Lincoln Riley sat in the bowels of JerryWorld just off the OU locker room and thought back to another locker room, 788 miles to the north.
Riley’s Sooners had just dispatched Iowa State 27-21 Saturday to win a sixth straight Big 12 championship. The trophy had been presented, the virtual confetti had fluttered across the video board and the celebration had reached that subdued stage, when reflection takes over.
And Riley thought back to Oct. 3, when the Sooners lost 37-30 at Iowa State to dip to 0-2 in the conference. The Sooners’ reign atop the Big 12 seemed over.