When you’ve become the offensive juggernaut Oklahoma has been since Lincoln Riley arrived, 23 points just feels weird to everybody.

Coaches, players, fans, all sort of trying to figure it out and how to get the Sooners offense back to what everybody loves to see.

For Riley’s part, though, a couple of days of reflection let him things weren’t as bad offensively in the 23-16 win vs. Nebraska than it appeared to him at first glance.

“Our big deal offensively, we’ve got to play with all 11 more often. We’re doing some good things, and actually, probably from when I left the field Saturday afternoon to getting to watch the tape, we played actually a little better offensively than I felt leaving.

“I wasn’t real happy about it when we left the field. We did some good things. It was a low-possession game. In a normal possession game, we probably, even not playing up to our level we expect, still probably score 35ish. Then nobody’s saying anything about it.”

That’s not an excuse, though, said Riley. No one group needs to make this gigantic leap, but each offensive group needs to make mini-leaps.

Just simply doing one two things more per each position group is going to add up very quickly as OU (3-0) begins Big 12 play this weekend vs. West Virginia.

“I think we've got the makings of a really good group,” Riley said. “I think there's a pretty general consensus around our program that we feel like we're pretty close and probably a little bit closer than a lot of people think to playing some good ball.

“We don't need anybody to be a lot better, we need everybody to be just a little bit better. We're that close.”

Rattler in that boat, too

Being that close is a hard pill to swallow, but it’s something you hear Riley say often in September, with the goal of figuring out in October and November.

What feels different, though, is we’re saying that about the quarterback position. That’s been the one spot where the level of execution has been so high that it’s been waiting for the rest of the group to catch up.

Not this time around. Spencer Rattler hasn’t played poorly by any stretch of the imagination, just hasn’t produced the numbers or made the consistent decisions everybody had expected going into this season.

“The thing with Spencer is continue to stay patient, continue to play within the system and trust his teammates,” Riley said. “Trust what we're doing and if we can all do that as a group, we'll continue and we'll bust through and play pretty well coming up soon.”

OU isn’t the only team struggling to find that offensive groove, something everybody has taken notice of in the first few weeks of the season.

Has defense officially caught up to offensive minds like Riley?

“I think defensive schemes are getting more and more unique as you go through,” he said. “There’s a lot of good talent across college football. I guess I would say this. I don’t see as many bad defenses as I used to see, in my opinion. It just feels like the defenses have evolved and I think everybody is seeing that more widespread.”

Bowman back; Washington out

As about as clear-cut of an answer you’re going to get from Riley regarding an injury report. Asked about nickelback Billy Bowman and cornerback Woodi Washington, Bowman should return this week. Washington, though, is going to miss some time.

“Billy is doing well. We expect Billy to play. Woodi Washington won’t play,” Riley said. “His injury will be some significant time, but we do expect him back this season.”

Without Bowman, consensus was Jeremiah Criddell would see a lot of snaps. He didn’t, however, with just six. Between Justin Broiles, Key Lawrence, Delarrin Turner-Yell and potentially Justin Harrington, nickel is a logjam. It’s up to the players to separate themselves.

“He’s had a couple health things he’s battling through, but he’s done a good job,” said Riley about Criddell. “I would say he’s one of those guys that’s right in that pile of players that’s pushing to play more. He’s done well, he’s practiced well. It’s been good to kind of have him back full time.

“It’s kind of a competitive group with a lot of intriguing options with Broiles and Lawrence and Turner-Yell all able to play that position as well. We’ve got a good group we’re trying to sift through.”

Offensive line trending up

If you wanted a clear stock up for OU from Nebraska, it was the offensive line. There were holes for the running backs to get through, and pass protection was pretty on-point.

As OU has wanted to rotate defensively, is it something you can do with the offensive line? Or is finding the right five more important than having seven or eight guys?

“I thought we did a lot of good things up front the other day,” Riley said. “Honestly, that group was probably the strongest group offensively on the field. I thought we played well. We were pretty solid in the run game, pretty solid in pass pro. Really the majority of the pressures came—the backs have got to do a better job of pass pro finishing. We're getting there. We're taking some strides there.”

Riley said he’d anticipate playing about six or seven linemen per game in competitive situations. The Sooners played six vs. the Huskers. Andrew Raym came in at center for the third series of the game and that quintet (Anton Harrison, Marquis Hayes, Raym, Chris Murray, Tyrese Robinson) stayed on the field the rest of the way.