Lincoln Riley Says Oklahoma's Lack of Deep Throws are Just 'How it Played Out'

Woodi Washington's injury will be 'significant time' but Billy Bowman Will Be Back This Week Against West Virginia.

NORMAN — One thing that stands out in Oklahoma's first three games so far is the Sooners' inability to strike deep.

Lincoln Riley's offense has always been predicated on deep throws, but this year the Sooners and quarterback Spencer Rattler are struggling to connect.

Rattler's passer efficiency rating — an NCAA formula that's heavily weighted toward yards per completion — ranks only 31st nationally. This is the metric that Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts either led the nation, set NCAA records or nearly did both because they were so effective at throwing deep.

And Rattler's yards-per-completion average of just 10.28 ranks 87th. Mayfield, Murray and Hurts were always at or near the top of the national rankings in that category.

"Little bit of it is how it’s played out," Riley said. "We’ve had a couple of things dialed up that we just haven’t quite been able to get to, or we just missed, or bad timing by me on the calls. I don’t look back at it and say any of the times we haven’t played well offensively early in the season, that’s the sole thing. Our big deal offensively, we’ve got to play with all 11 more often. We’re doing some good things."

There are plenty of reasons why OU isn't hitting as many deep balls. Teams are playing a lot of umbrella coverage — two deep safeties — to guard against OU's deep ball. The Sooners are having a hard time rushing the football with consistency, which allows defenses to play fewer defenders in the box and leave more bodies in the secondary.

But part of it, too, has been Rattler either choosing to not throw it deep, not seeing open receivers, or missing on the throws when he does air mail the football.

"He's been good," Riley said of Rattler on Tuesday during his weekly press conference. "He can play better. He can play cleaner. He's missed a couple throws in games that you typically expect him to make. He's played good and been right on the verge of playing very, very well."

Riley also clarified multiple times that this phenomenon isn't strictly on Rattler, or that Rattler didn't trust his blocking or trust his receivers.

"I wouldn't say that's accurate," Riley said. "I don't think there's one position group that I would look at and say has been completely outstanding. There's certainly not been one position group, including his, that's been below average. We've just kind of been OK and kind of all took our turns. 

"... We've had our periods. We've got to be able to sustain that and have more consistency across the board. It goes back to what I said. We don't need anybody to be a lot better, we need everybody to be just a little bit better. We're that close."

Riley also said he expects nickel safety Billy Bowman to return for this week's Big 12 Conference opener against West Virginia, and that cornerback Woodi Washington would not be available for a while.

"His injury will be some significant time," Riley said of Washington. "But we hope to see him back this season."