Sunday Superlatives: The best, worst and bottom-dwelling from coaching in a fun-filled Week 8
Week 8 offered plenty of fun football, with several first-year head coaches earning marquee wins, while Mario Cristobal and Jimbo Fisher continue their pas de deux for the most disappointing 2022 seasons.
There are plenty of takeaways to dive into, so here’s a Week 8 recap of everything in coaching with today’s Sunday Superlatives.
SMARTEST CALL OF THE WEEK
Like a big pizza at a kid’s birthday party, four different first-year coaches deserve a healthy slice of smart this week after securing signature wins Saturday: Dan Lanning at Oregon, Brian Kelly at LSU, Mike Elko at Duke and Sonny Dykes at TCU.
While Brent Venables, Marcus Freeman and other first-time head coaches have seen their honeymoons be short-lived, Lanning hasn’t only avoided similar Year 1 growing pains — he’s turned the Ducks into a raging rocket ship.
Oregon convincingly dominated an undefeated UCLA team, positioning the Ducks as the class of the Pac-12.
Lanning’s decision to pair OC Kenny Dillingham withBo Nix looks brilliant, as the former Auburn quarterback has 17 touchdowns (more than he ever had with the Tigers) to just one pick since his inauspicious debut against Georgia. Against the Bruins, Nix nearly had as many touchdowns (five) as incompletions.
Since its disastrous loss to Georgia, Oregon has been ruthlessly efficient on offense. The Ducks settled for a field goal on the game’s opening drive, only to score touchdowns on their next six possessions.
They’ve topped the 40-point mark in six straight games. They’re legit fun. And with loud uniforms, and an aggressive and confident play style, there’s a spark Eugene has not seen since … the Chip Kelly era?
In a bit of symmetry, Lanning dialed up a timely, well-executed onside kick to steal a possession against UCLA — something Kelly also did in a big win over Stanford in his first season at Oregon.
“It was there, we saw it after the first kickoff and we felt like that’s the look we want. The second kick-off we thought it was there as well,” Lanning said.
“The third one was actually the worst look we had and we still felt really confident. It looked like there was some weather coming in and if there was a chance to steal a possession, it would be before the weather hit. It turned out some weather came, but we knew once we received the kick that we wanted to look to get an extra possession if we can, because we weren’t going to get the ball after halftime.”
The job Sonny Dykes has done at TCU hasn’t been as dominant, but the Horned Frogs remain college football’s feel-good story with comeback wins seemingly every week.
Somebody needs to check Dykes’ office in Forth Worth for a rabbit’s foot.
Rallying from an 18-point deficit, TCU won its fourth-straight game over a ranked team with a comeback win against Kansas State.
The Horned Frogs continue to play with fire each week, but they’ve shown an innate resiliency. For the third straight week, they trailed in the second half, but they went on a 28-0 run to beat K-State 38-28.
Dykes has turned Max Duggan, who opened the season as his backup quarterback, into a Heisman Trophy contender, and his offense continues to grind opponents into the ground (215 rushing yards — 153 from star tailback Kendre Miller).
TCU has been fortunate to feast on some backup quarterbacks the last few weeks, pitching a second-half shutout against K-State’s third-stringer.
The Horned Frogs are probably not a real College Football Playoff contender, and their fortune is likely to run out here soon, but like Oregon, they’re fun and ahead of schedule in Dykes’ first season.
Also way of schedule: Elko’s Duke Blue Devils. With a road trashing at Miami, they’re one win away from making a bowl game after preseason expectations pitted them as a 3-win team.
Elko took over a program that was 1-17 in the ACC the last two years, and despite a couple of recent tough losses, they got off the mat and scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to embarrass the Hurricanes at home.
COACHING CALAMITY OF THE WEEK
Considering the same cast of characters keeps making appearances in this space, I’m considering renaming this section the Groundhog Day Doodad.
I wrote about Miami’s record loss to Duke yesterday, but Mario Cristobal still deserves mention in this space for taking over a Hurricanes program that expected to win now and has them squarely positioned to miss a bowl game in Year 1.
Alas.
So instead let’s turn our eyes to Texas, pun intended, where the Longhorns continue to lose winnable games late, while the Texas A&M Aggies find new ways each Saturday to disappoint.
At Texas, Steve Sarkisian’s team continues to tease that they’re past all their recent shortcomings. The Longhorns are an improved bunch in 2022, but they continue to get in their own way late in games, blowing a two-touchdown lead at Oklahoma State to lose 41-34.
In howling winds, freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers really struggled with his accuracy (19 of 49 for 319 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions), yet Sarkisian kept calling passes.
Bijan Robinson got his touches (24 for 140 yards) but Roschon Johnson had just five carries for 73 yards — with only one rush after halftime.
For the third time this season, Texas blew a second-half lead, scoring just a single field goal after halftime. Under Sarkisian, the Longhorns have been the antithesis of clutch or resilient. He’s now 10-10 — with seven of the losses coming in games in which Texas led.
After looking unstoppable for 30 minutes, they did everything to get in their own way against the Pokes, as Mike Gundy’s team once again proved to be the tougher, smarter, fitter squad.
It’ll take this opportunity to pause on the Texas piling, and give Gundy real credit for constantly putting Oklahoma State in position to win football games. And then deliver. The Cowboys suffered a tough, overtime loss last week and were without multiple starters Saturday, yet they were the team making miscues late.
They made the winning plays, while the Longhorns committed a ton of penalties (season-high 14 including eight procedural flags), dropped a game-tying touchdown and missed a short field goal.
In the fourth quarter alone, Sarkisian’s offense punted twice, had two interceptions and missed a kick.
Texas has talent, but the end results continue to be all-too-familiar. Another year, and October with multiple losses already.
As for Aggies, the nation’s collective schadenfreude for Jimbo Fisher’s continued down in Columbia, as much like Cristobal at Miami, Texas A&M’s 2022 season reached its nadir with a 30-24 loss to South Carolina.
The Aggies entered the year as a Top 6 team and expectations to push for the No. 3 spot in the SEC. Instead, Fisher, who did all sorts of barking this offseason, will be fortunate if his team can get to six wins now.
The Aggies’ offense continued to be a sight for sore eyes, with only three explosive plays, eight false starts and too many field goals. Clock management was a problem once again, too.
Quarterbacks Haynes King, who got hurt, and 5-star freshman Conner Weigman combined to go 25 of 47 for 259 yards — with South Carolina getting a hand on 12 of their 22 incompletions.
It was the same story. Just a different Saturday.
“We have good players,” Fisher said. “We’re right there. We’ve not been getting run out of the stadium. We make a play or two and you get over the hump.”
Those sound like comments from a first-year coach, not a $100 million man in Year 5.
Texas A&M is now 1-3 in the SEC, and with the league’s worst scoring offense, could very conceivably miss a bowl with a schedule that still includes Florida, Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU.
It’s inarguable that the program is officially in decline.
Sure, there’s plenty of really good players in College Station, a lot of them really young, but we’ll see how long some of those blue-chip recruits stick around if the situation only worsens.
“There’s no panic, but you have to have a sense of urgency,” Fisher said.
It’s Year 5, Jimbo. We’re well-past urgency.
The very reason there is panic in College Station right now is because the Aggies seem stuck in a no-win situation.
They can’t move on from Fisher, who has a parachute buyout so large it would take over four Gus Malzahn’s — i.e., $21 million — just to fire him.
They can’t sign better players than the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, either.
So what happens next is fascinating.
Will Fisher, who calls plays and has stubbornly shown a refusal to not do so, hire a new OC for some fresh ideas? Will staff changes even matter at this point if lots of A&M’s top players go portal’ing?
THE GREAT ESCAPE CROWN
In this very space just three weeks ago, I praised Dabo Swinney for sticking by DJ Uiagalelei, who had delivered back-to-back wins over Wake Forest and NC State with strong performances.
Swinney has defended his junior quarterback all year — the offseason and throughout the fall — but the Tigers’ coach made the correct choice to bench Uiagalelei against Syracuse after his quarterback had three ugly turnovers, including a fumble that was returned for a 90-yard touchdown.
Following the insertion of 5-star freshman Cade Klubnik, the Tigers rallied from a two-score deficit to hold on and beat the Orange 27-21.
So now what after Clemson benched its starting quarterback?
Clemson was fortunate to win Saturday, aided late by some iffy officiating. Outside of a nice 2-point conversion, Klubnik didn’t do much of anything in relief either (2 of 4 for 19 yards and holding the ball too long on a few other designed passes), as Clemson rode its ground game and nasty defense to keep its undefeated season alive.
In a postgame interview with ESPN, Dabo doubled down on his defense of DJ, comparing Uiagalelei to Steph Curry and saying he remains the Tigers’ QB1 moving forward.
“Sometimes, you know, Steph Curry goes 2 for 25. Your best player sometimes can have a bad day,” Swinney said.
“He just got out of rhythm, made some bad plays. We just needed a change. We showed them we got that guy that can come in. DJ’s our quarterback. There ain’t no question about that. That’s our guy. That’s our leader. You can write that right now: DJ’s our guy. He’s got to play better, and he will, but how about Cade coming in and leading these guys?
He later added, “DJ’s our starter, DJ’s our leader. Nothing’s changed there.”
We’ll see how long that sentiment lasts if Uiagalelei continues to revert back to his 2021 form. The Tigers are off next weekend before a trip to Notre Dame in two weeks.
Honorable Mention: Cincinnati might be the most unimpressive 6-1 team in the country this season. Luke Fickell’s Bearcats have won six straight since their opener loss at Arkansas, but their last two wins have come by the skin of their teeth.
They barely beat a bad South Florida team last weekend and they needed a second-half comeback to overcome a so-so SMU squad on Saturday, winning 29-27.
As veteran linebacker Wilson Huber said postgame, “It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t perfect, but ultimately it was good enough to get the job done.”
That should be the headline of the Cincy season so far.
However fraudulent they may be, the Bearcats are undefeated in the AAC at 3-0 and are on track for a third-straight appearance in a New Year’s Six Bowl game.
THE MORAL VICTORY MEDAL OF THE WEEK
In the words of Hamilton, Dino Babers’ Orange traveled to Clemson and, “Outgunned. Outmanned. Outnumbered,” but not “Outplanned.”
With that electric energy from Babers, Syracuse came out firing in the first half, racing out to a 21-10 lead. Its defense was aggressive and tenacious, while new OC Robert Anae was dialing up the right calls to frustrate a really good Tigers’ front-seven.
But the Orange either ran out of gas or smart ideas in the second half, with Anae, who I’ve praised many times in this space, totally forgetting that he has one of the better tailbacks in the ACC.
Sean Tucker rushed for 54 yards on just five carries. He caught a pass for a touchdown.
But he was put in witness protection for some reason in the second half — with just two touches, both of which went for first downs. He was frozen out of the offense, as Babers and Anae put the game completely in the hands of quarterback Garrett Shrader.
Trailing 24-21 and then 27-21, Tucker never saw a single touch.
That’s inexcusable.
When you couple Tucker’s lack of involvement plus some undisciplined play (way too many second-half penalties including a late hit that extended a Clemson drive), and Babers botching his timeouts late, that’s how Syracuse went oh-so-close from a historic, program-defining win to now hoping it can regroup and upset Wake Forest to potentially make a major bowl game.
DEAD CAT BOUNCE DIES AWARD
After a strong run the last few weeks, interim coaches had a rough weekend in Week 8.
On the heels of a new AD hire on the Flats, Brent Key didn’t make the greatest first impression on his potential new boss at Georgia Tech, losing as a home favorite to a lifeless Virginia team on Thursday night.
Yesterday, Shaun Aguano missed a golden opportunity to engender himself more goodwill in Tempe, as Arizona State coughed up a two-score lead to lose against Stanford.
Meanwhile, Colorado, fresh off its first win of the 2022 season, was trucked 42-9 at Oregon State.
The lone interim head coach to win this week: Jim Leonard at Wisconsin, who saw his Badgers bounce back from a brutal loss against Michigan State last weekend only to beat a pretty good Purdue squad handily (35-24).
THE TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS CUP
Ohio State started a bit slowly but it delivered its latest Big Ten curb-stomping — a 54-10 waxing over Iowa.
Ryan Day handed Kirk Ferentz his worst loss since his debut season as the Hawkeyes’ head coach in 1999.
Ferentz fielded all sorts of questions postgame surrounding his son, Brian, the much-maligned offensive coordinator, and the way they’ve handled the quarterback position, where Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla combined for a grotesque 11 of 24 for 81 yards and three interceptions.
As for Ohio State, the nation’s top offense took a little time to get humming, settling for multiple first half field goals before finding its jets in the second half.
Jim Knowles’ defense continues to flex its 2022 improvement under a new DC, too, as the Buckeyes suffocated the Hawkeyes for just 158 total yards, eight first downs, a single third-down conversion (1 of 13) and six turnovers.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Penn State was locked in a barnburner with Minnesota for 30 minutes on Saturday, but James Franklin avoided the complete wrath of Nittany Lion nation for the second-straight weekend as his team housed the Gopers after halftime for a 45-17 win.
Cool. Good.
Next up? A date with Ohio State, so it’ll be a short-lived respite for Franklin.
Honorable Mention: Dave Clawson’s Wake Forest Demon Deacons are now 6-1 after blasting Boston College, 43-15. Sam Hartman threw for five touchdowns. Wake Forest is the second-best team in the ACC this year and remains on track for a New Year’s Six Bowl game.
THE AUBURN AUDITION AWARD
The Auburn Tigers were idle Saturday, and Bryan Harsin remains their head coach.
For now.
It’s still a formality that the Tigers will enter the 2022 coaching carousel at some point this fall, and one former SEC head coach continues to make his case that he’s ready to comeback to the league.
Fairly quietly, Hugh Freeze, who rarely does anything quietly, has Liberty sitting at 7-1 after it flamed BYU 41-14 in Week 8.
Malik Willis may be off to the NFL, but Freeze can still dial up an explosive offense, leaning on tailback Dae Dae Hunter, who rushed for 213 yards. Liberty had 547 yards of total offense.
The Flames have won with three different starting quarterbacks this season. Their lone loss was a missed 2-point conversion against a legit Wake Forest team.
Freeze can continue his redemption audition next week when Liberty plays at Arkansas. The man has a load of baggage, but when has Auburn every cared about that?
CASH THE CHECK COORDINATOR OF THE WEEK
How about the work from LSU offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock last the two weeks?
After putting quarterback Jayden Daniels in great position to torch a leaky Florida secondary, the Tigers’ first-year OC dialed up a great game plan to beat a decent-to-good Ole Miss defense on Saturday.
In a span of three weeks, Daniels looks like a totally different quarterback, playing with composure in the pocket and actually connecting with LSU’s prolific receiving corps.
After a slow start, the Tigers outscored the Rebels 42-3, as Daniels accounted for five touchdowns for the second straight game.
The brain trust of Brian Kelly and Denbrock have been magnificent at in-game adjustments, as LSU has rallied from multiple-score deficits four times already this season — three accounting for SEC wins (Mississippi State, Auburn and Ole Miss).
Daniels was dynamic from the second quarter on, accounting for 378 total yards.
Maybe Denbrock should just ditch the pregame script and call plays on the fly moving forward?
The Tigers suddenly control their own destiny in the SEC West, and after I billed them as the ultimate Jeykell and Hyde team in the conference this fall, they could pay real spoilers depending on how the next several weeks unfold.