A QB option most teams would love
Rattler, Williams present OU a first-world problem
NORMAN — Oklahoma football drama has gushed since the noon hour Saturday.
That’s when within a 20-snap span, Caleb Williams dashed 66 yards for a touchdown and Spencer Rattler fumbled trying to avoid a sack.
OU football history changed while the sun stood straight above the Cotton Bowl. Don’t know how history will change, but it changed.
And it certainly changed the events of
that day and this week. A star was born. A monumental comeback was staged. Rattler broke the Internet. Journalism students in their own building were declared spies by their own university for looking out the window.
My late friend Jim Killackey was right when he said it’s never boring around the University of Oklahoma, and he wasn’t even factoring in football.
But before we get too far down the rabbit hole of an OU quarterback change, let’s stop and realize the ultimate truth.
This is a first-world problem. This is an embarrassment of riches. This is deciding between steak modiga or seafood risotto.
This is not an argument for playing Rattler. I’m on the Williams bandwagon. The guy runs like Spencer Sanders and throws like Spencer Rattler. If Williams wins like Spencer Petras, quarterback of Iowa’s 12-game winning streak, you’ve got the total package.
But before we bury Rattler, how about we praise him? That 12-game Iowa winning streak? Rattler has a 14-game winning streak as the Sooner starter. His win-loss record is 15-2, ninth-best in OU history and above the likes of Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts.
Sure, Rattler turned Rattled for the second straight year in the Cotton Bowl.
He got benched for the second straight OU-Texas game, this time after throwing a first-quarter interception and fumbling in the second quarter.
The difference is, his 2021 replacement is sprinkled with gold dust. Rattler’s 2020 replacement, Tanner Mordecai, was somewhat human and this season has been relegated to leading the nation in touchdown passes, with 26 in six games for Southern Methodist.
Lincoln Riley’s only quarterback problem is he doesn’t have a garage big enough for all his cool cars.
“I feel like I have two really good players,” Riley said. “I don’t see it as a problem. I don’t see it as an issue. You get to choose between two great options and it’s a good position to be in. I know both of those kids will respond no matter what position they are in.”
Of course, you never know about personalities. And Riley must navigate the psychological side of benching a veteran and elevating a freshman.
That explains Riley keeping mum on his starter. Which means, of course, it’s Williams. Same as giving Rattler off from Monday’s light practice to clear his head. You don’t give your starting quarterback a day off when Texas Christian’s Gary Patterson is bunkered in his Fort Worth laboratory, trying to poison the Sooner season.
But Riley is right. He does have two good options. Williams is the better option, at least right now, at least from what we saw against the Longhorns, but the idea that Rattler can’t cut it at quarterback is downright goofy.
Rattler went to the bench after that fumble having led OU to scores on 13 of its previous 18 possessions, and none of them were garbage points.
“A week ago, we’re sitting up here talking about how well Spencer played,” Riley said. “The other part of it that we have to remember, I think we’re on a … 14-game win streak right now. The sky’s not quite fallen. I think we keep it in perspective. Spencer did not play his best earlier in the game the other day and Caleb came in and did a god job.”
That’s the point. I don’t think this quarterback change is an indictment of Rattler. I think it’s a coronation for Williams.
Troy Aikman was the best arm to ever hit Norman, and he got run off campus by a precocious freshman, Jamelle Holieway. The circumstances are different (Aikman’s broken leg vs. Miami), but the results are not. Just because Elisha shows up with a double portion doesn’t mean Elijah was a chump.
And the result is, OU has the best backup quarterback in America. Heck, there might be some National Football League teams that would swap backups with the Sooners.
Rattler is the best backup since another you guy you know well, Hurts, at Alabama in 2018.
Hurts, a two-year starter, took his demotion — in the 2017 national championship game and for the 2018 season — with class and dignity, recharted his path, going through Norman, and Thursday night he made his 10th NFL start with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Hurts bailed out Alabama in the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championship Game, when Tua Tagovailoa was injured.
I don’t know if such a script awaits Rattler, but Riley should be sleeping better, not worse, since Saturday, knowing the quarterback luxury on his squad.
Riley thought of his quarterback protégés. Mayfield. Murray. Hurts. Now Rattler and Williams.
“What’s good for me is the history with some of the guys that I’ve been lucky enough to coach here, they’ve all had those types of moments,” Riley said. “Not one of them just had the nice, smooth, rosy ride to where they are now. There are always bumps in the road. There are always challenges.
“You have to find ways to overcome them and you have to rely on your support systems to do that. Spencer’s going to do that. He’s going to be just fine. He’s too good of a player to not be very good as this thing goes on.”
The truth is, OU likely has the Big 12’s second-best quarterback. It also likely has the Big 12’s first-best quarterback.
The rich get richer. It’s been a problematic week for OU football. A firstworld problematic week.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1.