Calls Mount Against FOX’s Colin Cowherd as He Attacks SEC Coach to Glorify Lincoln Riley

Brent Venables is heading into his fourth season at Oklahoma, and you can feel the confidence building around Norman. The Sooners finally look SEC-ready with John Mateer, who Venables calls “as competitive as they come,” now running the offense. When Venables first got there, Oklahoma had maybe “one or two” players weighing 300 pounds. Now? They’ve got multiple rotation-ready defensive linemen and the physical foundation you need when November rolls around. Venables talks about “great excitement on the practice field” and a team culture that’s actually sticking after years of rebuilding.

But every single move Venables makes gets compared to what Lincoln Riley did before him. It’s been that way since day one, and honestly, it’s not really fair when you think about it. Riley left behind some serious offensive firepower and those regular-season win totals that look great on paper. But he also left behind defensive problems that kept capping the program when it mattered most. Remember when Riley bolted to USC, saying Oklahoma couldn’t recruit top defensive talent? Well, Venables has been proving that wrong ever since, consistently landing top-ranked recruiting classes. While people used to talk about Riley’s offensive genius, now they’re asking whether he can actually build complete teams. Meanwhile, Venables has been doing the boring work of fixing culture and building a real roster.

You want to know just how deep the problems were? A recent News 9 clip shows Venables laying it all out: “We had a 2.2 team GPA, guys not going to class, failing drug tests, no motivation, broken spirits. We had to change the mindset and how we thought.” His comments tell the entire story. He gave everyone “a fair shot” and let higher standards naturally sort out who belonged and who didn’t. Venables was dealing with what he called “lack of motivation, lack of synergy, lack of ambition” that had infected everything. But when Colin Cowherd saw that clip? His response was pretty dismissive: “Lincoln Riley averaged 11 wins per year. Brent Venables averages 8. Congrats on fixing team spirits”.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Cowherd’s take might not be as neutral as it sounds. The guy lived and worked in Los Angeles for decades before recently moving to Chicago, and he’s repeatedly positioned himself as someone who really knows USC inside and out. Look, media personalities develop preferences based on where they’ve lived and worked; that’s pretty normal. But when you hear Cowherd regularly defending Riley and framing USC stories in a positive light on his show, it makes you wonder if there’s a bit of hometown loyalty creeping in. His reduction of Venables’ massive culture overhaul to a sarcastic “team spirits” comment feels like he’s maybe seeing this through USC-colored glasses. Think about what each coach actually inherited: Riley got offensive talent and Big 12 competition, while Venables took over what he described as a broken foundation that needed rebuilding for SEC standards.

When you’re comparing coaches, shouldn’t you look at what they inherited, what league they’re competing in, and whether their approach can last? Riley’s offensive ceiling is still impressive, no doubt about it. But those defensive blind spots followed him to USC, while Venables has been methodically building the program infrastructure that gets better with time rather than worse. The real test won’t come from TV debates or Twitter arguments. It’ll happen on Saturday afternoons when culture, coaching, and roster construction meet the brutal reality of SEC football. That’s when we’ll really know who built it right.

Fans fire back with facts

The fan reactions to Cowherd’s comment were brutal, and honestly, they came armed with receipts. One fan laid out Riley’s Big 12 competition like a menu: “Lincoln riley got to play kansas state, kansas, oklahoma state, baylor, texas, tech, wvu, tcu, cinci” Ouch. That’s a pretty valid point when you think about it. Riley’s 11-win average at Oklahoma came against a conference that wasn’t exactly known for its depth. Meanwhile, another fan cut straight to the chase: “How many wins does Lincoln average at USC?” Well, let’s do the math: Riley went 11-3 in 2022, 8-5 in 2023, and 7-6 in 2024. That’s about 8.7 wins per year at USC, which is actually much lower than Riley’s 11-win average that Cowherd was showing off. The trajectory isn’t great either; each season has gotten worse since that impressive debut.

But the most pointed criticism hit where it really hurt. “What has Riley done without Bob Stoops’ players?” one fan asked, and that’s the question that really matters. Riley inherited a loaded Oklahoma roster from Stoops and rode that talent pipeline for years. Since he’s had to actually build his own program at USC, the results tell a different story. The Trojans went from 11 wins to 8 to 7, and as one report noted, “USC doesn’t appear significantly more talented than it was in 2022—if at all.” Riley was supposed to elevate USC’s talent ceiling, but instead, he’s mainly raised the floor while struggling with the same defensive issues that followed him from Norman. Even with Caleb Williams winning the Heisman, the program couldn’t sustain its early momentum.

The personal shots at Cowherd were pretty savage, too. “Your crush on Lincoln Riley has turned into love affair. Stay woke. Lol” and “Wipe that LR off your lip, bud” might sound harsh, but they reflect genuine frustration with what fans see as biased analysis. These aren’t random trolls; they’re college football fans who’ve watched Riley’s actual body of work since leaving Oklahoma. When you strip away the Big 12 context and the inherited talent, Riley’s track record looks a lot different. Matt Leinart, a former USC quarterback, recently said Riley is “on the hot seat” because “you have to win there—especially when you win 10 games or 11 games out of the gate.” The fans calling out Cowherd are pointing out that his Riley defense doesn’t match the current reality of declining win totals and unmet expectations in Los Angeles.