Sunday Superlatives: The best, worst and everything else in coaching from a riveting Week 7
On the Third Saturday of October, Thanksgiving came early.
Like a plate with all the fixin’s, college football delivered an absolute dynamite day, filling fans’ appetites from noon until well past midnight on Week 7.
The genesis of this column was for the Bubba n’ Earls, and well, many of those folks got to celebrate at the 50 right alongside their favorite coach.
On a riveting day of football, a sea of orange-covered Neyland Stadium after Tennessee ended 15-years of misery with a pandemonium performance against Alabama. TCU, Utah and Colorado all stormed the field following signature wins, too.
Michigan pummeled Penn State into the ground. Georgia mollywhopped Vandy, and Syracuse and Ole Miss are still undefeated.
College football, baby. Eat it up. All of it.
So let’s dive into everything in coaching with today’s Sunday Superlatives, looking at the tastiest week of the season all year.
SMARTEST CALL OF THE WEEK
How do you eat an elephant? One big bite at a time.
That’s not one of General Neyland’s maxims, but Vols head coach Josh Heupel added his own axiom Saturday night.
How do you beat big ole’ Alabama? How do you slay Nick Saban’s Tide?
By coaching with a pair. One play at a time.
Tennessee exorcised 15 years of heartbreak with its cathartic, euphoric 52-49 win over Alabama, as Heupel delivered the Vols their best win this century.
Quarterback Hendon Hooker was awesome. Wideout Jalin Hyatt was a blur, and in nine months, don’t be shocked when a bunch of babies in Knox County have similar first names on their birth certificates. Tennessee even reclaimed the rights to Dixieland Delight.
But Saturday was all made possible because of Josh Heupel.
What the Vols’ coach has done in less than two years on Rocky Top is remarkable. He inherited a mess dirtier than the Tennessee River, but Heupel hasn’t just cleaned it up. He has turned the Vols into a legitimate championship contender.
These Vols are the embodiment of their head coach’s style. Fun. Fast. Unflinching.
How do you beat Alabama?
By taking it to the reigning SEC Champs. Dictating terms. Playing aggressive. Being unflappable.
From the game’s opening possession to the very last, the Vols played with a confidence and unwavering belief that they were the better team. They weren’t scared of Alabama. They embraced their head coach’s ethos of 60 minutes of relentlessness and resiliency.
The Vols made plenty of mistakes Saturday, and were fortunate in some regards, but that good karma seemed well-earned by game’s end.
When Heupel went for an early 4th-down, and the Vols simply didn’t properly execute the play, their head coach didn’t blink. He never hesitated to continue attacking the Tide’s leaky secondary.
That unshakeable confidence trickled down to his team, as Hooker bounced back immediately after gifting Alabama seven free points with an unforced fumble early in the fourth quarter. He never flinched, either, connecting with Hyatt for their fifth touchdown on the ensuing possession.
Just another bite of the elephant.
When Alabama missed its game-winning kick with just 15 seconds remaining, Tennessee took over at its own 33-yard-line.
It was in that moment that Josh Heupel explicitly followed one of Neyland’s real maxims.
“Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way—SCORE”
In the game’s biggest moment, Tennessee’s head coach didn’t turtle. He didn’t settle for overtime. He practiced what he preaches.
With two timeouts in his pocket, Heupel trusted his sixth-year senior quarterback and went for the jugular.
Fast. Fun. Aggressive.
“This is college football at its absolute best,” Heupel said afterward. “We were the best team on the field tonight.”
Honorable Mention: Kyle Whittingham, Utah.
The Utes spoiled Lincoln Riley’s perfect season at USC, beating the Trojans 43-42 in another thriller (especially if you ignore all the shoddy officiating).
Utah quarterback Cameron Rising out-dueled Caleb Williams, scoring the go-ahead 2-point conversion on a designed run with under a minute in the game.
From the second quarter on, USC couldn’t stop Utah, as the Utes’ final six drives included five touchdowns and a turnover deep in the red zone.
Seizing all the momentum after the late score, Kyle Whittingham did what many coaches would not: Turn down the tying PAT to play for OT and go for the win.
“We were going to keep the ball in Cam’s hands,” he said. “And if we score and time is close to expiring, we were going for 2, no question.”
Coaching aggressive. Are we sensing a theme here?
Also, in what just might’ve been a Big 12 title preview, shouts to the TCU Horned Frogs for leaping their way back from a 17-point deficit against Oklahoma State to win 43-40 in overtime.
Just like Heupel at Tennessee, first-year head coach Sonny Dykes has his team overachieving by getting the best out of a quarterback (Max Duggan) who looks nothing like the player he was under a different coaching staff. TCU didn’t have its usual chunk passing plays Saturday, but the Horned Frogs efficiently wore down the Pokes. TCU remains undefeated and a darkhorse contender for the CFP. That’s probably too much to ask with an upcoming schedule that includes plenty of landmines, but either way, they’re definitely ahead of schedule with Dykes in charge.
COACHING CALAMITY OF THE WEEK
Josh Heupel is right, Tennessee was the overall better team Saturday, but the win was certainly aided by some mystifying coaching decisions by Nick Saban and Bill O’Brien.
Alabama committed a school-record 17 penalties yesterday, and Saban and O’Brien deserve their own flag for their late-game management.
They completely botched it.
Bryce Young’s brilliance is single-handily going to get Bill O’Brien another head coaching job soon, which must be why Alabama’s offensive coordinator refused to run the ball as a Thank You note to Young on the Tide’s final possession.
Nick Saban must also want O’Brien to get that promotion, because otherwise, what in the world were the Tide thinking?
Despite all excellence from the law firm of Heupel, Hooker and Hyatt, let’s not forget that Alabama lost a football game in which it had 1st-and-10 on UT’s 32 with around 34 seconds remaining.
The Tide were positioned — at worse — to either win the game or go to overtime. They weren’t having a ton of success on the ground, but Jahmyr Gibbs was finding enough room to operate.
A run or two would force Tennessee to burn its final timeouts.
Instead, O’Brien called three straight passes. All incomplete. The clock barely moved.
Tennessee was able to pocket both timeouts, which became the difference in the game on the very next drive.
Well, the decision to freeze out their top playmaker might prove to be the difference in Alabama returning to the College Football Playoff.
Nick Saban is the GOAT, but that was a goat moment.
Honorable Mention: This was not supposed to be Year 0 for Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame. Only the Irish, who already were upset at home by Marshall earlier this season, face-planted against Stanford, falling 16-14.
The Cardinal came into Saturday as losers of 11 straight games against FBS foes. Their defense was among the worst in the Pac-12. They were missing four starting offensive linemen and their top tailback.
And they won anyways.
Notre Dame entered the season as a Top 10 team and now is in danger of having to claw its way to bowl eligibility.
At the end of the game Saturday, cameras flashed to Marcus Freeman on the sidelines, looking stunned and staring blankly to nowhere. That’s become a troubling trend in South Bend.
Elsewhere, Billy Napier lost Round 1 to Brian Kelly, as LSU found the perfect spirt to revive a lifeless offense: The Gators’ defense.
For years, Florida fans lamented all the Third & Grantham jokes surrounding former DC Todd Grantham.
Well, it’s only gotten worse.
The Gators rank last in America in third down defense, allowing opponents to convert over 52% of the time.
LSU started the game converting 8 of 9, with quarterback Jayden Daniels finding wide open receivers on multiple plays.
Napier is just in Year 1, but Florida may be in the market for another DC for the second straight fall.
THE OH-SO-CLOSE CUP
Vegas loves Matt Campbell, as Iowa State’s head coach is the king of the cover as a touchdown underdog.
The Cyclones’ head coach fulfilled his title once again Saturday, but he also continued a much less desirable trend.
Losing one-score games.
Iowa State nearly upset Texas, losing 24-21 in a game flush with missed opportunities. The Cyclones dropped a late touchdown, fumbled the football on their final drive in Texas’ territory, and they had another turnover in the end zone, too.
Campbell has now lost four straight one-score games in 2022, including the last three by a combined seven points.
Dating back to last season, Iowa State has nine one-score losses.
The pain in Ames is real.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HONESTY HONOR
For the second time this season, Mississippi State went on the road and laid an egg against an inferior opponent.
The Bulldogs fell at Kentucky 27-17, as their defense got run over by Chris Rodriguez (196 yards) and their offense couldn’t generate their usual explosive plays. Mississippi State was also penalized 13 times and was just 3 of 11 on third down.
Head coach Mike Leach took ownership postgame: “This is all my fault because I call the offense.”
Leach also added that he was concerned about his team’s attitude after big wins over Arkansas and Texas A&M, noting subpar practices in the build-up to Kentucky.
“I thought both sides of the ball we tried to be too cute and acted like we had done something. Of course, obviously, we haven’t. You never arrive at anything. This is not a destination. You keep battling and competing,” he said.
He later added, “Our problems were symptomatic team-wide. I don’t think we handled the last two weeks of success very well. We got fat, dumb and happy. When you have a schedule like we do, it’s tempting to do, but that’s the last thing you should do.”
THE TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS CUP
Michigan and Clemson both passed further tests Saturday, as the Wolverines cemented their status a Tier 1 contender and the Tigers controlled the “middle eight” to thwart FSU’s upset attempt.
Now Jim Harbaugh has a month to get quarterback J.J. McCarthy ready for Ohio State, while Dabo Swinney will use the rest of the season — where the Tigers play outside Death Valley just once — to build up little ole’ Clemson’s resume.
Elsewhere, Lane Kiffin had a great audition for Auburn’s future head coach opening. The Tigers played hard Saturday, but not very well again, as Ole Miss ran for nearly 450 yards — with three different players breaking the century mark — for a 48-34 win.
On ESPN’s College Gameday on Saturday morning, Kiffin called his shot in a pregame interview.
THE NEW BLOOD BUMP AWARD
A week ago, interim head coaches went 5-0, with Arizona’s Shaun Aguano and Wisconsin’s Jim Leonhard both picking up their first wins.
Well the dead-cat bounce remains alive and well in the 2022 season, as former Western Kentucky head coach Mike Stanford joined the club after Colorado, 14.5-point underdogs, upset Cal 20-13.
Following a spirited defense performance by the Pac-12’s worst unit statistically this season, Buff fans stormed the field after seeing CU notch its first win of the season — the only FBS program without a victory before Saturday.
Colorado entered the day allowing over 500 yards of offense, but it limited Cal to just 296 yards and forced a takeaway on the opening possession.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin came back to earth, as Leonhard’s Badgers were upset in overtime on the road at Michigan State.
YOU HAD MY CURIOSITY, BUT NOW YOU HAVE (EVEN MORE OF) MY ATTENTION AWARD
Dino Babers and the Syracuse Orange were highlighted in a similar space a few weeks ago, but after they completely controlled a game for four quarters against No. 15 NC State to remain undefeated, they deserve a longer look.
The Wolfpack were without starting quarterback Devin Leary, but Syracuse’s defense totally shut down State’s ground game, allowing under 100 yards rushing on 34 carries.
The Orange had four sacks, seven tackles for loss and multiple other QB hurries.
Per the Associated Press, they’re 6-0 for just the third time in 87 years.
Next up? A date with No. 4 Clemson.
With new OC Robert Anae, the Orange’s offense has been mostly efficient, with one of the better success rates in the country.
But against a good NC State, Syracuse was able to also generate 12 explosive plays.
Although quarterback Garrett Shrader can still be a bit of a wild thing, tailback Sean Tucker (98 yards and a touchdown on 7.1 per carry) and wideout Oronde Gadsden II (eight catches for 141 yards and two scores) are two of the better players in the ACC few talk about.
Ultimately, Dino isn’t going to win a conference title this season, but he definitely doesn’t have to worry about getting fired, either.
Elsewhere, Illinois, a Top 25 team in 2022, looks to be the class of the Big Ten West after handling its business at home against Minnesota in a 26-14 win.
In Bret Bielema’s second season as head coach, the Fighting Illini have flown past their preseason win total projection and are already bowl eligible before Halloween — their best start since 2011.
By riding Chase Brown, who carried the football 40 times!!! En route to becoming the first tailback in the country to rush for 1,000 yards, and a salty defense, Illinois hasn’t just booked a bowl appearance but a real pathway to play in Indianapolis in early December.