Oklahoma fans are down so bad, they actually miss Lincoln Riley

The Oklahoma Sooners are down bad. Really bad. A 26-point loss to South Carolina at home bad. Missing Lincoln Riley bad.

Not long ago, Riley's name was a bad word in Norman. He was the most hated man in the state of Oklahoma after leaving the Sooners to become the head coach at USC, taking future Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams with him.

The Sooners tapped Brent Venables to replace the Benedict Riley. An elite defensive coordinator, he was supposed to bring a new attitude to Oklahoma. "Venables defense > Riley's offense" was the refrain.

In Year 3, here's the problem: Venables defense isn't exactly dominating while the Sooners' offense has taken a step back equivalent to the distance between Norman and Los Angeles.

After the loss to South Carolina, Oklahoma is 4-3 on the season and 1-3 in SEC play. They have given up 69 points and scored 12 in the last two weeks. And with four ranked opponents and three road trips in their final five games, there's no reason to expect things to get better.

Some Oklahoma fans are thinking about what was. The good ol' days...with Lincoln Riley.

Oklahoma fans actually missing Lincoln Riley

Riley is a clearly flawed head coach. He's not having the best time at USC right now because of it. He couldn't figure out how to field a great or even good defense in Oklahoma. But if there was one thing he always had, it was an offense.

This year's USC offense is the most underperforming of Riley's career and they're still averaging 30.7 points against one of the toughest schedules in CFB so far. The Sooners are averaging 22.1 points this season.

To be fair to Venables, he's coaching against an SEC slate, including highly-ranked squads like Texas and Tennessee. Riley might have had similar problems in the new conference.

Either way, the Sooners aren't where they want to be. They're not even close.