Former Oklahoma Player Jaden Davis Questions Lincoln Riley Play Calling in 2021 Bedlam Game
While it’s no secret that former Oklahoma Head Coach Lincoln Riley isn’t viewed in the best light by fans of the Oklahoma Sooners, one of Riley’s former players added some extra sticks on the fire in a recent podcast appearance.
Former Oklahoma defensive back Jaden Davis made an appearance on the Momentum Pod on Wednesday and questioned the end of the Lincoln Riley era in Norman. Davis also theorized about some of the choices he made in his final game coaching Oklahoma during the 2021 season.
Davis spoke on the situation saying, “It was crazy because like the way the whole thing went down, it didn’t feel real. Leading up to Oklahoma State, the whole vibe was weird. We didn’t feel that confidence from the coaches. Everything was just weird.”
“We go play the game and we lost,” Davis said. “In the locker room after the game he says, ‘I’m not going to LSU, I’m here with you guys. This is my team, this is my place.’ 8:00 AM we got a text saying there’s a team meeting at 2:00 PM. He walked in crying and talked for like a minute, walked out, and nobody ever talked to him ever.”
Davis outlined the 2021 Bedlam game as a key warning sign for Lincoln Riley as the 10-1 Sooners narrowly lost to 10-1 Oklahoma State which kept Oklahoma out of both the Big 12 title game and the college football playoff.
“What makes it even more weird for us is if we win against Oklahoma State, he can’t take the job because we go to the Big 12 Championship,” Davis said. “If we win we go to the playoffs so USC would’ve moved on. So people in the building were like, ‘I felt like something was wrong, the plays he was calling like we don’t know if he was really trying to win.’ Which, you know, I don’t know.”
While Oklahoma fans landed on their feet by hiring Brent Venables to lead the Sooners through the move to the SEC in 2024, the bad blood between OU and Lincoln Riley seems to be a storyline that will only continue to grow.
