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College football coach rankings: Has Dabo Swinney officially surpassed Nick Saban?

By Phil Poling

SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers meets head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide at mid-field after his 44-16 win in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers meets head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide at mid-field after his 44-16 win in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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No. 3: Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma

What is so special about third-year Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley? He’s 0-2 in bowl games. His defenses allowed 27.1 and 33.3 points per game in 2017 and 2018, respectively. And his Sooners have dropped an early-season matchup in Big 12 play each of his first two seasons. So what’s the big deal with the guy in Norman who has two first names?

Well, for starters, his offenses are unstoppable. Under Riley’s command, the Sooners’ have averaged 45.9 and 48.4 points per game. They obviously piled up the yards, too, averaging 579.6 and 570.7 yards per game to go along with all those points. Each offense was commanded by a different quarterback, Baker Mayfield in 2017 and Kyler Murray in 2018, but both won the Heisman Trophy and were selected No. 1 overall in consecutive NFL Drafts. That’s a pretty impressive two-year run for a head coach to start his head coaching tenure. Could Alabama quarterback transfer Jalen Hurts follow in their footsteps?

Riley’s recruited extremely well at Oklahoma, too, pulling in three top 10 classes to fill out his roster. That includes the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the 2019 class, Spencer Rattler. Joining Rattler in the quarterback’s room for the 2020 season will be another top pro-style quarterback, 4-star Georgia-native Brock Vandagriff. With both in the pipeline and plenty of talent surrounding them, there’s no reason to expect Riley and the Sooners to fade in the national picture any time soon.

Oklahoma’s owned the Big 12 under Riley, posting a 17-2 record and winning back-to-back conference championships. Their CFP success is still ahead of them, though, having lost to both Georgia in 2017 (Rose Bowl) and Alabama in 2018 (Orange Bowl). Could Riley join an elite group of coaches to win a title in Year 3? Pete Carroll (USC, 2003), Les Miles (LSU, 2007), Nick Saban (Alabama, 2009), and Urban Meyer (Ohio State, 2014) all won during their third season at one stop or another. Saban’s done it multiple times since, and Meyer did so at Florida in just his second season. Lincoln Riley could leap into another tier of coaches with a national championship on his resume.