Lincoln Riley is facing increased interest in who he starts at quarterback this week after Oklahoma benched one-time Heisman Trophy contender Spencer Rattler last week during the win over Texas as Caleb Williams took over in the 55-48 victory.

Rattler was 8-for-15 passing for 111 yards with an interception and a lost fumble. Williams was 16-for-25 passing for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns.

At issue is who the Sooners will start this week against TCU. However, Riley apparently doesn’t want to talk about it since The Daily, Oklahoma’s student newspaper, reported on practice snaps of the QBs.

The Daily watched the offensive practice regimen from a public building near the OU football practice field, with no athletics employees discouraging observation. The Daily does not observe practice regularly, but did so Tuesday under heightened interest given the situation.

The paper reported that Williams was seen scrimmaging with the Sooners’ first-team offense by The Daily at practice Tuesday, while Rattler was working with the second team. Late Wednesday morning in Oklahoma,
KOCO-TV’s Carson Cunningham reported that OU football canceled all media availabilities until Saturday.

The paper also talked with Rattler’s father.

“For right now, he’s focused on working for this team, and we’ll see what happens after Jan. 10,” Mike Rattler said. “Hopefully he’ll be playing in the national championship on Jan. 10, and then after that we’ll evaluate where he is as far as if any teams are interested in him in the NFL, we’ll consider that.

“If we think, ‘Hey, you know what, we may ought to do another year or something at Oklahoma, wherever’… we’re leaving our options open whereas that is concerned, but for the most part, right now, we don’t even talk about it, because he’s got a task at hand to deal with.”