Opinion: Brothers Riley sore subjects at OU

Just how bad was the Oklahoma Sooners’ defense Saturday during their 55-24 humiliation at the hands of Texas Christian? The numbers spell it out clearly:

27 first quarter points.

When I visited Norman, Okla., early last December after USC hired Muleshoe native Lincoln Riley away from the Sooners to succeed Clay Helton, the state was downright aghast at the hot-shot coach’s treachery.

Someone hung a sign that read “TRAITOR” on the university’s red brick gates. One of the only things that seemed to be soothing the faithful, as I listened to way too many hours of sports talk radio, was the idea of former defensive coordinator Brent Venables returning to Oklahoma from Clemson to restore the defensive standard he’d set in the early years of the Bob Stoops era.

OU fans, who had cheered Riley’s teams during three disappointing College Football Playoff semifinal appearances, were right to question the competency of his defenses. In 2018, Riley made one of the boldest moves of his young career when he fired Mike Stoops, Bob’s brother, who had been running the defense. Fans lamented his replacement, Alex Grinch, who is off to an encouraging start at USC, did not get the job done either.

Venables appealed to a vocal portion of the fan base that wished Stoops never decided to suddenly retire and hand over the keys to the kingdom to some 33-year-old offensive whiz.

Saturday’s defensive no-show in Fort Worth against a TCU offense that was still finding itself — until it found Oklahoma as an opponent — was embarrassing enough without this cruel twist of the knife:

The Horned Frogs’ offensive coordinator was none other than Garrett Riley, Lincoln Riley’s little brother, a 33-year-old offensive whiz.

Garrett, also a Muleshoe native, coaching in his fourth game as a Power Five offensive coordinator, had his way up and down the field against Venables, a renowned defensive coordinator for more than 20 years.

Only the Rileys know how the Sooner vitriol has gone over within their family the past nine months, but one can reasonably assume it had not been forgotten leading into Saturday.

Five games into the Venables era, Oklahoma has a lot bigger issues to address than Lincoln’s little brother pouring salt in a wound that won’t heal anytime soon.

Now that we’re into October, it seems like a good time to assess the early return on investment for two Power Five schools that are breaking in first-year head coaches:

Lincoln Riley, USC (5-0, 3-0 Pac-12): Riley was unquestionably the hire that garnered the loudest applause during the 2021 offseason, so you may be wondering how he could have improved his value so early into his first season leading the Trojans.

The answer goes far beyond the No. 6 next to USC’s name in the national polls. The turnaround from a 4-8 season to a 5-0 start is impressive, sure, but the changes he’s made to the culture within the McKay Center and outside of it among the Trojan legions have been remarkable during such a short time.

The reaction to his shocking hiring was so euphoric that it seemed to bring back the pride lost during the last decade immediately. Riley’s goal for the program is to routinely pack the Coliseum. With a team in the hunt for a Pac-12 championship and a potential playoff semifinal berth, it will be fascinating to see how close the Coliseum is to a sellout crowd when the Trojans welcome a solid 4-1 Washington State team for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff this Saturday.

Sonny Dykes, TCU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12): Dykes, who coached at California from 2013-16, simply moved across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex from Southern Methodist to step in for Gary Patterson, who brought the TCU program to national respectability. Even with the Horned Frogs’ recent descent to mediocrity, those were big shoes to fill, and Dykes appears up to the task so far after Saturday’s statement shellacking of No. 18 Oklahoma.

Of course, the Riley family may deserve some credit for how well TCU is adapting to Dykes’ take on the Air Raid.