College Football is back

[Cheeks]

Clay Helton has not been fired (yet?).
Charlie Strong has, in fact, been fired.

But the media said it was true.     SI reporting he got fired, school denies it.  #fakenewsForNow?

Charlie Strong, a little surprised he made it this long.  Seems like a good man, perhaps more asst coach material.

[The Sultan]

Strong finished the season ranked two years ago and had a winning record last year. Furthermore his last two years at Louisville he went 23-3 with a Sugar Bowl win. Texas was a bad for no doubt but the guy has been a successful head coach before.

[Pakuni]

But the media said it was true.     SI reporting he got fired, school denies it.  #fakenewsForNow?

So you're saying that in a rush to publish information for public consumption someone didn't make sure they had their facts straight?
Shame on anyone who would do that.

#cheeksneverwrong

[Pakuni]

Matt Luke out at Ole Miss.
Given the mess Hugh Freeze left for him, not sure what more could have been reasonably expected of him.

[The Sultan]

Matt Luke out at Ole Miss.
Given the mess Hugh Freeze left for him, not sure what more could have been reasonably expected of him.

What do reasonable expectations have to do with SEC football?

[Pakuni]

What do reasonable expectations have to do with SEC football?

Fair point.

[JWags85]

Strong finished the season ranked two years ago and had a winning record last year. Furthermore his last two years at Louisville he went 23-3 with a Sugar Bowl win. Texas was a bad for no doubt but the guy has been a successful head coach before.

I think Strong was in a favorable situation in Louisville. Relatively strong program with some remnants of what Petrine built but other much in the way of expectations, tons of monetary support, soft conference. Texas was a terrible fit.

I actually think USF did the right thing. Same thing happened with Skip Holtz. Once they saw it was going in the wrong direction and early success was based on the previous regime set up, they moved on. Strong took over a really strong setup from Taggert and fell off quickly

[The Sultan]

Strong didn't follow Petrino.  He followed Steve Kragthorpe, who was 15-21 his three years as head coach.  Strong won there because he pulled in a lot of Florida talent, including Teddy Bridgewater.  He was supposed to replicate that at Texas, but obviously didn't.  It kind of fell apart for him at USF.  I agree with you about cutting ties early. 

[Billy Hoyle]

Strong finished the season ranked two years ago and had a winning record last year. Furthermore his last two years at Louisville he went 23-3 with a Sugar Bowl win. Texas was a bad for no doubt but the guy has been a successful head coach before.

Don't forget that UT's biggest booster wanted Strong fired before he coached a game for the Horns. He wasn't the white man for the job there.

I'm surprised Strong didn't do well at USF.  He'll be a DC somewhere next year.

[The Sultan]

Chris Petersen stepping down at Washington. Moving into administration - at least for now. Will clearly have opportunities in future if he wishes.

[MUBurrow]

Chris Petersen stepping down at Washington. Moving into administration - at least for now. Will clearly have opportunities in future if he wishes.

I thought it was interesting that his longtime assistant stemming back to the Boise St days was handed the gig. Good for continuity I'm sure, and Lake has a solid enough resume, but it struck me as unusual that a guy who was only there for six seasons (and less time than he spent at Boise St) would have a coach-in-waiting type succession and a spot made for him in administration.

[Uncle Rico]

I thought it was interesting that his longtime assistant stemming back to the Boise St days was handed the gig. Good for continuity I'm sure, and Lake has a solid enough resume, but it struck me as unusual that a guy who was only there for six seasons (and less time than he spent at Boise St) would have a coach-in-waiting type succession and a spot made for him in administration.

Of all the college journos out there, I respect Bruce Feldman the most and he raves about Jimmy Lake, fwiw

[JWags85]

Strong didn't follow Petrino.  He followed Steve Kragthorpe, who was 15-21 his three years as head coach.  Strong won there because he pulled in a lot of Florida talent, including Teddy Bridgewater.  He was supposed to replicate that at Texas, but obviously didn't.  It kind of fell apart for him at USF.  I agree with you about cutting ties early.

I know, hence why I said remnants. Kragthorpe was awful, but the appeal of Louisville and their resurgence hasn't quite disappeared. But the Florida piece was also huge. And I think 1 key thing have changed. When Strong poached Florida at Louisville, UCF wasn't the power they became in the last 5-7 years. Kiffin is doing some nice stuff at FAU, and for all his faults, dude can recruit. So suddenly, Strong wasn't as easily compelling an alternative for the instate non UF/FSU/Miami kids at USF like he was at Louisville.

I thought it was interesting that his longtime assistant stemming back to the Boise St days was handed the gig. Good for continuity I'm sure, and Lake has a solid enough resume, but it struck me as unusual that a guy who was only there for six seasons (and less time than he spent at Boise St) would have a coach-in-waiting type succession and a spot made for him in administration.

Totally agree. The Boise tree is strong, but Lake didn't spend much time there, he's just a Petersen disciple. I've heard good things as well, but it's still odd for a program like U Dub. Also, I find it odd cause Petersen was good, but he didn't really set the world on fire outside of 1 year.

[shoothoops]

Some teams are going after Bryan Harsin at Boise St. We'll see if he decides to stay or make a move. Harsin has been an assistant under both Hawkins and Peterson. He has done well there on his own.

[MU82]

So nice to start December with ND, Bama and UW-Madison on the outside looking in.

Although, to be honest, it was always fun to watch ND lose 849-2 in a playoff game.

[Its DJOver]

So I think the combination is unlikely, but if Clemson loses to Virginia (unlikely), Georgia loses to LSU (fairly likely), and Utah loses to Oregon (don't know enough about either team to make a call), who gets in?  The winner of the the Baylor Oklahoma game would almost certainly get the #3 seed, but who'd be 4th? A 1 loss Clemson with 0 top 25 wins?

[The Sultan]

So I think the combination is unlikely, but if Clemson loses to Virginia (unlikely), Georgia loses to LSU (fairly likely), and Utah loses to Oregon (don't know enough about either team to make a call), who gets in?  The winner of the the Baylor Oklahoma game would almost certainly get the #3 seed, but who'd be 4th? A 1 loss Clemson with 0 top 25 wins?

Clemson.

[Its DJOver]

I could certainly see it, and I don't really have a plausible alternative, but youd have a tough time convincing me that a non-conference champ with 0 top 25 wins is one of the best 4 teams in the country.

[Cheeks]

Sports Illustrated's Adam Maya still hasn't issued a retraction about Clay Helton during, despite USC firmly saying he is staying.

What will SI do? 

[jesmu84]

Sports Illustrated's Adam Maya still hasn't issued a retraction about Clay Helton during, despite USC firmly saying he is staying.

What will SI do?

Can you please take your ax and somewhere else to grind it?

[Uncle Rico]

So I think the combination is unlikely, but if Clemson loses to Virginia (unlikely), Georgia loses to LSU (fairly likely), and Utah loses to Oregon (don't know enough about either team to make a call), who gets in?  The winner of the the Baylor Oklahoma game would almost certainly get the #3 seed, but who'd be 4th? A 1 loss Clemson with 0 top 25 wins?

If they take the 4 best teams, it's Clemson and a clear no-brainer.  I won't argue the ACC is any good but credit to Clemson for steamrolling those teams (save UNC).  I also agree with Dabo about South Carolina.  It's a yearly rivalry game on the schedule and not their fault the Cocks are bad.  They also scheduled Texas A&M, another team anyone would agree should be a good game.  All the metrics point to Clemson being a top-3 team, regardless of this weekend.

[The Sultan]

Sports Illustrated's Adam Maya still hasn't issued a retraction about Clay Helton during, despite USC firmly saying he is staying.

What will SI do? 

https://www.si.com/college/usc/football/report-usc-keeping-helton/

Can you please be done with this silliness now?

[The Sultan]

Anyway, my guess is that retaining Helton made sense because either Urban said "no" or "not yet," or maybe they'd go after Chris Petersen next year.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Weird that Baylor jumped Wisconsin in the playoff poll.

[The Sultan]

Weird that Baylor jumped Wisconsin in the playoff poll.

Not really.  They are sending the message that Wisconsin has no chance, which they shouldn't.  If Georgia wins, they're in.  If they don't, it looks like it could be Utah, or the winner of Oklahoma v. Baylor.  That's it.