Rat poison in Oklahoma? Lincoln Riley says positive press affected Sooners in loss

When things are going poorly for teams, coaches often criticize the media for being too negative (see Butch Jones and the Tennessee Volunteers).

However, Alabama coach Nick Saban recently went the other way, comparing all the positive press the Crimson Tide have received to rat poison, saying it gets the players thinking too highly of themselves.

Coming off a shocking home loss to Iowa State as the No. 3 team in the country, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley admitted that the positive press may have gotten to the Sooners:

.@LincolnRiley references Nick Saban’s “rat poison” comment, says positive pub adversely impacted Oklahoma. “I think he put it nicely."

— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) October 9, 2017

Now, Oklahoma’s College Football Playoff hopes are on life support, as the Sooners will need to win out and also have some help from other teams losing to be in consideration for the final four.

Fortunately for Riley and the Sooners, that positive press will likely go away in the wake of the biggest upset of the college football season so far.