MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — Lincoln Riley spoke with the media after the Sooners' 45-34 loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal Orange Bowl.
Here's what he had to say:
His opening statement
it's not the result that we wanted or expected. Kind of a tale of two different games for us. The start of the game, give Alabama credit, they're a really good football team. They made a run on us there early. We just had a hard time breaking their string of momentum.
"But I felt like our team, until really the last run down there at the very end felt like we were going to win the football game, even despite going down 28-0. We just kind of kept talking, hey, we've been here, so we've been here with way less time and still found a way to come back before. We've trailed in seven, now eight ballgames this year and found a way to win almost all of them. After that we outscored them by 17 the rest of the way. So we played much more -- just much closer to what we felt like we were capable of there the last three quarters, and unfortunately we just dug ourselves too big of a hole and we were just one play away there in the fourth quarter from making it a game that could go either way. Disappointed in the way we played early, but I am proud as hell of our guys' fight and our belief.
"We're going to — we've still got a bunch of Big 12 trophies. We're going to hold that tall skinny one here in a couple years and we're going to hold it in a large part because of the fight from these seniors in this program, all the players, the staff. We've had some really good teams here the last four years, but I don't know that we've ever had a team, and I just told them that in the locker room, that has had the fight in them that this team has, and that's going to do wonders for our program. That's going to make us a better program, what this team this did year. And so I'm thankful for them, thankful for a historic senior class that did something that no Big 12 team or no Oklahoma team has ever done in winning four straight Big 12s, and countless other honors, awards, great wins.
"So it's been a hell of a ride. Hate that it ends right now, because you're sick, you feel like you're right there, being ready to play next week. It was certainly a game we fully expected to win.
"But give Alabama a ton of credit. They're a really, really good football team, coached very well, outstanding players all around. It was fun. I mean, it was a heavy hitter just like we all expected."
On the slow start
"We just kind of picked a bad time. We kind of just played our worst ball at the beginning. We very simply didn't get stops, gave up some big plays to them. They made some really nice, competitive plays down the field, and then we just had trouble kind of gaining our traction offensively early. Every time we'd have a good play, we'd seem to kind of shoot ourselves in the foot. We were just a little off early. We obviously didn't do a good enough job coaching them early. And I thought it took us a little bit longer to settle into this one than it normally does, and it's like we were just kind of waiting for that spark, and it just took longer.
"I mean, they outplayed us early. I think it's as simple as that. It was just a complete tale of two games. I mean, they completely outplayed us early and then we completely outplayed them pretty much the rest of the way."
On what he said to the team after the first quarter ended
"I just wanted us to know that we were still in it, just reminded them of all the adversity that we've faced this year, all the tough games, all the times that we were down and people counted us out, and I just wanted to make sure that the entire team heard that message. And listen, you can go yell and holler and say whatever you want as a coach. There's not any magic words that I said. The credit goes to these guys up here and the guys in that locker room because they're the ones that went and did something about it and played pretty good football from then on out. No magic words, that's just the guts of this team, and I was just making sure they didn't forget that, and they damned sure didn't."
On CeeDee Lamb
"CeeDee was phenomenal the whole night. If we could have done anything morning, he caught eight, we probably should have thrown him about 20. I mean, they had a hard time covering him. They tried some different things and Kyler and him made some great plays together. We started to protect better and gave him some time, so he was phenomenal."
On Marquise Brown
"Hollywood, honestly he was probably not as good as we thought he was going to be. He had some good days of practice. I thought there was honestly just some rust. He had about a whole month here where there was just very, very little that he could do. So we were a little worried about that today, even if he's feeling pretty decent early. It's just been a long time since this guy has done a lot, and then you add in a hot, muggy night. I thought conditioning was a little bit of a factor for him which is understandable. We tried every way to condition him without aggravating the injury as possible.
"Yeah, I honestly probably thought we'd get a little bit more out of him, but as we got into the game you could tell he wasn't quite himself. I'm proud of Charleston Rambo. He stepped in and made some big plays for us there, and it bodes well for the future for him."
On how close Oklahoma is to winning a national championship
"Well, I think we'll see what happens here in eight or nine days, but I mean, I think it's pretty clear that Alabama is a National Championship caliber team, just like Georgia was. I think we're right on the doorstep. There's no doubt. And I think the talent level is growing, the recruiting is going great, the program I think is headed in such a great direction in large part because of these guys up here, and the fight in this program has never been better.
"It's agonizingly close. It is. But we've got to continue to take steps in the right direction, and we're going to do everything we can to get that done."
On his respect for Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa
"Yeah, a ton of respect. I thought he moved around well. I thought he really threw the ball well. There wasn't many of the passes that weren't on target. Made a lot of great throws. Didn't give us too many opportunities. I thought he gave us one there on one of the deep balls that the guy ended up catching. I thought we had a chance to pick that one. But yeah, he did a great job. He played well. He's a heck of a player. Obviously has a bright future, and he's a great kid. We got to know him and his family a little bit on the little award circuit, and that's an awesome family. He's got a magnetic personality, and obviously he's a fantastic player."
