Lincoln Riley intimated that Jacobe Covington and Kamari Ramsey might be able to play limited roles this week, while Jaylin Smith and Greedy Vance are still good to go after returning vs. Washington.

"We're definitely in a better place. Certainly no harm in saying that. I think everybody that was available for the Washington game will be available again. We're hopeful that we can get something out of the guys, be able to get some reps even if it's not a full availability -- we're hopeful to be able to get something out of the guys that weren't able to play, like Covington and Ramsey and all of that. I think the bye week was helpful. Obviously, those guys weren't ready to go at that point. I do think we've made some progress. We've tried to ramp those guys up a little bit -- being available, being able to play a full game at game speed and the physicality and all that obviously is two different things. So we're going to keep ramping them up and hope to have them in some capacity. Obviously any capacity would be a boost for us."

Interesting thoughts from Lincoln Riley about how getting to a bowl game and the extra practices that come with it isn't quite the same value it used to be:

How much do you emphasize the goal of bowl eligibility to the team and how important is that?

"Yeah, we've talked a little bit with the team about it. After the Washington game we talked about it a little bit. I think you've got to be fair with the guys and set the stage on where we're at and what we have left to attain. I think to me the biggest piece is making progress and going and playing the way that we want to play and expect to play here in the last three games. I mean, you've got three great opportunities. I mean, you've got a great matchup here, two of the most historic successful programs in college football history, and then obviously our two rivalry games to finish it off. So I think very important for us to, I think more than anything, we want to go play the way we're capable of, we want to go finish, we want to go take advantage of these opportunities and build momentum going into the offseason.

"Certainly, going to a bowl and getting that opportunity can be a great thing. The world of the bowls is a little bit different with the schedules and there's not as much practice time and all that as they're used to be just because of all that's evolved. One of the trains of thought was obviously, yeah, you get a chance to go develop and practice and all that -- that's been minimized a little bit. I'm not saying there's still not some value there, but I think the bigger thing for us is we've obviously been on the cusp all year and the team has hung in there, has obviously fought their tails off, and I just think it's important to the group to really finish the right way and continue to lift this program up. So I think that's been the main message, but certainly there's kind of mini goals within it -- certainly putting ourselves in position to go to a bowl game is something that our guys are very aware of."

Are there fewer bowl practices now? What do you mean?

"No, I think one, you've got bowls spread out all over the place in terms of like what time you have them. Obviously, with the early signing day now and all that happens, although we're not going on the road this year and it's earlier so it maybe even a little bit different this year -- we're obviously kind of getting ready to go through this set of rules for the first time. But I mean, even I compare it to last year, we got a handful of practice, but pretty quickly you start getting ready for the game. You give them a little bit of downtime, finish up recruiting, do what you've got to do, get them ready for the game. There's not, I can just remember in the past, I remember our older days where signing day was in February and December was just practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. That was all that you had -- there wasn't really anything else to do. So, there's more games, the schedule varies, there's certainly some developmental time, but a lot of it you're going to dedicate to getting ready for the game."

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As noted yesterday, I knew this one was coming. Another top defensive commit flipped ...

This will be end of college football as we know it. Few programs will survive and be the feeders for the NFF. The rest will make it into a club sport.