There was a moment in the third quarter of Bedlam, after a television time out, when the Oklahoma offensive line trotted back onto the field.
Center Creed Humphrey and guard Marquise Hayes were shoving each other like brothers in the back seat of the family sedan.
And then one of them started doing an “airplane” with his arms as they approached the center of the field.
It was a moment of body language.
The moment said: “Don’t worry, we got this.”
And, “This is fun.”
That was the attitude that carried Oklahoma to its 34-16 Bedlam win on a breezy Saturday night in Stillwater.
Having already played Baylor once — making the greatest comeback in Oklahoma history to nab that win in Waco a couple of weeks ago — one can only imagine the Sooners playing it very cool and loose on Saturday morning in the Big 12 Championship in Arlington.
“If you’ve looked at our sideline the last few weeks you’ll see a ton of positive body language. I don’t think it’s a coincidence with the way we’ve played, the way we’ve been able to play when the games have gotten tight, ” Lincoln Riley said at his press conference on Monday.
“The team has a lot of positive vibes right now.”
Besides, so long as Baylor doesn’t get more than a 25-point lead, the Sooners know they can win. Right?
Bedlam was as close a complete performance — offensively and defensively — for Oklahoma as has occurred this year. It came at the right time, to propel the Sooners into the repeat collision with the Baylor Bears and the chance to, maybe, just maybe, play in the College Football Championship playoffs.
It is uncommon for most college teams to play each other twice in the same season. But this is the third such event for Riley’s Oklahoma (defeating TCU and Texas in the previous two championship games).
“I’m glad our team has done it well enough that it feels regular,” said Riley.
The question will become, what has Baylor learned from its second half collapse in Waco? And, what can Oklahoma do differently to neutralize Baylor’s preparation for the re-match?
“This is a different game. Everything is different about this game. It’s not a road game for us, not a home game for them,” Riley said.
“Championship games are different. They feel different. Everything about them is different. So, our focus has got to be on this one and how we can play our very best and we know we have to play well to beat Baylor.”
“The team has a lot of positive vibes right now.” — Riley
“The team has a lot of positive vibes right now.” — Riley
So, how did we get here?
Setting the Jalen Hurts story aside for a moment, much of the Sooners’ success this year has come from a defense that went from last place in the conference to, statistically, first place in the conference in just one year.
That began with the hiring of Alex Grinch as defensive coordinator.
The first step after that, was the existing players — none of whom were recruited by Grinch — to “buy in” to his defensive philosophy.
“I can promise you this, if you don’t buy in, it’s not going to work. Period. That’s the one thing I can promise you,” Riley said.
Asking the defensive players to make that purchase was the first step toward defensive success. It was the message Riley gave to his players when he announced Grinch’s hiring.
“If you do buy in, then it gives us a chance. And then it goes to you got to trust us that we’re bringing in the right people. You don’t know these guys. You’ve never met them. They didn’t recruit you. You don’t know them, but if you will trust them I think you will see what we see, that we’ve got a great group coming in here and something we think can be very very special on that side of the ball,” Riley remembers saying.
“But, I do remember telling them specifically I could go bring in Vince Lombardi himself and if you guys don’t believe in it, it’s not going to work. Your buy-in is just as important if not more important than who we bring in.”
On Saturday the Sooners will determine whether their purchase pays the dividend of a championship trophy.
NEXT: Baylor in Big 12 Championship at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas. 11 am Saturday. (ABC)
Photo credits: Caitlyn Epes/Oklahoma Daily
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