Can Oklahoma win the national championship in 2021?

That was the biggest question posed to OU coach Lincoln Riley at the Big 12 Media Days in Dallas last week.

Riley has had dramatic success in his four years. He won the Big 12 four times and has taken his team to the College Football Playoff three out of four years.

But OU has not won a national championship since former OU coach Bob Stoops did so in the 2000 season.

Is this the year the Sooners take that next step?

“I mean, this is Oklahoma,” Riley said. “Every year is the year to do that. It takes a lot to get it done. There’s no question about it. You know, I think for us and our team right now, I think we have a genuine excitement and confidence about the people in the room right now. We have the people, we have enough ability in the room that we have people that are invested wholly in what we can be as a team.

“I think then for us our focus kind of zeros back in on getting to the best version of ourselves, and that’s – if we feel like that if we do that, then things will happen the way that they are supposed to happen. And so I think that’s been our focus from day one when we flipped over after beating Florida in this building, and with the off-season with our current team, that’s been our focus.”

Riley likes his returnees and is excited about his newcomers.

“But the good thing is we have enough guys in the room that understand all that it takes to get it done and to be a factor at the end of the season,” Riley said. “It’s every year, they are really, really hard. I know we say that all the time, but they always are.

“It’s hard to win the Big 12 Championship. It’s hard to get in the playoffs. It’s hard to win in the playoffs. You have to be at your very best to do it. We have a team that believes in themselves but also fully understands and appreciates the long, tough road ahead.”

The key could be the performance of OU’s defense, a sore point in the playoff losses. Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch in the past two years has installed his system and he has acquired his own players in an effort to boost OU’s defensive play.

“Oklahoma is a place when we began the search for a new defensive coordinator, it’s a place you feel like you can go out and have a chance to hire just about anybody in the country; one of the advantages of being able to work at a program like this,” Riley said. “Alex (Grinch) quickly separated himself for us during that process because of what we believed that this could be, and our visions were so much inline that it was almost scary for not really knowing each other that well prior to.”

“The progression has been grat. We were much improved in year one, we took a big step in year two, and our plan is to take another big step here.”

Players have bought into the system. Some defensive leaders have emerged. Defensive recruiting has improved.

“I think because of our success as a team, and especially our success defensively over the last few years, we’ve been able to recruit at a higher and higher level, especially on the defensive side of the ball,” Riley said. “And we look different just even walking into a team meeting room on that side of the ball than we did a few years ago. It just looks different in a positive way.”

Big changes happened in OU’s running back personnel. One player went to the NFL, another transferred and another was dismissed due to criminal charges.

The good news is that OU added Tennessee transfer Eric Gray and former starter Kennedy Brooks, who sat out last season due to the Chinese coronarvirus, is back.

“He’s a true professional,” Riley said of Gray. “I told somebody earlier, it feels like he’s been in our program for months or years already. It literally felt like that the day he walked in the door. Just a very businesslike attitude. He honestly exceeded everything that we put in front of them. He learned offense quickly. He really got acclimated with his teammates and university quickly.”

Brooks is a little rusty but coaches expect him to be back to full speed.

“He’s worked hard,” Riley said. “I think Coach (DeMarco) Murray has been good, really good for him. It’s been good seeing them get a chance to work together. Finished spring really strong. The guy has had so much production for us and he’s done it in big games and big moments and knows our system inside and out. He’s really pushing himself to try to be the best version that he can be here towards the end of his career.”

OU quarterback Spencer Rattler is being touted as the best quarterback in the nation and is expected to get tons of publicity this season.

“I think he’s very well equipped for this, I do,” Riley said. “He’s had some great examples to look up to, even as we were recruiting him with Baker (Mayfield) and Kyler (Murray) and then his first year in-house with us with Jalen (Hurts), guys that – those three probably got more attention than any player in college football at that time, and I think all three handled it extremely well, albeit some in different ways, but handled it very well.

“Spencer is a team-first guy. He is. He has been his entire time here. We have visited about it. It can be a factor if you let it. You can’t ignore it. You have to have a philosophy in place, both for the player and then for the person that – and myself that makes some of the decisions on what he may do or may not do. We have to be on the same page, and I think we certainly are.”

Riley favors the expansion of the College Football Playoff.

“I think the expansion that’s been proposed is a great start,” Riley said. “I commend the committee that put it together because you’ve got to put yourself out there. You’ve got to start somewhere. And I think their proposal was really good in a lot of ways. I think it addressed, you know, maintaining the Bowls which are so important to the history of our game that I hope we never turn our back on.

“I think it addressed getting the conference champions in the playoff, which has needed to happen. I think it addressed a pathway for a Group of Five member to be able to get into the playoffs, which honestly hasn’t been realistic under the current system. In my mind, those are all great things.”