OU head coach Lincoln Riley said he expects redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler and the Sooner defense to improve moving forward and unpacked his team's looming matchup with Iowa State in a Tuesday Zoom call.
The No. 18 Sooners (1-1, 0-1 Big 12) are set to take on the Cyclones (1-1, 1-0 Big 12) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Ames, Iowa, after losing to Kansas State in a 38-35 upset on Sept. 26.
Here’s what Riley had to say before his team’s game against Iowa State:
On Spencer Rattler
Rattler seemed slightly shaken during the Sooners’ loss to K-State last Saturday. He rolled out and threw on the run often due to pressure that was present all game, and his three interceptions proved costly in OU’s defeat.
Riley said, after the game, his offensive line needs to do a better job of making Rattler comfortable in the pocket, and added a pledge, on Tuesday, that Rattler will improve, too.
“Yeah, I mean, I never want to go too in depth about my one on one conversations with players but this is just the natural evolution of a quarterback. I mean this is what happens. I mean, 85 (or) 90 percent of what Spencer did was either really good or fabulous on Saturday, but a couple of mistakes really, really cost us, our offense, our team. And so he's got to learn from those, learn from the entire situation. It's a tremendous opportunity for him to grow and gain some experience and make him more ready as we continue to go on down the year, but I'm really excited about a lot of the things he's doing and I know the things that need to get better. We together will both get cleaned up.
“I think every moment for somebody that's new to playing the position at this level is a teaching moment. You know, you're gonna go through ups and downs with that. … It’s gonna happen and I think you’re ultimately defined, like we said, by a team, but quarterbacks are ultimately defined by how they respond to it as well. And so, that's the challenge and he's a competitive kid. He's eager to learn. I have zero doubt in my mind that he's not going to take this and run with it in the correct direction.”
On defense
Alex Grinch’s defense was gashed by the Wildcats for the second-straight year Saturday, as K-State notched 400 total yards of offense en route to 17 fourth quarter points and 31 in the second half.
Riley acknowledged his defense made costly errors Saturday for which Kansas State made OU pay, but said Tuesday his team’s woes in coverage are easily fixable and should improve.
“I have confidence in our guys. I mean, the things that I saw that happened in that game are easily correctable and like you said, that's something that we've really done a good job of limiting in our scheme, is our coaches do a good job of making it pretty simple to understand, although it can look complex. And so I think most great schemes have that in common. And so, you know, we had a couple of mental errors you know and listen, there's times that you have mental errors that the guy doesn't get there. We bust a coverage and, you know, the quarterback didn't see it or the protection’s not there to get to it or whatever.
“But it obviously is more glaring on the outside when you get exposed, so it's certainly not like we haven't been mistake free. We've made some mistakes, Kansas State in the second half did a good job of making us pay. You know, we didn't make honestly that many, but the ones we made were big ones and they made us pay for it. I mean, it was just they were in the right place at the right time … So we have to be better, but (it’s) very correctable and (I’m) confident that our guys will get that done.”
On Iowa State
OU has seen its fair share of struggles when playing against the Cyclones in recent years. The Sooners were upset at home by Iowa State in 2017 after a 4-0 start, and narrowly escaped with a 42-41 win in Norman in 2019.
Riley talked Tuesday about his respect for Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell, his staff and the challenge facing the Cyclones will present Saturday.
“They’ve found some really, really good players, and then they’ve done some things, I think, that really fit their personnel … They're very unique in what they do and do it very well. They're always very tough to to prepare for offensively, very multiple, using the tight ends and the multiple shifts and motions and then like I said, not to mention they've had some really good players.”
“They've done a great job defensively in this league for a long time. You know, they've got a really gifted defensive coordinator, (he) does a great job. They've done a great job of depth and to the talent that they have, and they've played in this three-man front with a lot of different drop eight schemes for a long time and been really, I think, the standard in the country for teams that have done that. ... It's a fun challenge playing them. They do a tremendous job. We have the utmost respect for them and their program.”
