The Growth of Spencer Rattler and Oklahoma

In a season where he will probably finish with his worst record as head coach at Oklahoma and miss the playoff for the first time in four years, this is the best coaching job Lincoln Riley has done in Norman, amplified by the 41-13 stomping of Oklahoma State on Saturday night.

It all started by benching his star redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler in the middle of Red River after a pair of turnovers before halftime. Riley wanted his freshman to know that he had to be held accountable, and that he needed to push through the adversity to perform at an elite level. Riley watched his previous three quarterbacks (Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, and Baker Mayfield) all face adversity before they flourished under Riley. All three of them started their careers elsewhere and were forced to transfer to find success. Now it was Rattler’s turn.

As a five-star recruit and already a Heisman favorite before he started his first game in college, we expected Rattler to step in and light the college football world on fire. The reality is, most guys can’t do that. We can’t expect every five-star recruit to jump into college football and light it up, and we have seen time and time again that they don’t. Little does that change our expectations.

So here was Rattler at halftime of the Red River Showdown probably feeling a little shell-shocked. He had thrown five interceptions in the last ten quarters, and watched his team crumble in back-to-back second halves, losing two in a row to Kansas State and Iowa State. They were another bad second half from a 1-3 start, far from the expectations set in the preseason.

So what have the Sooners done since that point? Beat Texas in four overtimes, and kicked off a dominant five-game win streak. While I and the rest of the country wrote them off for dead, they now sit at second in the Big 12 standings and will be heavily favored in their final two games of the season (at West Virginia and vs Baylor). That smells like a Big 12 Championship berth to me, and a chance at a sixth straight Big 12 title.

Over that stretch, Rattler has 14 touchdown passes and just one interception. His performance against OSU (17/24 301 yards and four touchdowns) is what we expected Rattler to do all season, but like most things, there are growing pains. It was a statement of the progress the Sooners and Riley have made through the season. 

I thought Rattler was going to struggle against the OSU defense, who have been amongst the best defenses in the nation this year. Besides the fact that Rattler and the Sooners ground game (Rhamondre Stevenson ran over OSU for 141 yards on 26 carries) tore them to shreds, the Pokes’ defense wasn’t even the best unit on the field. OSU averaged 4.2 yards/pass and 2.8 yards/rush. Tylan Wallace had just four catches for 68 yards. Spencer Sanders and Shane Illingworth completed just 15/40 passes.

That was Riley envisioned his defense would play like when he hired Grinch in January 2019. While the Sooners might not get a shot at the playoff this year, Riley and co. have to love the progress of this team.

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-By: TJ Mathewson