Lincoln Riley staying positive from CFP experience

There was a lot to be encouraged about in the Peach Bowl, Oklahoma's coach says

John E. Hoover | Mar 14, 2020

Lincoln Riley staying positive from CFP experience /

Oklahoma’s rough experience in the College Football Playoff loss to LSU was so bad it may have lingering effects.

Losing 63-28 in the postseason can do that.

But Sooners coach Lincoln Riley thinks there was plenty from that night’s Peach Bowl disaster to build on, including the play of Oklahoma’s defensive backs.

On a night when Heisman winner Joe Burrow threw for 493 yards and seven touchdowns and wideout Justin Jefferson caught 14 passes for 227 yards and four TDs, Riley prefers to look for the positives — even from freshman Woodi Washington, who came on in relief and was the frequent target of the LSU passing game.

“Woodi, specifically, there’s a lot of things in that game that he did extremely well,” Riley said. “When you go back and watch the tape (and realize) that was his real first playing time, and you watch several of those plays and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ Like, that’s pretty good considering the circumstances, the environment, the amount of practice reps, all that, no, I think it’s a positive for those guys.”

Published Mar 14, 2020

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.