Paul Finebaum backtracks on Lincoln Riley criticism after Week 1, applauds ‘elite’ effort

Paul Finebaum backtracked on his Lincoln Riley criticism after USC beat out LSU in Vegas Sunday night.

Riley and the Trojans faced a lot of heat after regressing in 2023. But with Miller Moss at QB and a new and improved defense, USC outpaced LSU in the end to get a season opening win.

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So for now, Finebaum got his comeuppance regarding Riley and USC.

“Every Southern Cal fan in America has every single right to come after me and do it and just bury me because, I mean, not only what I said Friday Molly, what I said here in July,” Finebaum said on First Take . “I mean, yes, it was easy to go after Lincoln Riley because he made it easy, because this guy has blown a number of titles at Oklahoma with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and the same last year.

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“But he went out in the off season, and he found a solution to his problem. And my hat is off to him, I compliment him because he looked like the elite coach last night. He looked like the coach of the future, not the coach of the past who inherited a great situation at Oklahoma and took his best player with him to Southern California. So Trojan fans, you should celebrate ‘you’re back,’ at least for the time being. You don’t have an easy path, but you have overcome one of the big obstacles of this season, and that’s knocking off LSU.”

In case you forgot, here were Finebaum’s comments ahead of the opener:

“I don’t think Lincoln Riley is that dynamic personality that can keep everybody bought in,” Finebaum said in part. “It feels like the train’s already left the station. … Last year was so bad, and with this new schedule I don’t see it getting any better.”

While Riley didn’t mention Finebaum, or any media member by name, he had a telling answer to the question of a rebuild at USC.

“I don’t coach for the media,” Riley said postgame. “I don’t coach for headlines. We just try to do what’s best in our program. We try to stay incredibly committed to it regardless of what anybody says on the outside. Whether they agree with us or don’t agree with us is honestly irrelevant to us. We know what we’ve been building. We’re very confident with the approach that we’re taking, with the people that we’re putting in our program — players, staff, everyone. I just know, I’m not the most experienced guy but I have been through a couple of these and I have a decent idea of what pretty good looks like.

“I know we’re making progress. It was fun to get the win today. Opportunities like this don’t come every single day — high-profile opponent, all the exciting lead up to the game — so I’m glad that we took advantage of it. But regardless of what happened today, it’s still not going to change what we’re building and a thing we’re doing. We’re just so committed to it. Nothing’s going to change it. We’re just going to keep getting better and I’m proud of us for taking this step and getting this opportunity done today.”

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