victory in the history of the rivalry. The true freshman finished the game 16-of-25 for 212 yards passing and three total touchdowns.

Rattler has endured criticism from Sooners fans all season. In the Big 12 home opener against West Virginia, fans chanted for Williams to enter the game after Rattler threw an interception. Now that has become reality, and Oklahoma has a big decision to make before a Week 7 game against TCU.

But as Lincoln Riley stressed to reporters after the win, Spencer Rattler still has his full trust. That was definitely on display in what the coach called the most important play of the game Saturday.

“I’ll tell you what, you’re going to go write a bunch of stuff,” Riley said. “That’s your job, not my job. But the trust I have to put Spencer back in on the most important play of the game, the guts he had to do to go in and perform for his team (is special).”