Daily briefing: On Lincoln Riley’s petulance, Penn State injuries and USC’s SID

Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:

Lincoln Riley pitches a fit

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley didn’t like the resourcefulness of a student reporter who used binoculars to watch Caleb Williams take the first-team snaps in practice this week and then wrote about it, so Riley banned all media access. Tantrum much? Coaches are by nature control freaks, and when a reporter did what reporters do, and Riley couldn’t control it, he pitched a fit. If Riley stopped to think about it, he would realize that all TCU coach Gary Patterson had to do to figure out that Williams would start against the Horned Frogs on Saturday night is watch the video of last week’s comeback against Texas. Williams moved the offense; Spencer Rattler didn’t.

Iowa-Penn State injury brouhaha

Here’s the thing about the Iowa-Penn State argument over the injuries of Nittany Lions defenders last Saturday. Both sides saw what they wanted to see. The dial on the level of intensity in Kinnick Stadium on Saturday never turned below 11. Iowa fans booed because injuries occurred on plays where Iowa gained 11, 18 and 20 yards. One came on the second of two consecutive first downs; another came one play after two consecutive first downs. But that doesn’t mean that the players didn’t actually get hurt. Penn State coach James Franklin adamantly insisted he hasn’t coached that way in eight seasons in State College, and he doesn’t have that reputation. The tempest will die down, at least until they play again, whether that’s in December or next season.

A good guy did a good job for 40 years

Indulge me, if you will, in congratulating USC sports information director Tim Tessalone, who is retiring effective January 1. SIDs serve as the liaison between the media and the football program. They are not there to be our friends; they are there to facilitate our work. But some become friends. They accumulate respect and trust and a library’s worth of historical context between their ears. USC is the most important big-city program in college football. It attracts attention and it also attracts controversy. Tessalone handles both with a cool professionalism, understanding that writers show up in bad times as well as good. It’s not important here that I consider him a friend, which I do. It’s important that he be recognized for how good he is at what he has done for more than 40 years.