Daily briefing: On Cincinnati, Scott Frost and Clay Helton’s fit
Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:
A tough road for Cincinnati
The good news for Cincinnati, which was No. 6 in the first set of College Football Playoff rankings, is that if Alabama stays at No. 2, it will play No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, and that No. 3 Michigan State and No. 5 Ohio State must play one another. That means there will be room for the Bearcats to move. The bad news is, although No. 6 is the highest ranking ever for a Group of 5 team, it is dispiriting for a team that went on the road to give No. 10 Notre Dame its only loss, and by double digits. The Irish have a decent chance of finishing 11-1, and a lot can happen in four weeks, but the way the rankings begin spells out how difficult it will be for Cincinnati to reach the national semifinals.
Is Scott Frost Nebraska’s Frank Beamer?
Scott Frost meets most issues head on; it’s one of the qualities of his personality that you figure out about him shortly after you meet him. Frost gave a blunt assessment Monday of how his Nebraska Cornhuskers have fallen short in his four seasons at his alma mater. He also pointed out how close the Huskers have been to breaking through their culture of defeat. Reading those comments made me think of Frank Beamer, the patron saint of struggling coaches. Virginia Tech hung in there with Beamer as he went 24-40-2 in his first six seasons, including 2-8-1 in 1992, Year Six. Beamer went 214-81, with 13 10-win seasons, with the Hokies before leaving in 2015. Virginia Tech stood out for its patience then.
Clay Helton to Georgia Southern makes sense
Clay Helton landing at Georgia Southern just makes so much sense. He grew up in the south, was educated in the south and he thinks and reacts like a lot of people I grew up with; maybe that’s why I marveled that he landed the USC job and lasted with the Trojans as long as he did. Do I think Helton is the next Sonny Dykes — a coach who didn’t win enough in California but will thrive on native soil? I have no idea. But Georgia Southern has a legacy of success, football is important to the school and Helton doesn’t need to be taught what a meat-and-three is. He fits at Georgia Southern.