My take is that he's really pissed at the media and absolutely hates being asked about Caleb Williams. On the other hand, I might be too if that was the only thing they ask about. Holly Rowe asked the exact same question before the game, at halftime, and after the game yesterday. If there truly isn't any friction within the team, they certainly are trying to create some. If there is, they seem to be trying to make it worse. This goes for the questions they are asking the players as well.
Did anyone watch LR's post game press conference
- Thread starter veritas59
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I was surprised LR gave Holly Rowe the halftime interview. I know the conference obligated them, but I figured he might give her a couple of one word replies and then head to the locker room.
He also gave her more in the postgame than I expected him to.
Holly actually called him out publicly last week regarding access to Caleb.
He's a better man than I am, for sure.
He also gave her more in the postgame than I expected him to.
Holly actually called him out publicly last week regarding access to Caleb.
He's a better man than I am, for sure.
My wife hates women sports reporters and thinks they have no business interfering in men’s sports. I love it. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, of course. Just saying.
I wanna sleep with every female sports reporter. I mean............ Put her in her place. 
There’s this one named Erin that’s pretty nice but I hear Terry Bradshaw got a load crap for merely complimenting her on the boots she was wearing.I wanna sleep with every female sports reporter. I mean............ Put her in her place.
I just watched this and was fixing to post about this too. I'll be honest I think Riley is acting like a whiny little butthurt coach, he is literally going out of his way to be obtuse when asked about Caleb's play. What Riley doesn't want to acknowledge is that the whole offense as a whole is playing at a whole other level than they were under Rattler. Riley is acting like it was a flip of the coin this week because both QB's are practicing so well.
Here's my problem with Riley right now. After seeing both qb's thru the spring, and fall camps and thru 5 football games there is no way in hell Riley could not see that Williams is on a whole other level than Rattler. Riley is paid a hell of a lot of money with the expectation of chasing National Championships. If you look at this qb fiasco too close it damn sure comes across that Riley is too concerned with stepping on toes and just maybe winning just enough to keep the natives from getting restless. How many games have we eeked out this year due to shaky qb play? Riley was apparently ok if we lost those games because he never went to Williams until we were getting blown out against Texas. He should be playing the best players regardless. I hope I'm wrong but I've lost respect for Riley with the way this Qb deal has been handled. If I was Riley I'd feel damn embarrassed that people can now see how much better Williams plays compared to Rattler and are now questioning some of Riley's decision making.
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Riley may have been thinking Rattler was the quarterback this season and would jet to the NFL next spring. Then he would have Williams for 2022 and 2023, which may be OU’s best chance of winning a Natty. Now Williams may leave after next season. That is just what I’ve always felt because I’ve never thought Rattler was talented enough to lead us to a championship in 2021.
Williams will be here in 2022 and 2023 unless he transfers. He won’t be eligible for the draft until after the 2023 season.
OU's issues really haven't been with quarterbacking, but with defense.
Heisman winners Bradford, Mayfield and Murray were three of OU's greatest at that position, but their great exploits were wasted by poor defensive play. And by wasted, I'm referring to not winning national championships.
When I look at the careers of Bradford, Mayfield, Murray....plus Hurts (a Heisman finalist)....and see zero championships because of porous defenses, it stings. Even average defenses may have produced at least one or two championships.
I have to believe that Riley is looking to get a commitment from a QB in the 2022 class if Rattler leaves and it could be from the JUCO ranks. As good as Williams is, there must be a capable backup at the most important position.
Heisman winners Bradford, Mayfield and Murray were three of OU's greatest at that position, but their great exploits were wasted by poor defensive play. And by wasted, I'm referring to not winning national championships.
When I look at the careers of Bradford, Mayfield, Murray....plus Hurts (a Heisman finalist)....and see zero championships because of porous defenses, it stings. Even average defenses may have produced at least one or two championships.
I have to believe that Riley is looking to get a commitment from a QB in the 2022 class if Rattler leaves and it could be from the JUCO ranks. As good as Williams is, there must be a capable backup at the most important position.
I want Riley to be like BGBS was in 00-02 (without looking like a dick). Take care of business and move on
I thought it was only 2 years out of high school. My bad.
I am glad he isn’t red shirting then we can get 3 full seasons out of him.
Yeah Erin is the one that called 911 when reporters were at her house during the peepgate stuff. Of all the things to call 911 for.
Maybe the next person that she sticks a microphone in their face should call 911 too.
Hey, let's not get carried away now LOL
This is a pretty good game review breakdown. Listen to the passing stats of the first 5 games compared to the last 2 games. Unbelievable how different the offense is with Williams.
OU's Defense is ranked 65th in total D. 116th in Passing D. Absolutely unacceptable imo. We can praise the offense all day with Caleb under center but the D is still a mess and needs to be fixed asap, the SEC will eat our lunch if the D does not get fixed and soon. Always seems like the D at OU is an afterthought.
We have a number of critical injuries in the secondary. But you are right. Even the young ones need to learn how to wrap up on tackles. Let's hope the next three weeks can see some injured recovery.
Totally unacceptable. Riley makes a ton of money and maybe needs to be reminded he’s responsible for the state of the defense too, not just the offense. Are we any different than Texas Tech on defense? At this tenure of Riley’s career we should be reloading on both sides of the ball not reinventing the wheel on a yearly basis. Our recruiting has been better since Riley took over as hc so no excuse really.OU's Defense is ranked 65th in total D. 116th in Passing D. Absolutely unacceptable imo. We can praise the offense all day with Caleb under center but the D is still a mess and needs to be fixed asap, the SEC will eat our lunch if the D does not get fixed and soon. Always seems like the D at OU is an afterthought.
We are talking fundamental issues every game, like tackling, looking for the ball in the air, etc. we don’t need a 1st stringer to get that done, it should be expected up and down the secondary depth chart. How did they get an offer in the first place if they were this bad?
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Now if we could just get the media to question him as much about the Defense as they ask him about Caleb.
I don't think he hates talking about Caleb. I think he wants to put a governor on the way over the top expectations. He's a really quality prospect and player. But this whole Superman nickname, and his amazing last 40 seconds winning the conference championship game his junior year of high school, he's almost being expected to be the best quarterback in the country next week.
He still has a lot to learn, but he has confidence like few freshman ever. He's very likely to have a ding or two as he learns. And then there's the whole issue of keeping his backup quarterback still mentally involved. Caleb needs a little reality check. And that's not accomplished when the media gushes about his greatness, when LR sees more that a few mistakes. The goal here isn't being better than TCU without their best running back.
The goal is an undefeated national champ. Caleb is really good, but he has a lot to learn. Maximizing the performance this year, means that CW gets better each week.
OU's Defense is ranked 65th in total D. 116th in Passing D. Absolutely unacceptable imo. We can praise the offense all day with Caleb under center but the D is still a mess and needs to be fixed asap, the SEC will eat our lunch if the D does not get fixed and soon. Always seems like the D at OU is an afterthought.
Why did we go backwards though?
Who did we lose from last year's team that we didn't replace adequately this year?
I don't thinks its as much as who we lost but more like we keep seeing the same issues over and over from different players year in and year out, piss poor tackling is one mainstay year after year and it boggles the mind that it cannot be corrected.
That and it seems we give up too many 3rd and longs. I am not a defensive guru but I can see with my eyes just how sloppy the defense plays with one exception, the second half of the texas game looked like a different defense.
We know they can do it but why can't they do it for a whole game and over a stretch of games as well. I know some people get tired of hearing about the D but damn how long has it been since we had a kick butt D? And how long will it take to have one again? With the Name Brand and Tradition at OU we should be able to field a D that is a lot better than 116th in Passing D. Thats just embarrassing.
Maybe Grinch is almost there and just needs a few more pieces of the puzzle. We have all seen how 1 person has changed the look of the Offense so hopefully it gets worked out soon. I like Grinch and hope he can get it done.
Spot on. It seems we are always ‘almost there’ but for years TCU, Kstate all look fundamentally advanced on defense compared to us. My high school baseball coach always said this: “If you can hit, you’ll have a position on this team”.
Why can’t Grinch make the same commitment and mean it regarding tackling. That’s defense 101. Hell most of our db’s would find more playing time due to being sure tacklers because most aren’t impressing with their coverage skills. Embarrassing is right but apparently Riley isn’t embarrassed enough nor has Leach ever been.
I listened to the Ikard and Lehman podcast breakdown of the TCU game and Lehman goes into detail about some of the breakdowns we’re seeing on defense. Seems like we have some guys with comprehension issues too
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The defense isn't that much different than last year, except .... Perkins was the difference maker on that team. Not Benitto. Not Isaiah Thomas. And we had two db's that actually caught multiple difference making interceptions. Norwood and Brown made a ton of crucial plays, once Perkins got back in the lineup and the pass rush increased exponentially.
The defense played pretty much the same way this year, that they did before Perk returned in 2020. Then you throw in the kind of injuries they've dealt with. Best pass rusher? Hurt for a month. Both corners now hurt. Washington's been gone more than a month. Best safety? Gone since the conference games started. Tried to return against Texas, and didn't survive the first play of the game.
Not many teams can play better than good defense missing both corners and a starting safety. The defense has made some plays. They mostly shut down Texas in the 2nd half. They got some 4th down stops against TCU. But Bowman isn't close to being a starting P5 corner. He's been okay at nickel, but we didn't play him there against TCU.
TCU was better than they'd been before last weekend. They've had more injuries than OU, but got some back against us. They have a 3rd year starter at quarterback. With their guys back, they're better than average at OL. And they have the best depth at RB in the conference.
We have some talented guys in depth that just haven't gotten it yet. Were throwing some of them out there because we have to.
But if you're going to hold Riley responsible for the defense, hold him responsible for dealing with these injuries, and still being undefeated and in the top four nationally. That is the goal. If we don't get some guys back, I wouldn't be surprised if Tech gave us a game, honestly. But odds are that we'll be 9-0 after the bye week, and we play the best three teams not wearing crimson and cream in the conference.
If we don't have corners back to face Baylor, Iowa State and OSU, then you might really, then, have something to ***** about. Iowa State matches up better against us than any other school in the conference. I'm glad we get them at home. If we have OUr guys, we are the XII's most talented team. Sometimes you have injuries where you have great depth, and you don't notice much. But we need Washington and Graham back for the three games to finish the season. And we need them close to full speed.
It's not how good your roster is. It's the guys you have available to play on game day. We need a little injury luck.
Fantastic post brother, you put everything into perspective right there.
