Lincoln Riley Calls Chuba Hubbard a ‘Horse in the Backfield’

Oklahoma State heads into Bedlam sans its leading wide receiver and starting quarterback for the first time in the Mike Gundy era. But that doesn’t make Lincoln Riley feel any better about stopping the Cowboys offense.

The top playmaker on OU’s whiteboard — and on Riley’s mind — is the nation’s leading rusher, Chuba Hubbard.

“I said the other night, he’s fantastic. He’s had an elite year,” said Riley. “They’ve done a great job using him. Line’s done a good job blocking for him and he’s got a great combination. He’s got breakaway speed. He’s got power. He’s caught the ball well all year. Made several plays in the passing game. Had a bunch of big ones last week against West Virginia in the throw game.”

On Saturday in Morgantown, Chuba caught all of his career-high seven targets for a landmark 88 receiving yards. His previous high in targets was in Norman last November when he hauled in five of six balls thrown his way for 49 yards.

Bedlam 2018 was also the start of Chuba’s tenure as RB1. When Justice Hill left the game injured, the redshirt freshman spelled him and broke out, chewing up 104 yards of Owen Field and scoring three TDs. It was the first 100-yard rushing game of his career. He’s reached triple digits in 12 of his 14 games since.

That was the last defense that could claim to be caught off guard by the Canadian speedster, who’s been America’s top rusher for most of 2019, and the last to overlook him this weekend.

“He’s had a lot of attention on him each and every week and still continues to produce,” continued Riley. “He seems like a great kid and he’s playing his tail off. He’s certainly one of the best backs we’ve had in the league in a while.”

Fellow Canadian Neville Gallimore appreciates the spotlight on his countryman and the spotlight that’s been shed on Canadian football players. By they way, the senior defensive tackle will be one of those charged with limiting the Heisman hopeful on Saturday night.

“Man he’s fast. A really, really fast guy,” said Gallimore. “I feel like it’s always a good thing to see a fellow Canadian step up and really establish himself. You know, a great running back and he can definitely separate with his speed. You let him find that hole, he’ll get to going. It’s going to be a problem for you.”

The Cowboys are down a Biletnikoff finalist in Tylan Wallace and their starting QB in Spencer Sanders. Riley was asked how much that affected OU’s gameplan for Saturday. He wouldn’t let his defensive staff off the hook.

“They still got that horse in the backfield, I know that,” said Riley of Hubbard. “When you lose an elite player like Wallace or you lose your quarterback, certainly it’s gonna have an effect, but they’ve continued to do a good job making big plays and quarterback’s very capable and still a lot of talent there skill-wise. I’m sure it has changed them some but you still see a lot of production and a lot of the things that make them good, you still see on tape right now.”

Riley was then asked to quantify the type of impact elite playmakers like Chuba and his own wide receiver CeeDee Lamb make in a game like this.

“From a defensive perspective you’ve got to be on your toes every single play,” said Riley. “These guys are special guys with the ball in their hands. They’re both very talented, very driven players. Play very consistent and got schemes that allow them to get the ball in space and use their God-given abilities.

“It’s a challenge, and you certainly want to have as many of those guys as you possibly can. It makes your job easier and guys that can turn routine plays into big touchdowns. They’re both game-changing players. How each team handles those guys will probably have a long way to go in deciding this one.”

Lincoln Riley is no stranger to elite-level skill players and he’s absolutely right, they can have a huge impact on the outcome of any game. We always talk about who the next Bedlam hero might be, but we always focus on a quarterback. Maybe we should focus on the best player that will take the field on Saturday night.

Chuba is already going to go down as one of the greatest to ever lace ’em up in orange, but if he can put up one more elite performance inside BPS, the ? just might be able to do something the ? (Barry Sanders) never did.