Week 8 showed us winning is always so much sweeter than a near miss
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David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
There’s a perception among many college football fans that great teams always look — well, great. They win, they win big, and they make it all look pretty easy.
That’s rarely how it works.
Most years, a trip to the College Football Playoff is as much about sustaining and surviving as it is dominating, and even for the best of teams, there’s a game or two along the way that’s just one long, brutal slog.
Saturday had its share of slogs for playoff hopefuls. Ohio State took every punch it saw from Penn State, but refused to stay down. Florida State withstood Duke‘s defense just long enough to break open the dam. Alabama and Tennessee traded blows. Texas coughed up a big lead but held on late. Oregon fell behind early, but made a statement down the stretch. Washington nursed its hangover from last week’s win over Oregon well into the second half against Arizona State, but rallied late — or, at least, waited long enough to see the Sun Devils implode — and remained undefeated.
None came easy, but do you know what they call the guy who graduates last in his class from medical school? They call him doctor. And an ugly win is still a win.
On the other side, USC‘s defense stood tall, then fell short. Penn State’s best hopes fizzled at the mercy of a superstar receiver. And Virginia, a team that’s endured more than any other program in the country, outlasted undefeated North Carolina for one of the most stunning upsets of the season.
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Sione Vaki snatches ankles on way to Utah TD
Sione Vaki snatches ankles on way to Utah TD
Winning is always so much sweeter than a near miss.
So those victory cigars in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, must’ve tasted like some Dreamland ribs. Joe Milton‘s TD pass before the half gave the Volunteers a seemingly momentous 20-7 lead, but Jalen Milroe and the Tide dominated the second half, capped by a 24-yard scoop-and-score TD to put the game away in a 34-20 win.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) October 21, 2023
There have been so many points in which we were perilously close to writing off Alabama’s season and, perhaps, the Nick Saban dynasty. The loss to Texas, the ugliness against USF, the fight to the end against Arkansas, and then Saturday’s battle against the Vols — this is but a shadow of the teams that won games by simply getting off the bus. And yet there’s something entirely rewarding about seeing Alabama scratch and claw and still come out on top. Saban somehow gets to be the elephant in the room and the scrappy underdog all at once. It might be his greatest trick.
The asterisks Duke fans might want to put on the loss to FSU must’ve looked like fireworks to the Seminoles. They trailed into the fourth quarter, but after Duke QB Riley Leonard left following a flare-up of his ankle injury, it was all Seminoles. FSU posted the game’s final 21 points, as Jordan Travis kept the Noles’ undefeated season alive. To watch a Florida State game this year is to endure so many plays that feel like they should’ve been something more, and yet to look back at this 7-0 start, each game has ended with 30 points or more, and each with a victory. It’s a team that feels like it’s yet to hit its potential, and still always finds another gear when it matters most.
Nothing came easily for Oklahoma against UCF. The Sooners missed two early field goals and fell behind 23-17 entering the fourth quarter. Dillon Gabriel rode to the rescue, but UCF still had a chance to tie when it ran a trick play on a two-point try that was blown up in the backfield. The lackluster outing might’ve been enough to dampen some spirits in Norman, but then again, the Sooners are 7-0 and Lincoln Riley has two losses. Life is good.
The Huskies coughed up much of the good will they earned last week against the Ducks, looking entirely lost against woeful Arizona State. Washington turned the ball over four times, but ASU managed only seven points off the takeaways. Michael Penix Jr. played like he was still at Indiana, air mailing one throw after another and looking entirely lost, but he was bailed out by a 90-yard pick six from Mishael Powell. The Huskies ultimately prevailed 15-7, their first win without an offensive touchdown in 22 years. If they’re lucky, anyone who stayed up to watch will wake up Sunday assuming they dreamed the whole thing.
Utah went into its battle with USC using its safety at tailback and, possibly, three kids standing on each other’s shoulders and wearing a trench coat at QB, and it didn’t matter. That safety — Sione Vaki — rushed for 68 yards and caught five passes for 149 yards and two scores, and even after the Trojans battled back from down 14 to take a late lead, the Utes kept fighting. Bryson Barnes‘ 26-yard scramble set up the winning field goal. The win keeps Utah’s playoff hopes alive, despite playing the entire season without Cam Rising, who coach Kyle Whittingham announced would not return for 2023, while reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams and USC are all but finished.
Kyle Whittingham with an all-time quote: “They’ve got a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, so they’re gonna make some things, and that’s just the way it is. But we’ve got ourselves a pig farmer at quarterback, so we’re proud of that guy, too.”
— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) October 22, 2023
And if Saturday was all about survival, it was an awful setting for North Carolina. The Tar Heels have now played six games as a top-10 team in the past quarter-century, and they’ve lost five of them.
UNC was a 24.5-point favorite over 1-5 Virginia, fresh off its most impressive win of the season. Drake Maye threw for 347 yards. Tez Walker was a superstar once again. Omarion Hampton ran for 112 yards. It all added up to another devastating loss for UNC, which has consistently earned its reputation as a paper tiger.
Instead, it was Virginia that stood tall Saturday. The Cavaliers hadn’t won an ACC game in nearly a year, and the program had never felled a top-10 team in its long history. Instead, Mike Hollins, who was shot 343 days ago in an act of violence that took the lives of three of his teammates, scored three touchdowns in the 31-27 win. It was a remarkable testament to the willingness to keep fighting, to persevere against all odds, and to deliver something that transcends the standings.
It was fitting that Virginia earned the day’s sweetest win because nothing about the Cavaliers’ long road toward normalcy has been easy.
That’s one of the great lessons of a college football Saturday like this one. Get hit, get back up, keep fighting, and in the end, no one will remember the missteps along the way. They’ll just celebrate the moment it all felt right.
Sometimes all you need is a Marvin Harrison Jr.
Saturday’s showdown between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State was supposed to unveil the blueprints for how the rest of 2023 might unfold at the highest levels of college football power, to deliver a verdict on the Big Ten’s power structure, to assert proof that at least one of these teams can win it all, to affirm a narrative for Ryan Day or James Franklin … to be, in short, as meaningful a game as will be played during the regular season.
Instead, what we can take from Saturday is something we already knew: wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. might be the best player in the country.
Ohio State took the win Saturday, 20-12 over Penn State in a game that was at turns frustrating and physical, ugly and sublime. The Buckeyes are 7-0 with two wins over elite competition. The defense, which marred so much of the Buckeyes’ recent history, was an unmovable force. Day has his team poised, once more, to contend for the biggest of prizes, if only it can also escape its biggest of rivals six weeks from now.
And yet, this was hardly a ringing endorsement of Ohio State’s potential. Quarterback Kyle McCord was wildly inconsistent. The ground game was all but invisible. With WR Emeka Egbuka sidelined, there was a limited supply of real weapons for the Buckeyes. But there was Harrison, who, according to ESPN Stats & Information, had more receiving yards than the rest of the team combined and more yards after the catch than Ohio State’s ground game managed with the ball in its hands.
Franklin took the L against another blue blood. He’s 0-10 on the road against top-10 opponents now, which somehow is still not as bad as Penn State was on third down Saturday. But it was hardly a game that illustrated some weakness of coaching or talent or scheme — though there were certainly questions in each area for Penn State. The difference was that Ohio State had Harrison; the Nittany Lions did not.
It was the type of game that Lou Holtz didn’t think Ohio State could win a month ago, and now seems like it might be the only kind of game Ohio State wins.
It was a game with offenses that looked so similar to Michigan State‘s misery that the Michigan Wolverines immediately sent in a team of retired Navy SEALS to infiltrate next week’s practices.
It was the type of game during which Penn State fans had to be wildly screaming for the offense to take a shot, any shot, downfield only to ultimately sink back into their couches, clutching an 8-by-10 photo of Sean Clifford and wondering where things went so wrong.
It was a bulldozer driving into a brick wall, over and over, except for the 11 times the ball found its way into Harrison’s hands. Eleven touches, despite every man, woman and child in the stadium knowing he was the only player on the field who could turn this game. Eleven touches despite Penn State’s defense checking him, pressing him, bumping him, holding him, pushing him down and taking his lunch money. Eleven touches, all of them immensely important, and yet it was a potential 12th that changed the entire tenor of the game, when Penn State was flagged for holding Harrison on a play that might have — should have, if you ask a Penn State fan — been a scoop-and-score for the lead.
If Ohio State’s game plan was as simple as getting the ball to Harrison, Penn State’s was an abject mess — as if Jackson Pollock designed the offensive philosophy.
Witness the Lions’ first-quarter drive, when Nick Singleton ran directly into an overaggressive Ohio State pass rush on back-to-back plays, picking up 16 and 20 yards. What happens next? Drew Allar takes a straight dropback, that aggressive Ohio State pass rush is immediately in the backfield, and the drive stalls.
Witness the Lions’ second-quarter drive, when Allar found something approaching success in the passing game, connecting on consecutive throws to tight ends for gains of 11 and 34. What happens next? A double reverse that the Buckeyes sniffed out like the Wolverines had faxed them Penn State’s playbook before the game.
Witness the Lions … ah, no, there were no more Penn State offensive drives worth mentioning. In the end, Penn State was held without a touchdown for the first time in nearly a decade.
Ohio State, meanwhile, turned to Harrison, who is a superstar. For the second straight year, it turned to JT Tuimoloau down the stretch, and the defensive lineman utterly demoralized what little was left of Penn State’s offense. And the Buckeyes won.
So now the season comes down to the Michigan game once more. Of course it does. It always does.
And so for all the answers this game was supposed to offer, it left in question the one that looms largest in Columbus. Is this Ohio State team capable of beating the Wolverines?
The good news is, this team has Marvin Harrison Jr.
Games of inches
Fans in Houston and Pittsburgh will be spending the next week huddled around footage of their teams’ final drives, dissecting each frame like it’s the Zapruder film after officials robbed both of a chance to win by calling seemingly obvious first downs short of the line to gain.
In Houston, the Cougars came up inches short after Stacy Sneed‘s forward progress seemed to easily pick up a first down at the Texas 9 with 1:57 to play but the run was ruled short nevertheless. Donovan Smith‘s pass on fourth-and-1 fell incomplete, and Houston’s upset bid fell short, 31-24.
Was this play by Houston a first down? #Houston #Texas #Rigged #CollegeFootball pic.twitter.com/bBRfvcv1dX
— Bad CFB Officiating (@BadCallsCFB) October 21, 2023
It might be a good time to check social media for all the Texas Longhorns fans who were absolutely certain Big 12 refs would be out to get them in their final year in the conference. Instead, the call was a blow to Dana Holgorsen, who was already heartbroken to find out Quinn Ewers had cut his mullet.
Pitt looked to have secured a 17-14 win at Wake Forest when QB Christian Veilleux scrambled to convert a third-and-9 — only the official didn’t see it that way. Instead, Veilleux was ruled down a yard-and-a-half shy of the first, which is where the official said he began his slide.
Where you start a slide is something of an “eye of the beholder” thing. But you can argue he’s shifted his body into slide position here, clearly short of the line. On the other hand, why call it that way when it clearly goes against the intent of the rule? pic.twitter.com/HRxRbITaHO
— ??️♈️? (@ADavidHaleJoint) October 21, 2023
The great irony here is the slide rule is in place because former Pitt QB Kenny Pickett faked a slide against — you guessed it! — Wake Forest in the 2021 ACC championship game.
Without the first down, Pitt punted, Wake got the ball with a short field, and third-string QB Santino Marucci engineered a six-play TD drive that took just 33 seconds to give the Deacons a 21-17 win.
Pitt fans will now join Miami — which lost two weeks ago after a questionable ruling of a fumble when it could’ve simply run out the clock — at the weekly ACC officiating support group meetings. Coffee’s free, but it’s Pat Narduzzi’s turn to bring doughnuts.
Bad, worse and whatever Arkansas is doing
Wake Forest and Virginia Tech played last week, but it was Week 8 that offered the best opportunities to break out the Frank Beamer meme. Even beyond Ohio State and Penn State’s top-10 rock fight that … um, highlighted? … the day, it was an ugly afternoon for offenses.
It’s common fodder for service academy showdowns to include painfully little offense, but Air Force offered the promise of a surprisingly new narrative when Dane Kinamon broke free for a 94-yard touchdown catch just 12 seconds into the second quarter.
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Dane Kinamon breaks free for 94-yard Air Force TD grab
Dane Kinamon gets behind Navy’s defense and goes the distance for a 94-yard Air Force touchdown.
Unfortunately, that’s the last offense anyone chose to play. Navy finished with 122 total yards. The two teams were 4-of-30 on third down. Several wide receivers fell asleep at midfield. Air Force won 17-6 thanks to a late pick-six. To recap, a game that came with the second-lowest Vegas point total on record for a Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy contest included a 94-yard TD and a pick-six and still went under.
In Arkansas, offensive coordinator Dan Enos has been walking around for weeks humming the opening stanza to “Sound of Silence” and dreaming up new ways to turn KJ Jefferson into George Jefferson.
Jefferson fumbled twice and threw a pick in Arkansas’ 7-3 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday. Impressively, he managed to complete 19 passes for just 97 yards. Kindergarten games of hot potato involve more downfield throwing than that. Mississippi State at least had the excuse of missing starting QB Will Rogers, who technically missed the game due to injury but would’ve been well within his rights to simply take Saturday off to go see the new Scorsese movie instead.
At ECU, the Pirates’ offense is ridden with scurvy. ECU threw 32 passes and managed just 88 yards through the air in Saturday’s 10-7 loss to a nearly-as-inept Charlotte team. We genuinely wonder if 49ers coach Biff Poggi cuts the arms off his sweatshirts or if he gets mad while watching film of his offense and then shreds his clothes like the Incredible Hulk.
In Iowa, all of that is considered the second-best appetizer for a Hawkeyes game (after the preferred pregame meal of an 86-ounce steak and a quarter keg of whole milk).
And those Hawkeyes didn’t disappoint. Which is to say, they were incredibly disappointing.
The game total closed at 30.5, which is also the number of beers you’d need to consume to enjoy the offense in this one, which Minnesota won 12-10. The two QBs combined to complete 20 of 48 throws. The lone touchdown came on a 1-yard run that completed a 46-yard drive. There were 18 punts, and Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s only regret was that there weren’t more. Iowa chose to punt on fourth-and-10 at its own 41 with 2:06 to play, which made sense because each snap on offense for Iowa represented Minnesota’s best chance to score. The Hawkeyes got a stop and forced another punt — and might have scored on a return, if not for Cooper DeJean waving for a fair catch (or perhaps he was just signaling to AD Beth Goetz not to count these points toward Ferentz’s total). And then Iowa quickly threw a game-ending interception because, of course it did.
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Iowa’s go-ahead TD wiped off after fair catch call
Cooper DeJean returns punt for a 54-yard Iowa touchdown to grab the lead, but it is taken off the board after DeJean appeared to motion for a fair catch.
The final numbers: Iowa had 127 yards of total offense. It averaged 0.4 yards per rush, which translated into inches is a little more than 14 per carry. A toddler could have fallen over 28 times and performed better. For the season, Iowa has 2,656 punt yards and 1,859 yards of offense.
And somewhere in Des Moines, a clandestine group of Iowa power brokers, clad in hooded robes and huddled around a sprawling oak table beneath a portrait of Hayden Fry, solemnly announces in unison: This is the way.
Coach Dabo Swinney turned some heads this week when he suggested his fan base might be weighed down a bit by folks who didn’t appreciate what it took to win, and he suggested perhaps a loss or two might thin the herd.
Well, he got his wish Saturday, and now the Clemson bandwagon might be just Swinney at the driver’s seat, pounding Mike and Ikes and listening to the “Shrek 2” soundtrack on cassette, because everyone else sees a bus slowly lurching toward a cliff.
Clemson lost to Miami 28-20 in double overtime. Miami played without starting QB Tyler Van Dyke, and it won despite a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit. The Canes’ QB, Emory Williams, had just 15 career attempts to his name, and still Clemson allowed Miami to rush for 211 yards — a total just three other teams had managed against the Tigers since 2017. The turnover woes that Swinney has largely chalked up to bad luck again doomed the Tigers, who coughed up two fumbles and an INT. The new offensive coordinator, Garrett Riley, was supposed to offer salvation for a Clemson attack that had gotten stale in recent years, but for the second time this season, a goal-line playcall left QB Cade Klubnik without an answer when it mattered most.
Clemson is now 4-3, effectively finished in the hunt for the ACC, and will need to win out to keep a streak of 12 straight 10-win seasons alive. After each of the three losses — one a fluky defeat to Duke and two in overtime — Swinney found myriad reasonable explanations. Just as it was in 2022, this Clemson team is but a few plays shy of playoff contention. And yet, the Tigers seem further away now than ever, and the most frustrating part — for those still on the bandwagon and those who’ve kindly evacuated — is there doesn’t seem to be any clear path back onto the freeway.
Week 8 checkdowns
Oklahoma State got 282 yards and four touchdowns on the ground from Ollie Gordon to beat West Virginia 48-34. The Pokes are now 5-2 on the season despite no one actually witnessing them hold a lead in any game this season. Gordon has now run for at least 121 yards in four straight games, the longest streak in the Big 12 since Deuce Vaughn had seven straight from Week 10 of 2021 through Week 2 of 2022.
Wisconsin scored 18 in the fourth quarter to erase a two-TD deficit and beat Illinois 25-21. The Badgers won with backup QB Braedyn Locke, who tossed two touchdowns. Braelon Allen had 145 yards and a score, too. Braedyn. Braelon. Uma. Oprah. (Note: If you’re old enough to get that joke, it’s time to take your cholesterol medicine.)
USF erased a 21-10 fourth-quarter deficit on the strength of 260 rushing yards to knock off UConn 24-21. The good news for UConn fans, however, is the NCAA was going to keep the Huskies out of the playoff anyway. You just can’t fight the system.
Would like to see the @CFBPlayoff provide no path for an independent like @UConnFootball but one for @NDFootball. We have no representation on the committee and therefore would seem like people are colluding against some independents but not others? Seems indefensible? https://t.co/ls4zy15jdC
— David Benedict (@UConnHuskyAD) October 21, 2023
Missouri moved to 7-1 behind Cody Schrader‘s 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns, dumping South Carolina 34-12. Afterward, Shane Beamer punched the mascot, set his office on fire and interrupted a local magic show to saw a woman in half.
Memphis used a dominant second half and two TD passes from Seth Henigan to thwart the UAB Blazers 45-21 and retain the Battle of the Bones Trophy.
The Bones Are HOⓂ️E#ALLIN | #GoTigersGo pic.twitter.com/vWfgZsBWK0
— Memphis Football (@MemphisFB) October 22, 2023
Afterward, the Tigers returned to Memphis, slathered the trophy in a nice dry rub, then left it to simmer on the smoker for the next 10 to 12 hours.
New Mexico beat Hawai’i 42-21 on Saturday for its first Mountain West win in nearly two calendar years. The Lobos’ last conference victory came Oct. 23, 2021, against Wyoming. Saturday was just the program’s sixth Mountain West win in the past seven seasons.
Heisman Five
The QBs have largely dominated the Heisman talk so far this year, but Week 8 marks the point the race opened up to everyone else.
1. Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
At this point, Harrison has proved so impactful despite a lack of consistent production around him that we’re fairly certain he could team up with the brass section from Ohio State’s band, a handful of sixth graders and three guys he found sleeping at the bus station and still win the Big Ten West.
2. Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel
Gabriel took on his former team, UCF, on Saturday and had to sweat out a 31-29 win. Hard to blame Gabriel for the Sooners’ struggles, though. Gabriel threw for three touchdowns, including on each of Oklahoma’s final two competitive drives. Even better, he still flubbed just enough plays to ensure Brent Venables can yell at everyone on Sunday. Best of both worlds.
3. Florida State QB Jordan Travis
Duke’s defense makes nothing easy for opposing QBs, and Travis’ usual contingent of downfield targets simply wasn’t open often Saturday. Still, he completed 27 of 36 throws and tossed two touchdowns, to go with another 62 yards and a score on the ground. Travis has now had multiple TDs in 14 straight games — the longest active streak in the country and the third-longest of the playoff era in the ACC. The two players with longer streaks — Trevor Lawrence (17) and Kenny Pickett (16) — both were Heisman finalists.
4. Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.
It’s entirely possible that Penix had tickets to a show Saturday night, and so he sent a lookalike to play for him assuming anyone could beat Arizona State. That is a more likely explanation for Penix’s performance than suggesting he just stunk. Still, two picks, a lost fumble, and a ridiculous amount of awful throws weren’t enough to sink Washington, and it’s not quite enough to knock him out of our rankings.
5. Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon II
There are not a lot of successful Ollie’s out there. The guy who invented the “ollie” in skateboarding. Oliver North for a few months there in the ’80s. Something about liberated oxen. So it’s fair to say that Gordon may already be the most famous Ollie in history, which isn’t enough to warrant Heisman consideration on its own, but paired with his 7 yards-per-carry average and 996 scrimmage yards, it certainly puts him in the conversation.
Wild Stalions
The biggest story leading into Week 8 was the allegation that Michigan was surreptitiously stealing signs and has been since at least 2021. But for all the attention the story got, it’s worth recapping the key details: A low-level staffer with a military background has emerged as a person of interest in the NCAA investigation into Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing operation, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
His name is Connor Stalions.
Let that sink in. If Jim Harbaugh had hired a ninja named Brock Espionage as the team’s director of [REDACTED], it wouldn’t have been any funnier.
The operation, which was described by a source as “elaborate,” has given Michigan all the insider info it’s needed to beat teams like Bowling Green, Rutgers, Nebraska and Indiana. Those wins can’t just be luck.
Still, we have to assume that at some point last week, Stalions was marched into Harbaugh’s office, where the furious Michigan coach was hunched over his desk, eyes bulging, face red.
Harbaugh: “Dammit Stalions, give me one good reason I shouldn’t have your employee badge and khakis right now!”
Stalions, coolly: “Because, sir … I get results.”
And he’s right! Without Stalions’ alleged advance scouting, surely Michigan wouldn’t have escaped rival Michigan State 49-0. It would’ve been more like 49-3. And instead of throwing for four touchdowns, J.J. McCarthy might’ve thrown for three and rushed for one. And certainly there’s no chance the Spartans would’ve been held to just 190 yards of offense. We have every confidence that, in an honestly played contest, Michigan State gets to at least 200 on a garbage-time scramble on fourth-and-26.
Meanwhile, in a bunker buried deep beneath the Big House, Harbaugh and his staff gather around a table surrounded by monitors showing the all-22 from Buckeyes games. A cacophony of frustration erupts among coaches.
Suddenly, a shadowy figure who looks strangely like James Franklin enters and hands Harbaugh a sealed envelope. Harbaugh opens the letter and slides out a single sheet of paper. It reads: “Marvin Harrison Jr. is really good.”
Under-the-radar game of the week
Like everyone in Las Vegas, UNLV likes to live dangerously.
The Rebels moved to 6-1 on the season (and 3-0 in the Mountain West) thanks to a 25-23 win over Colorado State that saw four lead changes in the second half of the fourth quarter alone.
Colorado State led 13-3 at the half. UNLV stormed back to take a 19-13 lead with 7:36 left in the fourth. Then the fireworks began.
Colorado State scored on a 20-yard TD to take a 20-19 lead.
UNLV booted a 46-yard field goal to go back up 22-20.
Colorado State drove into Rebels territory and kicked a field goal, taking a 23-22 lead with 44 seconds to play.
UNLV took over at its own 34 with 40 seconds to play and no timeouts, but QB Jayden Maiava completed balls for 5, 4, 21 and 20 yards to get within field goal range, and Jose Pizano drilled a 28-yarder with 3 seconds to play to secure the win.
Colorado State has now blown an eight-point lead and lost in double OT to Colorado, erased a 30-10 fourth-quarter deficit against Boise State to win 31-30, and traded leads with UNLV throughout the fourth quarter Saturday.
Usually in Las Vegas, that kind of heart-skipping drama comes with a few free drinks.
Under-the-radar play(s) of the week
Boston College and Georgia Tech defensive backs named A(h)mari took turns one-upping each other for sheer athleticism in Atlanta on Saturday.
First, BC’s Amari Jackson grabbed a one-handed pick like he was nabbing a fly out of the air with chopsticks, then returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.
0:57
BC CB makes jaw-dropping, one-handed pick-six
Boston College’s Amari Jackson picks off Haynes King and returns it for a touchdown.
Not to be outdone, Georgia Tech’s Ahmari Harvey elevated like Michael Jordan, hung in midair like he was in “The Matrix” and pulled down an interception in the end zone, too. Three plays later, Yellow Jackets QB Haynes King scored on a 71-yard run.
0:41
Ahmari Harvey elevates to pick off Boston College in the end zone
Ahmari Harvey intercepts Thomas Castellanos deep pass in the end zone to give Georgia Tech the ball back.
After that, however, the defenses didn’t do quite so much, as BC’s Kye Robichaux ran for 165 yards, added 54 more receiving and scored twice in the Eagles’ 38-23 win.
Out of their Rut
In 2021, Rutgers proved that the best ability was availability by sliding into a bowl game after Texas A&M opted out of playing, despite its 5-7 regular-season record.
Aside from bowling by default, however, it’d been a bit of a dry spell for the Scarlet Knights, who hadn’t won six games in a year since 2014.
Welcome back to the big time — or, at least, slightly better than mediocrity — Rutgers!
Gavin Wimsatt ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as Rutgers thumped Indiana 31-14, getting win No. 6 on the season to secure a bowl bid. It’s the program’s eighth bowl season in 15 years with Greg Schiano at the helm. In its other 94 years of existence, it’s made exactly four bowl games.
It’s probably fair to note that no one Rutgers has beaten so far has a winning record. And, it’s perhaps worth mentioning that the next four games on the docket — Ohio State, at Iowa, at Penn State, Maryland — are all against schools that currently do have a winning record.
So go ahead and book those flights to Detroit. The Quick Lane Bowl awaits, and it’ll be — well, it’ll be cold. But you’re from New Jersey. You’ll be fine.
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Adam Rittenberg
The wildest college football coaching cycle — perhaps ever — has reached the hiring phase.
Schools around the Power 4 that fired their coaches in the first two months of the season — or, in Stanford’s case, way back in late March — are targeting candidates and finalizing deals. Interestingly enough, one of the first major coaches to lose his job, Penn State’s James Franklin, was the first noninterim coach to be hired, as he is headed to Virginia Tech.
New hires always come with hope and optimism, grand proclamations and the chance to get programs on the right track. But not all hiring processes are the same. The financial component with jobs is essential — what schools are willing to spend not just on their head coach, but the assistants and support staff and, perhaps most important, the team roster.
We will be reviewing all of the major coaching hires in the 2025-26 cycle, evaluating how each coach fits in the job, their major challenges and what it will take to be successful. We will also assign an initial letter grade for each hire.
Jump to: LSU | Ole Miss | Florida | Arkansas | Auburn
Stanford | Oklahoma State | Virginia Tech
LSU hires Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin
Why is this a good fit?
LSU got the coach it wanted ahead of other suitors, further confirming that its coaching job, despite the drama and dysfunction, remains one of the best in college football. Kiffin left a great situation at the height of his powers because he knows that LSU can consistently compete for national titles in ways that other programs simply cannot. In Kiffin, LSU gains a coach accustomed to the bright lights and the big stadiums, who can attract and develop talent and potentially restore the program to national powerhouse status. LSU can offer the big stage Kiffin lacked at Ole Miss, and wanted again.
Kiffin hasn’t worked at LSU but knows the SEC well after stops at Ole Miss, Alabama and Tennessee. Like Kiffin did at Ole Miss, he should put together an excellent staff that can scour Louisiana, Texas and the surrounding areas for top talent. He certainly will try to bring some of Ole Miss’ top players with him. Kiffin brings the offensive chops that LSU lacked at the end of Kelly’s tenure. He’s one of the nation’s best at identifying and developing quarterbacks, and the emergence of running back Kewan Lacy and others underscores that the Kiffin plan works on offense. — Adam Rittenberg
Biggest challenges Kiffin will face
LSU has a reputation as a place where it is possible to win championships, and that expectation will be placed on Kiffin immediately – especially with the money he is being paid. The Tigers pride themselves on this fact as Nick Saban, Les Miles, then Ed Orgeron all won national titles. Brian Kelly was an awkward fit from the start and never truly got the vibe down on the Bayou. Kiffin has his own unique way of running a program, but he has to find a way to work with all the different “cooks in the kitchen” so to speak. The entire state is heavily invested in LSU football, and though Kiffin has an extremely high profile, he is moving to an even bigger spotlight in Baton Rouge — the only Power 4 school in the state. Kiffin must embrace that, and everything that comes with it. As coveted as he was in this cycle, Kiffin has never won a conference title and finding a way to get over the hump at a school like LSU has to happen. This will be his best shot to get it done, and the clock will start ticking as soon as his first press conference ends. — Andrea Adelson
Grade: A-
The fixation around Kiffin the past few weeks would normally be attached to a multi-time national championship winner, or at least a coach who has won a Power 4 conference title. Kiffin did tremendous work at Ole Miss but still needs to show he can win the biggest games consistently. LSU is a national championship-or-bust type of program, and Kiffin will be judged at the very highest level, which he craves. He brings the right ingredients to get it done in Baton Rouge, especially his work with quarterbacks. — Rittenberg
Ole Miss makes DC Pete Golding new head coach
Why is this a good fit?
Under normal circumstances, Ole Miss could run a complete coaching search, thoroughly assess candidates currently in head-coaching roles, and others who might help build on the historic success under Lane Kiffin. But these are the strangest of times in Oxford, as Kiffin exits for LSU, a College Football Playoff first-round game looms for the Rebels, and emotions are running extremely high. Kiffin certainly will try to poach the roster for top pieces, and Ole Miss must do what it can to protect as many players as possible. Golding was the lead recruiter for many of them. He’s well-liked by players and won’t need to familiarize himself with Oxford, the administration and how Ole Miss is set up to compete.
Golding, 41, might not have been on the wish list for other SEC jobs just yet, but Ole Miss found itself in a unique situation. He’s a Louisiana native who has spent his entire career in the region, first at his alma mater Delta State and other smaller programs, and then Southern Miss and UTSA before getting his big break with Nick Saban at Alabama in 2018. Golding spent five seasons as a coordinator under Saban, and helped the Crimson Tide to a national title in 2020, before joining Kiffin at Ole Miss. He gives Ole Miss a chance not only for success in this year’s CFP, but can minimize disruptions during a very bumpy coaching transition.
What will be Golding’s biggest challenge?
Golding should be able to handle the next few weeks, but his true readiness for the enormity of the job is unclear. Again, he didn’t emerge as a candidate for the other SEC openings in this cycle, which suggests some external concern about his ability to handle such a role. Any first-time coaching job brings its challenges and even though Golding knows Ole Miss, he hasn’t been the face of the program. He’s also replacing a coach who put together the team’s most successful run since John Vaught in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Although Golding has shown his talents in recruiting and with schematics, how will he handle the media? How does he do in front of donors and other key stakeholders with the university? Perhaps he just needed the chance, which he now has, but assistant coaches that are shielded from the media often take some time to get fully comfortable.
Grade: B
Coaching hires can’t be evaluated in a vacuum, and Golding’s ultimate success or failure at Ole Miss will be judged by what he accomplishes beyond the 2025 season. But what happens in Ole Miss’ first CFP appearance, after losing Kiffin to a rival SEC school, absolutely does matter, too, and Golding gives Ole Miss a chance to prolong a really special season. There’s little doubt he will continue to compile strong rosters. He will need a strong supporting staff, especially a talented offensive coordinator hire, to ultimately sustain and even elevate the program. The key question here is whether other SEC programs missed out on a great candidate in Golding, or will Ole Miss suffer for making an in-the-moment decision that could backfire long-term? — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Florida fans: Sumrall isn’t Billy Napier. Yes, he’s another promising Group of 5 coach from a program in Louisiana, just as Napier was when he came to Gainesville. But Sumrall is a different personality who comes from the opposite side of the ball and has more ties to the SEC, where he both played (Kentucky) and coached (Ole Miss, Kentucky). He’s more comfortable than Napier was in being the face of a major program and will delegate to his coordinators while compiling a strong staff. Although Auburn seemed like a more natural spot for Sumrall because of his connections to the state, Florida gives him an even bigger platform at the lone SEC program in one of the nation’s top talent-producing states.
The other thing Sumrall brings is wins. He won Sun Belt titles in both of his seasons at Troy and went to the American Conference title game in his first year at Tulane. Sumrall has succeeded in different ways and with different types of quarterbacks. He hasn’t won in the Power 4 or at a program like Florida, which is an understandable concern. But Sumrall is ready for the opportunity and should be able to foster the consistency Florida has lacked for far too long. Florida didn’t have a talent problem under Napier, and Sumrall should continue to excel in personnel while translating it better on the field. — Rittenberg
Biggest challenges Sumrall will face
Where do we start? First and foremost, Sumrall has to find a way to win over a fan base that thought it had a shot at landing Lane Kiffin. Whether that was a reality or not, Gators fans had their hopes up that Kiffin would choose them. With that, Sumrall has to convince fans he is not another version of Napier. Once Sumrall has done that, he has to find a way to win at what has proved to be one of the hardest jobs to crack in the SEC. Florida has not won an SEC title since 2008, and while there remains a belief it is one of the best jobs in the country, Florida goes through coaches at a fairly frequent clip. If past is precedent, Sumrall will be given a year or two to find success before the fan base starts to turn on him; four years max to compete for a championship. Expectations are sky high, and Sumrall will be given no leeway to learn on the job. — Adelson
Grade: B+
Sumrall has the ingredients to become the next great SEC coach. He’s an excellent communicator who connects with a range of people and should get Florida fans excited about the future, even if they might be skeptical at first because of his background. Florida isn’t where I initially saw him ending up in a wild coaching cycle, but if the school gives him some time, he should stabilize and elevate the Gators’ on-field performance and start getting more out of very talented rosters there. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Silverfield has quietly become a really successful coach in the region, and certainly seems ready for a Power 4 opportunity like Arkansas. Although he hasn’t generated as much buzz as Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and other American Conference coaches, he has beaten many of them in head-to-head matchups and boasts a 29-9 record since the start of the 2023 season, including an AP Top 25 finish last fall. Silverfield led Memphis to a win against Arkansas earlier this season and has beaten four consecutive Power 4 opponents, including West Virginia and Iowa State in bowl games the past two seasons.
He has led Memphis since late 2019 but been at the program since 2016, so he understands the recruiting landscape and where Arkansas must look for players. Arkansas’ location can be a challenge for acquiring talent, but Silverfield shouldn’t be intimidated by it. He also brings a strong background on offense to Fayetteville and should compile a staff that has similar knowledge to the area and possibly the SEC.
What are the biggest challenges for Silverfield?
The SEC is only getting tougher with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, the emergence of Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, and the pressure on a traditional heavyweight like Florida to start making the CFP. Where does Arkansas really fit in the SEC pecking order? Silverfield likely will have to do more with less initially and win games against programs that have been on steadier footing. His real challenge will be trying to energize and unite the financial hubs around the Arkansas program, which give the program a chance to accelerate but haven’t always been harnessed.
Athletic director Hunter Yurachek was blunt earlier this year about the increased resources needed to better compete in the SEC. Arkansas seemingly could access those individuals and corporations with the right coach and vision. That’s where Silverfield comes in, as Arkansas can use those relationships to overcome some of its baked-in obstacles. Silverfield will need a strong introductory period, as Arkansas fans might not know him that well and need to embrace his personality and leadership style. The first offseason will be critical to make sure the program doesn’t fall further behind.
Grade: B
Silverfield’s consistency and success tended to go under the radar at a program like Memphis, where people have grown accustomed to really strong seasons. But his steady leadership style, shown in 2023, 2024 and most of this year, should help an Arkansas program that needs clear direction. He hasn’t coached in the SEC, and there could be a learning curve, but he shouldn’t be surprised walking in the door at Arkansas after spending so much time with Memphis. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Every SEC school asks its head coaches to be engaged in recruiting, and Auburn is no exception. Although Auburn never got the results it wanted with Hugh Freeze, the school’s approach toward NIL and acquiring talent — a major draw when it tried to lure Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss — showed up on the roster. Golesh is the type of head coach who could harness Auburn’s established personnel apparatus and really maximize things going forward. He’s about as hands-on in the recruiting space as head coaches get. When Golesh was offensive coordinator at Tennessee, I remember sitting in his office and seeing him monitor all the recruiting transactions from social media on a giant screen. Golesh will get after it to upgrade Auburn’s roster and use all the resources available to him. He won’t be intimidated by the SEC recruiting scene and has ties to multiple states, including Florida and Ohio.
Golesh also brings an offensive background that should energize Auburn fans, especially after how poorly things went on that side of the ball under Freeze. He spent time with Matt Campbell early in his career, and then with Josh Heuepel at both UCF and Tennessee. South Florida ranks in the top five nationally in both scoring and total offense this season, and its defense shined in wins against Boise State and Florida.
What will be Golesh’s biggest challenge?
The challenge at Auburn is almost always the same. Can the head coach truly capitalize on the best parts of the place — an advantageous recruiting location, strong financial resources and a large and extremely devoted fan base — while navigating the big donors and other significant forces that have clashed too often over time and ultimately held back the program’s progress? Golesh is a strong communicator and brings a good mix of experience to the Plains, most notably his two seasons as an SEC coordinator at Tennessee.
He hasn’t been an SEC head coach, though, and he will need to show he won’t be pushed around or swayed by the forces that have doomed Auburn in the past. Golesh’s staff hires at Auburn will be especially important on defense, as South Florida made strides on that side this season but also struggled in key losses to Memphis and Navy. The other element worth watching is how Golesh balances the personnel element, undoubtedly his passion, with some of the other key responsibilities that come with managing an exciting but complicated program like Auburn.
Grade: B+
Despite no Power 4 head-coaching experience, Golesh checks a lot of boxes with his background, having worked in the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, and in the Midwest, South and Southeast. His time at Tennessee should really help him at a program like Auburn, which has a chance to move up in the SEC pecking order but will need a smart, aggressive approach. Golesh’s record of 23-15 doesn’t really jump off the page, and he hasn’t been part of a conference championship just yet. But his assertive vision as a recruiter gives Auburn a chance to quickly improve its roster and win more in an increasingly difficult SEC. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Pritchard understands Stanford — its advantages, limitations and possibilities — better than most. He played quarterback for the Cardinal from 2006 to 2009, ahead of Andrew Luck’s run, and then spent the first 13 years of his coaching career with his alma mater, until joining the Washington Commanders‘ staff in 2023. He won’t be blindsided by what he’s walking into at Stanford. He also has a very close relationship with Luck, who is truly directing the program. There will be no feeling-out period between head coach and general manager.
Pritchard, 38, was part of Stanford’s seismic shift under Jim Harbaugh, quarterbacking the team to a signature win against USC in 2007. He then witnessed Stanford’s rise to a consistent contender and, more importantly, saw how things went downhill so quickly after COVID and in the portal/NIL era. His ability to learn from those difficult times and ensure Stanford avoids them will be important. But again, he’s not doing this alone, as he comes in immediately aligned with Luck. — Rittenberg
What will be Pritchard’s biggest challenge?
Generating momentum. Few people share as close an association with some of the biggest moments in Stanford history as Pritchard, but during those heights, the Cardinal never truly resonated broadly within a competitive San Francisco Bay Area sports market. With the collapse of the Pac-12 and six losing seasons in the past seven years, Stanford football has essentially become irrelevant locally. Building a program under those circumstances is difficult.
The academic side of things will always be a draw and should, in theory, help the program limit excessive outgoing transfers, but there also needs to be a robust NIL program. At Stanford that doesn’t have to be a problem. The university’s alumni base is notably wealthy, but it also has not proved to be a group eager to part with large sums of money to help field a better football team. That’s perhaps more of an issue that Luck will be responsible for dealing with, but it is very much part of the hand Pritchard has been dealt.
Beyond the structural challenges, this is just a team that needs a talent upgrade. They don’t have the players right now to compete at a high level. — Kyle Bonagura
Grade: C+
Luck didn’t make the most imaginative hire here. He went with a close friend who needs no introduction to Stanford and the vision for success there. But Pritchard hasn’t been a head coach before and wasn’t mentioned as being on the radar for many other college or NFL jobs. Stanford is really betting on potential here. He only really knows Stanford, which might work out in this case, but he also must learn from what happened toward the end of David Shaw’s tenure and chart out a new path. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Oklahoma State needed a coach who knew the Big 12 and the region, and someone who could bring a clear vision, especially on offense. Quarterback play was central to Oklahoma State’s identity under Mike Gundy, and Morris has become one of the best talent identifiers in recent years. Oklahoma State needs to accelerate its recruiting, but likely won’t have the first choice for players, and Morris has repeatedly shown the ability to find and develop under-the-radar players. Ideally, he can bring quarterback Drew Mestemaker and others to Stillwater, and perhaps more importantly, make Oklahoma State an attractive destination for top offensive performers again.
Morris played and coached in the Big 12 at Texas Tech and spent time at Houston early in his career, so he won’t be unfamiliar with the key characteristics of a program like Oklahoma State. He’s not a Gundy disciple, but he can respect what Gundy did to elevate the program, while implementing his own vision, which worked both at Incarnate Word and at North Texas. — Rittenberg
What will be Morris’ biggest challenge?
The answer here is twofold: 1) Morris must live up to the unprecedented levels of consistent success his predecessor brought Oklahoma State; 2) Morris will also have to figure out exactly how to take the Cowboys’ football program to the future.
On the first point, whomever Oklahoma State chose to hire this cycle was going to be replacing a coach who won more — and more consistently — than any other figure in program history. Before 2023, the Cowboys made 18 consecutive bowl appearances under Gundy, winning eight or more games in 13 of those seasons. Past leading Oklahoma State to the very top of the sport and turning the program into a national brand, Gundy’s greatest achievement was transforming a school that had registered back-to-back 10-win seasons only once before he took over in 2005 into a perennial winner. Morris, who made two playoff appearances at Incarnate Word and has North Texas contending for the American this fall, has a history of producing quick turnarounds. Getting Oklahoma State upright — which will likely require a massive roster and staff overhaul — should be his first objective. From there, Morris will be judged on the expectations set by Gundy before him.
How does Morris take Oklahoma State into the future? Gundy’s initial, outspoken reluctance, then too-little, too-late embrace of college football’s NIL/transfer portal era hurt the Cowboys on the field and laid the groundwork for his unceremonious departure earlier this fall. Oklahoma State has fallen behind in terms of roster budgeting compared to its Big 12 counterparts, and industry sources suggested that the Cowboys’ ability to present improved resources would be a key piece of the hiring process. Morris has built a career on making more out of less, and that will serve him well in Stillwater. He has also proven capable of navigating the transfer portal and the current complexities of the sport. With help from Oklahoma State (and its boosters), Morris must take steps to modernize the program. If he can, a Big 12 conference landscape that remains wide open outside of Texas Tech could once again be Oklahoma State’s for the taking. — Eli Lederman
Grade: A-
Morris is only 40 (cue the Gundy memes), hasn’t been a Power 4 head coach, and before this season had only middling results with North Texas. His quarterback track record is his superpower, though, and Oklahoma State needs a renaissance at the position after things fell off too sharply. Morris can recruit Texas and build up the roster. Time will tell if he has the expertise to win one-score games in a league where programs are extremely similar. — Rittenberg
0:32
Paul Finebaum: Is Virginia Tech an upgrade for James Franklin?
Paul Finebaum weighs in on James Franklin reportedly being hired as Virginia Tech’s next coach.
Why is this a good fit?
When Franklin was fired and almost immediately announced his intentions to coach in 2026, Virginia Tech emerged as a natural landing spot for the 53-year-old. He has spent most of his career near the mid-Atlantic region, twice serving as a Maryland assistant, leading programs in Vanderbilt and Penn State and even working within the state at James Madison in 1997.
He understands the key recruiting areas extremely well. Franklin ultimately was fired for not winning the biggest games at Penn State, but he still won a lot of them (104) and understands how to build a consistently successful program. Virginia Tech ultimately had to do more of the selling here and convince a veteran coach that it was financially serious enough to contend in the ACC. Franklin isn’t shy about asking for what he needs, and he wouldn’t take the job if he didn’t feel that Virginia Tech’s investments are sufficient to compete for ACC championships. — Rittenberg
What will be Franklin’s biggest challenge?
This hire would not have happened without the financial investment Virginia Tech is about to make in football. The Hokies have languished behind their ACC counterparts in nearly every area — from staffing to salaries to NIL — and some of that has to do with an outdated way of thinking. The one through line has been the thought that the Hokies could win the way Frank Beamer won. That is a big reason why they hired Brent Pry, who served as Franklin’s defensive coordinator, as head coach in November 2021. That clearly did not work, as Pry never won more than seven games in a season. Virginia Tech pledged to add $229 million to its overall athletics budget over the next four years — a huge concession that the old model no longer works in this new era of college football.
But Franklin has to get the entire athletic department to believe the old Beamer days truly are over and things must be done his way. That is challenge No. 1. The second challenge is to restore Virginia Tech’s prowess in recruiting its home state. Franklin had success taking players out of Virginia Tech’s backyard and turning them into stars at Penn State. Will he be able to do the same now at Virginia Tech, which has lost an enormous amount of ground to powers outside the state? The high school players being recruited now were toddlers the last time Virginia Tech was a nationally respected program playing in BCS games. They don’t remember the Hokies being elite. Convincing players to stay in state will be a challenge, but one that Franklin can achieve given his track record. — Adelson
Grade: A
Virginia Tech’s two post-Frank Beamer hires were a coach who had not led a Power 4 program (Justin Fuente) and a first-time head coach (Brent Pry). In Franklin, Virginia Tech gets a proven winner from the Big Ten and SEC, who knows the region extremely well and will be extremely motivated to compete for league titles and CFP appearances.
Franklin’s big-stage shortcomings are a concern but perhaps not as much for a program like Virginia Tech, which is seeking to become a consistent conference title contender again. — Rittenberg
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Adam Rittenberg
The wildest college football coaching cycle — perhaps ever — has reached the hiring phase.
Schools around the Power 4 that fired their coaches in the first two months of the season — or, in Stanford’s case, way back in late March — are targeting candidates and finalizing deals. Interestingly enough, one of the first major coaches to lose his job, Penn State’s James Franklin, was the first noninterim coach to be hired, as he is headed to Virginia Tech.
New hires always come with hope and optimism, grand proclamations and the chance to get programs on the right track. But not all hiring processes are the same. The financial component with jobs is essential — what schools are willing to spend not just on their head coach, but the assistants and support staff and, perhaps most important, the team roster.
We will be reviewing all of the major coaching hires in the 2025-26 cycle, evaluating how each coach fits in the job, their major challenges and what it will take to be successful. We will also assign an initial letter grade for each hire.
Jump to: LSU | Ole Miss | Florida | Arkansas | Auburn
Stanford | Oklahoma State | Virginia Tech
LSU hires Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin
Why is this a good fit?
LSU got the coach it wanted ahead of other suitors, further confirming that its coaching job, despite the drama and dysfunction, remains one of the best in college football. Kiffin left a great situation at the height of his powers because he knows that LSU can consistently compete for national titles in ways that other programs simply cannot. In Kiffin, LSU gains a coach accustomed to the bright lights and the big stadiums, who can attract and develop talent and potentially restore the program to national powerhouse status. LSU can offer the big stage Kiffin lacked at Ole Miss, and wanted again.
Kiffin hasn’t worked at LSU but knows the SEC well after stops at Ole Miss, Alabama and Tennessee. Like Kiffin did at Ole Miss, he should put together an excellent staff that can scour Louisiana, Texas and the surrounding areas for top talent. He certainly will try to bring some of Ole Miss’ top players with him. Kiffin brings the offensive chops that LSU lacked at the end of Kelly’s tenure. He’s one of the nation’s best at identifying and developing quarterbacks, and the emergence of running back Kewan Lacy and others underscores that the Kiffin plan works on offense. — Adam Rittenberg
Biggest challenges Kiffin will face
LSU has a reputation as a place where it is possible to win championships, and that expectation will be placed on Kiffin immediately – especially with the money he is being paid. The Tigers pride themselves on this fact as Nick Saban, Les Miles, then Ed Orgeron all won national titles. Brian Kelly was an awkward fit from the start and never truly got the vibe down on the Bayou. Kiffin has his own unique way of running a program, but he has to find a way to work with all the different “cooks in the kitchen” so to speak. The entire state is heavily invested in LSU football, and though Kiffin has an extremely high profile, he is moving to an even bigger spotlight in Baton Rouge — the only Power 4 school in the state. Kiffin must embrace that, and everything that comes with it. As coveted as he was in this cycle, Kiffin has never won a conference title and finding a way to get over the hump at a school like LSU has to happen. This will be his best shot to get it done, and the clock will start ticking as soon as his first press conference ends. — Andrea Adelson
Grade: A-
The fixation around Kiffin the past few weeks would normally be attached to a multi-time national championship winner, or at least a coach who has won a Power 4 conference title. Kiffin did tremendous work at Ole Miss but still needs to show he can win the biggest games consistently. LSU is a national championship-or-bust type of program, and Kiffin will be judged at the very highest level, which he craves. He brings the right ingredients to get it done in Baton Rouge, especially his work with quarterbacks. — Rittenberg
Ole Miss makes DC Pete Golding new head coach
Why is this a good fit?
Under normal circumstances, Ole Miss could run a complete coaching search, thoroughly assess candidates currently in head-coaching roles, and others who might help build on the historic success under Lane Kiffin. But these are the strangest of times in Oxford, as Kiffin exits for LSU, a College Football Playoff first-round game looms for the Rebels, and emotions are running extremely high. Kiffin certainly will try to poach the roster for top pieces, and Ole Miss must do what it can to protect as many players as possible. Golding was the lead recruiter for many of them. He’s well-liked by players and won’t need to familiarize himself with Oxford, the administration and how Ole Miss is set up to compete.
Golding, 41, might not have been on the wish list for other SEC jobs just yet, but Ole Miss found itself in a unique situation. He’s a Louisiana native who has spent his entire career in the region, first at his alma mater Delta State and other smaller programs, and then Southern Miss and UTSA before getting his big break with Nick Saban at Alabama in 2018. Golding spent five seasons as a coordinator under Saban, and helped the Crimson Tide to a national title in 2022, before joining Kiffin at Ole Miss. He gives Ole Miss a chance not only for success in this year’s CFP, but can minimize disruptions during a very bumpy coaching transition.
What will be Golding’s biggest challenge?
Golding should be able to handle the next few weeks, but his true readiness for the enormity of the job is unclear. Again, he didn’t emerge as a candidate for the other SEC openings in this cycle, which suggests some external concern about his ability to handle such a role. Any first-time coaching job brings its challenges and even though Golding knows Ole Miss, he hasn’t been the face of the program. He’s also replacing a coach who put together the team’s most successful run since John Vaught in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Although Golding has shown his talents in recruiting and with schematics, how will he handle the media? How does he do in front of donors and other key stakeholders with the university? Perhaps he just needed the chance, which he now has, but assistant coaches that are shielded from the media often take some time to get fully comfortable.
Grade: B
Coaching hires can’t be evaluated in a vacuum, and Golding’s ultimate success or failure at Ole Miss will be judged by what he accomplishes beyond the 2025 season. But what happens in Ole Miss’ first CFP appearance, after losing Kiffin to a rival SEC school, absolutely does matter, too, and Golding gives Ole Miss a chance to prolong a really special season. There’s little doubt he will continue to compile strong rosters. He will need a strong supporting staff, especially a talented offensive coordinator hire, to ultimately sustain and even elevate the program. The key question here is whether other SEC programs missed out on a great candidate in Golding, or will Ole Miss suffer for making an in-the-moment decision that could backfire long-term? — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Florida fans: Sumrall isn’t Billy Napier. Yes, he’s another promising Group of 5 coach from a program in Louisiana, just as Napier was when he came to Gainesville. But Sumrall is a different personality who comes from the opposite side of the ball and has more ties to the SEC, where he both played (Kentucky) and coached (Ole Miss, Kentucky). He’s more comfortable than Napier was in being the face of a major program and will delegate to his coordinators while compiling a strong staff. Although Auburn seemed like a more natural spot for Sumrall because of his connections to the state, Florida gives him an even bigger platform at the lone SEC program in one of the nation’s top talent-producing states.
The other thing Sumrall brings is wins. He won Sun Belt titles in both of his seasons at Troy and went to the American Conference title game in his first year at Tulane. Sumrall has succeeded in different ways and with different types of quarterbacks. He hasn’t won in the Power 4 or at a program like Florida, which is an understandable concern. But Sumrall is ready for the opportunity and should be able to foster the consistency Florida has lacked for far too long. Florida didn’t have a talent problem under Napier, and Sumrall should continue to excel in personnel while translating it better on the field. — Rittenberg
Biggest challenges Sumrall will face
Where do we start? First and foremost, Sumrall has to find a way to win over a fan base that thought it had a shot at landing Lane Kiffin. Whether that was a reality or not, Gators fans had their hopes up that Kiffin would choose them. With that, Sumrall has to convince fans he is not another version of Napier. Once Sumrall has done that, he has to find a way to win at what has proved to be one of the hardest jobs to crack in the SEC. Florida has not won an SEC title since 2008, and while there remains a belief it is one of the best jobs in the country, Florida goes through coaches at a fairly frequent clip. If past is precedent, Sumrall will be given a year or two to find success before the fan base starts to turn on him; four years max to compete for a championship. Expectations are sky high, and Sumrall will be given no leeway to learn on the job. — Adelson
Grade: B+
Sumrall has the ingredients to become the next great SEC coach. He’s an excellent communicator who connects with a range of people and should get Florida fans excited about the future, even if they might be skeptical at first because of his background. Florida isn’t where I initially saw him ending up in a wild coaching cycle, but if the school gives him some time, he should stabilize and elevate the Gators’ on-field performance and start getting more out of very talented rosters there. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Silverfield has quietly become a really successful coach in the region, and certainly seems ready for a Power 4 opportunity like Arkansas. Although he hasn’t generated as much buzz as Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and other American Conference coaches, he has beaten many of them in head-to-head matchups and boasts a 29-9 record since the start of the 2023 season, including an AP Top 25 finish last fall. Silverfield led Memphis to a win against Arkansas earlier this season and has beaten four consecutive Power 4 opponents, including West Virginia and Iowa State in bowl games the past two seasons.
He has led Memphis since late 2019 but been at the program since 2016, so he understands the recruiting landscape and where Arkansas must look for players. Arkansas’ location can be a challenge for acquiring talent, but Silverfield shouldn’t be intimidated by it. He also brings a strong background on offense to Fayetteville and should compile a staff that has similar knowledge to the area and possibly the SEC.
What are the biggest challenges for Silverfield?
The SEC is only getting tougher with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, the emergence of Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, and the pressure on a traditional heavyweight like Florida to start making the CFP. Where does Arkansas really fit in the SEC pecking order? Silverfield likely will have to do more with less initially and win games against programs that have been on steadier footing. His real challenge will be trying to energize and unite the financial hubs around the Arkansas program, which give the program a chance to accelerate but haven’t always been harnessed.
Athletic director Hunter Yurachek was blunt earlier this year about the increased resources needed to better compete in the SEC. Arkansas seemingly could access those individuals and corporations with the right coach and vision. That’s where Silverfield comes in, as Arkansas can use those relationships to overcome some of its baked-in obstacles. Silverfield will need a strong introductory period, as Arkansas fans might not know him that well and need to embrace his personality and leadership style. The first offseason will be critical to make sure the program doesn’t fall further behind.
Grade: B
Silverfield’s consistency and success tended to go under the radar at a program like Memphis, where people have grown accustomed to really strong seasons. But his steady leadership style, shown in 2023, 2024 and most of this year, should help an Arkansas program that needs clear direction. He hasn’t coached in the SEC, and there could be a learning curve, but he shouldn’t be surprised walking in the door at Arkansas after spending so much time with Memphis. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Every SEC school asks its head coaches to be engaged in recruiting, and Auburn is no exception. Although Auburn never got the results it wanted with Hugh Freeze, the school’s approach toward NIL and acquiring talent — a major draw when it tried to lure Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss — showed up on the roster. Golesh is the type of head coach who could harness Auburn’s established personnel apparatus and really maximize things going forward. He’s about as hands-on in the recruiting space as head coaches get. When Golesh was offensive coordinator at Tennessee, I remember sitting in his office and seeing him monitor all the recruiting transactions from social media on a giant screen. Golesh will get after it to upgrade Auburn’s roster and use all the resources available to him. He won’t be intimidated by the SEC recruiting scene and has ties to multiple states, including Florida and Ohio.
Golesh also brings an offensive background that should energize Auburn fans, especially after how poorly things went on that side of the ball under Freeze. He spent time with Matt Campbell early in his career, and then with Josh Heuepel at both UCF and Tennessee. South Florida ranks in the top five nationally in both scoring and total offense this season, and its defense shined in wins against Boise State and Florida.
What will be Golesh’s biggest challenge?
The challenge at Auburn is almost always the same. Can the head coach truly capitalize on the best parts of the place — an advantageous recruiting location, strong financial resources and a large and extremely devoted fan base — while navigating the big donors and other significant forces that have clashed too often over time and ultimately held back the program’s progress? Golesh is a strong communicator and brings a good mix of experience to the Plains, most notably his two seasons as an SEC coordinator at Tennessee.
He hasn’t been an SEC head coach, though, and he will need to show he won’t be pushed around or swayed by the forces that have doomed Auburn in the past. Golesh’s staff hires at Auburn will be especially important on defense, as South Florida made strides on that side this season but also struggled in key losses to Memphis and Navy. The other element worth watching is how Golesh balances the personnel element, undoubtedly his passion, with some of the other key responsibilities that come with managing an exciting but complicated program like Auburn.
Grade: B+
Despite no Power 4 head-coaching experience, Golesh checks a lot of boxes with his background, having worked in the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, and in the Midwest, South and Southeast. His time at Tennessee should really help him at a program like Auburn, which has a chance to move up in the SEC pecking order but will need a smart, aggressive approach. Golesh’s record of 23-15 doesn’t really jump off the page, and he hasn’t been part of a conference championship just yet. But his assertive vision as a recruiter gives Auburn a chance to quickly improve its roster and win more in an increasingly difficult SEC. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Pritchard understands Stanford — its advantages, limitations and possibilities — better than most. He played quarterback for the Cardinal from 2006 to 2009, ahead of Andrew Luck’s run, and then spent the first 13 years of his coaching career with his alma mater, until joining the Washington Commanders‘ staff in 2023. He won’t be blindsided by what he’s walking into at Stanford. He also has a very close relationship with Luck, who is truly directing the program. There will be no feeling-out period between head coach and general manager.
Pritchard, 38, was part of Stanford’s seismic shift under Jim Harbaugh, quarterbacking the team to a signature win against USC in 2007. He then witnessed Stanford’s rise to a consistent contender and, more importantly, saw how things went downhill so quickly after COVID and in the portal/NIL era. His ability to learn from those difficult times and ensure Stanford avoids them will be important. But again, he’s not doing this alone, as he comes in immediately aligned with Luck. — Rittenberg
What will be Pritchard’s biggest challenge?
Generating momentum. Few people share as close an association with some of the biggest moments in Stanford history as Pritchard, but during those heights, the Cardinal never truly resonated broadly within a competitive San Francisco Bay Area sports market. With the collapse of the Pac-12 and six losing seasons in the past seven years, Stanford football has essentially become irrelevant locally. Building a program under those circumstances is difficult.
The academic side of things will always be a draw and should, in theory, help the program limit excessive outgoing transfers, but there also needs to be a robust NIL program. At Stanford that doesn’t have to be a problem. The university’s alumni base is notably wealthy, but it also has not proved to be a group eager to part with large sums of money to help field a better football team. That’s perhaps more of an issue that Luck will be responsible for dealing with, but it is very much part of the hand Pritchard has been dealt.
Beyond the structural challenges, this is just a team that needs a talent upgrade. They don’t have the players right now to compete at a high level. — Kyle Bonagura
Grade: C+
Luck didn’t make the most imaginative hire here. He went with a close friend who needs no introduction to Stanford and the vision for success there. But Pritchard hasn’t been a head coach before and wasn’t mentioned as being on the radar for many other college or NFL jobs. Stanford is really betting on potential here. He only really knows Stanford, which might work out in this case, but he also must learn from what happened toward the end of David Shaw’s tenure and chart out a new path. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
Oklahoma State needed a coach who knew the Big 12 and the region, and someone who could bring a clear vision, especially on offense. Quarterback play was central to Oklahoma State’s identity under Mike Gundy, and Morris has become one of the best talent identifiers in recent years. Oklahoma State needs to accelerate its recruiting, but likely won’t have the first choice for players, and Morris has repeatedly shown the ability to find and develop under-the-radar players. Ideally, he can bring quarterback Drew Mestemaker and others to Stillwater, and perhaps more importantly, make Oklahoma State an attractive destination for top offensive performers again.
Morris played and coached in the Big 12 at Texas Tech and spent time at Houston early in his career, so he won’t be unfamiliar with the key characteristics of a program like Oklahoma State. He’s not a Gundy disciple, but he can respect what Gundy did to elevate the program, while implementing his own vision, which worked both at Incarnate Word and at North Texas. — Rittenberg
What will be Morris’ biggest challenge?
The answer here is twofold: 1) Morris must live up to the unprecedented levels of consistent success his predecessor brought Oklahoma State; 2) Morris will also have to figure out exactly how to take the Cowboys’ football program to the future.
On the first point, whomever Oklahoma State chose to hire this cycle was going to be replacing a coach who won more — and more consistently — than any other figure in program history. Before 2023, the Cowboys made 18 consecutive bowl appearances under Gundy, winning eight or more games in 13 of those seasons. Past leading Oklahoma State to the very top of the sport and turning the program into a national brand, Gundy’s greatest achievement was transforming a school that had registered back-to-back 10-win seasons only once before he took over in 2005 into a perennial winner. Morris, who made two playoff appearances at Incarnate Word and has North Texas contending for the American this fall, has a history of producing quick turnarounds. Getting Oklahoma State upright — which will likely require a massive roster and staff overhaul — should be his first objective. From there, Morris will be judged on the expectations set by Gundy before him.
How does Morris take Oklahoma State into the future? Gundy’s initial, outspoken reluctance, then too-little, too-late embrace of college football’s NIL/transfer portal era hurt the Cowboys on the field and laid the groundwork for his unceremonious departure earlier this fall. Oklahoma State has fallen behind in terms of roster budgeting compared to its Big 12 counterparts, and industry sources suggested that the Cowboys’ ability to present improved resources would be a key piece of the hiring process. Morris has built a career on making more out of less, and that will serve him well in Stillwater. He has also proven capable of navigating the transfer portal and the current complexities of the sport. With help from Oklahoma State (and its boosters), Morris must take steps to modernize the program. If he can, a Big 12 conference landscape that remains wide open outside of Texas Tech could once again be Oklahoma State’s for the taking. — Eli Lederman
Grade: A-
Morris is only 40 (cue the Gundy memes), hasn’t been a Power 4 head coach, and before this season had only middling results with North Texas. His quarterback track record is his superpower, though, and Oklahoma State needs a renaissance at the position after things fell off too sharply. Morris can recruit Texas and build up the roster. Time will tell if he has the expertise to win one-score games in a league where programs are extremely similar. — Rittenberg
0:32
Paul Finebaum: Is Virginia Tech an upgrade for James Franklin?
Paul Finebaum weighs in on James Franklin reportedly being hired as Virginia Tech’s next coach.
Why is this a good fit?
When Franklin was fired and almost immediately announced his intentions to coach in 2026, Virginia Tech emerged as a natural landing spot for the 53-year-old. He has spent most of his career near the mid-Atlantic region, twice serving as a Maryland assistant, leading programs in Vanderbilt and Penn State and even working within the state at James Madison in 1997.
He understands the key recruiting areas extremely well. Franklin ultimately was fired for not winning the biggest games at Penn State, but he still won a lot of them (104) and understands how to build a consistently successful program. Virginia Tech ultimately had to do more of the selling here and convince a veteran coach that it was financially serious enough to contend in the ACC. Franklin isn’t shy about asking for what he needs, and he wouldn’t take the job if he didn’t feel that Virginia Tech’s investments are sufficient to compete for ACC championships. — Rittenberg
What will be Franklin’s biggest challenge?
This hire would not have happened without the financial investment Virginia Tech is about to make in football. The Hokies have languished behind their ACC counterparts in nearly every area — from staffing to salaries to NIL — and some of that has to do with an outdated way of thinking. The one through line has been the thought that the Hokies could win the way Frank Beamer won. That is a big reason why they hired Brent Pry, who served as Franklin’s defensive coordinator, as head coach in November 2021. That clearly did not work, as Pry never won more than seven games in a season. Virginia Tech pledged to add $229 million to its overall athletics budget over the next four years — a huge concession that the old model no longer works in this new era of college football.
But Franklin has to get the entire athletic department to believe the old Beamer days truly are over and things must be done his way. That is challenge No. 1. The second challenge is to restore Virginia Tech’s prowess in recruiting its home state. Franklin had success taking players out of Virginia Tech’s backyard and turning them into stars at Penn State. Will he be able to do the same now at Virginia Tech, which has lost an enormous amount of ground to powers outside the state? The high school players being recruited now were toddlers the last time Virginia Tech was a nationally respected program playing in BCS games. They don’t remember the Hokies being elite. Convincing players to stay in state will be a challenge, but one that Franklin can achieve given his track record. — Adelson
Grade: A
Virginia Tech’s two post-Frank Beamer hires were a coach who had not led a Power 4 program (Justin Fuente) and a first-time head coach (Brent Pry). In Franklin, Virginia Tech gets a proven winner from the Big Ten and SEC, who knows the region extremely well and will be extremely motivated to compete for league titles and CFP appearances.
Franklin’s big-stage shortcomings are a concern but perhaps not as much for a program like Virginia Tech, which is seeking to become a consistent conference title contender again. — Rittenberg
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Mark Schlabach
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Mark Schlabach
ESPN Senior Writer
- Senior college football writer
- Author of seven books on college football
- Graduate of the University of Georgia
LSU‘s courtship of Lane Kiffin has come to an end, as he’s leaving the school to take the job in Baton Rouge and will not coach Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff.
He announced both things Sunday afternoon, the culmination of a weeks-long saga that hung over the sport, prompted viscous debate and puts Kiffin in the unprecedented position of a head coach leaving his team and not coaching them in the College Football Playoff.
“After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” Kiffin said in a statement Sunday.
His deal with LSU is for seven years and is worth approximately $12 million annually, with the potential for bonuses, a source told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. That would make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport.
Kiffin, 50, and the Rebels just wrapped up an 11-1 regular season with a 38-19 win over rival Mississippi State, all but assuring them a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
After saying he would decide Saturday whether he’ll coach at Ole Miss or LSU in 2026, Kiffin met with Rebels athletics director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce for a couple of hours at the chancellor’s home in Oxford.
He also sought the advice of former Alabama coach Nick Saban and Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll, his former boss at USC, over the past few weeks.
Kiffin expressed his appreciation for his time at Ole Miss in a statement released on social media. He also took issue with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter, who Kiffin said “denied” his request to coach in the College Football Playoff.
“I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team’s incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern,” Kiffin said in his statement.
“My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance. Unfortunately, that means Friday’s Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.”
Ole Miss responded quickly, as sources told ESPN that they’d promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to the school’s full-time coach soon after Kiffin left the football building for LSU.
Kiffin’s decision was supposed to come Saturday, and there was a delay in part because the result of the Iron Bowl late Saturday impacted whether or not Ole Miss would have played this week. He met with Rebels athletics director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce for a couple of hours at the chancellor’s home in Oxford on Saturday.
Kiffin also met with some players in the football building on Sunday, and he pointed out in his statement that the players wanted him to coach in the CFP.
Part of the drama unfolding Saturday revolved around Ole Miss staff members and who would end up going with Kiffin. The Rebels’ brass wanted to protect their staff to keep things as normal as possible for the postseason. Kiffin would obviously take some of his staff with him, and the timing of those departures came into focus as discussions went on during the day.
Ole Miss officials are being aggressive with staff salaries, as there’s a high focus on retention, sources told ESPN.
On the offensive side for Ole Miss, quarterback coach Joe Judge, a longtime NFL coordinator and head coach, has agreed to stay on staff, sources told ESPN. Judge’s role hasn’t been formalized yet, but Ole Miss officials and Golding made clear early on he was a priority staff member to stay in Oxford. He coached Trinidad Chambliss and Jaxson Dart while in Oxford.
The naming of Golding as the head coach will lead to continuity at Ole Miss in 2026 and beyond, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
A former Ole Miss player himself, Golding is in his third season on the Rebels’ staff after serving five years as a top defensive assistant at Alabama under Saban.
Kiffin’s decision included an only-in-the-SEC drama that ensnared three prominent schools, as Florida had expressed interest in Kiffin earlier in their search. When that wasn’t reciprocated, they hired Tulane coach Jon Sumrall.
Kiffin has guided the Rebels to a 55-19 record in his six seasons — only Alabama (67-12) and Georgia (71-8) have more wins in the SEC since the start of the 2020 season. The Rebels have the eighth-most wins among power-conference teams during that stretch.
LSU has a championship brand in multiple sports; state-of-the-art facilities; a rabid, regional fan following; and a legendary, historic home football venue in Tiger Stadium (nicknamed Death Valley), which towers over the banks of the Mississippi River and holds 102,000 spectators — 38,000 more than Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The lone football coach of LSU’s past four who did not win a national championship was Kelly. He was fired in late October during his fourth season — a seismic development that also led then-athletic director Scott Woodward to resign under pressure from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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