The names of Lincoln Riley and Deion Sanders are popping up in college football conversations nationwide. While Coach Prime is used to the negative limelight being on him, it might be a bit difficult for Riley to adjust to such harsh criticisms, especially when they’re coming from the mouths of sports analysts like Paul Finebaum. Yet, in a stroke of luck, Deion is being touted to be a good replacement for Riley at USC, a compliment that he doesn’t receive often.

It all started when Paul Finebaum was heard lashing out at Lincoln Riley and calling him a “terrible” coach over his performance the past 2 seasons. Although Finebaum had pretty stinging words for Riley’s overall coaching in USC, the HC hasn’t done too bad of a job statistically. As per Finebaum, Riley has consistently lacked at having a good defense for USC and as such, Coach Prime could be a good replacement. But here’s why that wouldn’t be such a great idea since Deion himself has had trouble cooking up a good defense for the Buffaloes.

Deion Sanders wouldn’t be a good coach to lead USC’s defense

The Colorado Buffaloes didn’t do too well last season despite being one of the most popular programs. They went 4-8 and ended up at the bottom of the points table but most of the faults in their plays could be credited to their shaky defense. The O-line was exceptionally bad, which resulted in Shedeur being tackled almost every game. Due to an improper defensive team to protect the QB, Shedeur was sacked a total number of 52 times, a nationwide record that was set last year.

Though the roster has drastically improved for this year, Coach Prime didn’t really have a grip on his team’s defensive performance. Additionally, EA College Football also put Colorado in their place by ranking them at the number 20th position. Despite allowing only 6.3 yards per play in 2023, the team is ranked lowly on the scale and that might be because the Buffs failed to produce any wins. Even though Deion has mentioned in the past how he has no plans to leave Colorado, Finebaum is describing his transfer to the USC Trojans as a perfect fit. But he didn’t do it without being condescending towards Riley yet again, to which, Stephen A. Smith retaliated with his response.

Stephen A. Smith stands up to Paul Finebaum over his comments about Riley

It is safe to say that Riley hasn’t yet proven to be worthy of the $20 million salary that he receives from USC but to say that he has been a “terrible” coach is definitely an exaggerated sentence. On the 22nd July episode of the ESPN College Football show, Stephen A. Smith and Paul Finebaum were both seen discussing the prospects of Deion heading to USC in a hypothetical situation where Riley is released from the team. While Smith did agree with Finebaum over his opinion about Deion being a perfect fit in the puzzle in Tinseltown, he couldn’t stand the constant slander about Lincoln Riley.

While agreeing Colorado is not the right place for Coach Prime to be, Smith said, “I have no issue with that whatsoever, zero. I mean I’d love for it to happen now but what I’m saying is that as poor as Lincoln Riley’s defenses have been throughout the years in Oklahoma and USC, it still didn’t prevent him from winning an inordinate amount of games and getting this team to the college football playoffs. So to talk about him like he’ll be lucky to be an assistant coach, is a bit cruel.” Cruel is all that Finebaum has been recently as his relentless attacks on Riley continue to pile on. This season will mean a lot for the USC coach as well as Deion, since both the coaches have yet to prove that they’re worthy enough to lead their teams, something which has been quite controversial recently.