NORMAN — Ty Darlington watched the Birmingham Bowl last January. Darlington didn’t have a premonition that Josh Heupel would be fired as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator or that Lincoln Riley would be hired to return the Air Raid to Owen Field. Guess Darlington just likes football.
Darlington watched East Carolina lose to Florida 28-20 on Jan. 3. And that East Carolina offense, coordinated by Riley, threw 68 passes and ran the running backs 24 times. Nine days later, Riley was hired to replace Heupel, and Darlington admits he was taken aback.
“They threw the ball around a lot,” said OU’s center.