Oklahoma football: 3 biggest offseason questions facing Sooners in 2021
By John Buhler
2. Will this be the year Lincoln Riley finally wins a playoff game?
This is without question the most significant thing regarding the Oklahoma football program. We know the Sooners can get to and win the Big 12 Championship game regularly, as they are the six-time defending champion. However, we have to wonder if the Sooners can do more than just win their conference annually. Will they finally be good enough to win a College Football Playoff game?
The closest the Sooners have come to pulling this off was the overtime defeat to the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2018 Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, the last three years have Oklahoma in Georgia’s company and not up there with Alabama, Clemson or even Ohio State. The good news is the Sooners clobbered the SEC runner-up Florida Gators in the Cotton Bowl Classic. It spoke volumes.
A huge advantage Riley and his team have going for them is Rattler in his second full season as the starting quarterback and his third in Riley’s Air Raid system. He will be a contender for the Heisman Trophy and may be arguably the best-returning starting quarterback in the country. He may be challenged by the likes of Georgia’s JT Daniels and North Carolina’s Sam Howell for that.
In short, Rattler gives the Sooners the offensive bite necessary to beat a Big Ten champion or a non-Alabama SEC champion in a national semifinal. However, we have not seen nearly enough out of Alabama’s Bryce Young or Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei to know if Rattler is definitely better than them as a college quarterback. He is for now, due to in-game experience, but that could change.