Nationally, what happened with Oklahoma and its 40-35 win vs. Tulane wasn’t that big of a deal. A couple of mentions about how competitive it was, but not like this overwhelming sense of let’s burn everything down.

Internally, though, head coach Lincoln Riley knows his team will have to show a heck of a lot more throughout the season compared to what it did in the second half where the Sooners were outscored 21-3.

Sounds simple, but it’s going back to the OU standard and not anything else that’s going on.

“We were worried about the scoreboard, all the other circumstances as opposed to our brand of ball, our standard of ball regardless of any of those outside factors,” said Riley at his Tuesday press conference. “I think our focus again is – if we’ve got any chance of being a good football team, we’ve got to figure out how to play four quarters and our mentality not being affected by the scoreboard, our opponent, anything else.

“None of that matters at the end of the day if you’re really truly focused on the things we preach here. That is the sole focus of our program right now.”

A lot of that goes to preparation. Riley and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch mentioned what they saw last Tuesday and Wednesday was essentially what they saw Saturday, both good and bad.

Some of it was because it was the first game and didn’t know what to expect, but that’s not an excuse. The key, obviously, is how OU responds going forward.

“It’s a great lesson. I say lesson, a lesson is only a lesson if you learn it,” Riley said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to learn something. We’ll see if we’re a mentally tough enough team and we’ll see if we listen good enough to learn it.”

Finding the OL formula

Nothing looked to be finalized with the offensive after Saturday. Although pass protection seemed pretty solid, run blocking left a lot to be desired and doesn’t feel as though we’re any closer toward finding the right five just yet.

“Guys that probably played the best in the game were, I would say, (Tyrese) Robinson and (Robert) Congel were probably the two best,” Riley said. “Chris Murray, he had the two false starts but other than that, he played outstanding, was really, really physical. So there was a lot of good.”

Riley mentioned Andrew Raym playing in the fourth quarter, but he said he probably shouldn’t have after all the time Raym missed in the last two weeks.

There were seven linemen that played, but Wanya Morris wasn’t among them. That sounds like something that could change, though.

“He’s started to settle in a little bit and he’s right there on the edge of garnering, ‘We’ve got to put this guy in the game no matter what?’ He’s going to get his opportunities to prove that he should be one of the best five,” Riley said. “He’s got to prove it, but there’s still—the pass pro was really good but the run game was average.

“There were some really good moments in the run game, there were some poor moments and again, the dead ball penalties were probably the biggest negative. Lot of good individual things but still trying to find that best five and it wouldn’t shock me if that doesn’t evolve, because we do have some good players that are right there that I think are going to push as the year goes on.”

Raym and Erik Swenson were the only non-starters to play for the offensive line.

Gray & Brooks dynamic working

A lot of attention went toward the two-back system with Eric Gray and Kennedy Brooks. The duo did OK in their first game together, and Riley said he was pleased with the start of what’s going to be a heavy load for both.

“Those guys, they both got a solid workload. I think carries and snaps were about what we expected. I thought they played off each other,” Riley said. “I think both guys stayed fresh throughout the game. I think it was a good start into what that can look like.”

Hard to notice in real-time, but going back, it was clear to see a targeting shot vs. Gray in the first quarter that was not called by the officials.

Riley said it didn’t alter his plan or change how he managed their usage and carries, but the targeting aspect is something he’s hoping to have clarified.

“We've turned that play in but don't have a response yet,” Riley said. “I would anticipate we'll get it here – we may already have it now. We just got off the field. Certainly, turned it in. It looked like a targeting to me that they just missed but we'll see what the official response is from the league.”

As for Gray, his numbers didn’t stand out at nine carries for 27 yards, but no immediate issues. It’ll all come with trusting more.

“A couple of things I think that were blocked well that’s he just gotta continue to trust behind that line, and get behind that line and go. Listen, admittedly with those guys, we’ve been admittedly a little conservative throughout fall camp. It kinda felt like in a way we had to.

“You have two scholarship backs and you’re just there running them into a brick wall every single day. I think in some ways we anticipated we would have to take some steps here early.”

No major injuries

Saturday was relatively clean from the injury department. It’s already known wide receiver Theo Wease will miss a significant amount of time with the foot injury, and it doesn’t appear as though the issues that kept defensive lineman Jordan Kelley and wide receiver Drake Stoops out will linger throughout the season.

“Jordan, a couple of guys out was, you know, from medical reasons. I’ll let y'all figure it out,” Riley said. “So hopefully you have some of those guys back here.”