National media outlets have struggled to properly criticize Lincoln Riley

National media outlets and personalities have come down hard on Lincoln Riley and USC, which is fundamentally fair and understandable after USC tumbled to five losses in 2023. Lincoln Riley didn’t have a good year, and to that extent, we can all understand why television talkers and various reporters at Big Ten media days have taken a highly skeptical tone toward Riley and the USC program (with some exceptions, such as Big Ten Network commentator Jake Butt, who thinks USC will contend for the Big Ten title this year).

When we say that the national media has, broadly speaking, struggled to properly criticize Lincoln Riley, what we mean is that there is a perfectly valid way to hammer Riley for his failures without seeming to be ignorant of what he has done to fix problems at USC. Where commentators go wrong on Riley is when they say he “isn’t serious about defense.” Okay, if that was true, Riley would have retained Alex Grinch. He is serious about defense. Commentators need to find a new way of expressing their concerns about Riley, who has taken clear steps to address USC’s — and his own — flaws.

Can commentators just say that they don’t believe Riley will create ultimate accountability in the room, even with his new and improved defensive coaches, and that they need to see it happen on the field before they give Riley the benefit of the doubt on defense? That is an easy way to acknowledge the new defensive hires yet still express reasonable skepticism toward Riley. It’s not hard, but national commentators have largely not made that basic pivot.

We talked about this and more on a long call-in show at The Voice of College Football on Friday:

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