Lincoln Riley is 'excited' About the SEC Move, But Concerned With the Present

As the Sooners made their move to their new conference official, Oklahoma's coach is 100 percent focused on the 2021 season.

NORMAN — It’s now just a matter of when, not if.

The Oklahoma Sooners are headed to the SEC, and Lincoln Riley said he’s juiced for the move to OU’s new conference.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Riley said during Oklahoma’s annual Media Day press conference on Thursday. “I think it’s going to be a positive thing for this University and for our athletic department, our athletes and coaches, everybody.”

But regardless of the future move, Riley said the team isn’t going to be talking about it past Thursday’s press conferences, as the goal this season is to win a National Championship, and that road will travel through the Big 12.

“I guess for me it’s tempered because of the task at hand… Sure it’ll be great when it happens, but it doesn’t matter for right now. Right now, we’re a member of the Big 12,” Riley said. “Honestly any excitement or personal feelings that I have are really overshadowed by, we have a job to do right now.”

As far as the players are concerned, Riley said the coaches have had conversations with the leadership to ensure that everyone is locked in and ready to compete every day in practice and this season on the field.

“It’s something they’re aware of, you can’t avoid it, but it’s not reality for us right now,” Riley said. “I think our players understand that if any talk about conferences or what’s gonna happen in the future takes away even the smallest bit from this season, it’s a shame. So we’ve got some good leadership, I think they’re leading the charge there.”

Riley acknowledged that the road environments may be turned up to 11 when he was asked about road fans being more hostile anytime the Sooners come to town while they’re still in the Big 12, but he said it won’t change their approach as they always draw hostile crowds.

“Road games are always fun, they’re always hostile,” he said. “It’s not gonna change our goal or our mission or what we’re there to do.”

The recruiting advantage that the teams in the SEC enjoy will one day benefit Oklahoma, but Riley said he’s not too concerned with that on the recruiting trail at this moment.

“It’s still out in the distance a little bit for us,” Riley said. “I think it’ll be a very positive thing when the time comes. It will certainly be a part of conversations with recruits that that will and could potentially impact their careers.”

But for now, the Sooners are 100 percent locked in on this season and navigating the Big 12 slate as they look to contend for their eighth National Championship.

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