Sunday Superlatives: The best, worst and everything in-between in coaching in a fun regular-season finale Week 13

On3 imageby:Jesse Simonton11/27/22

JesseReSimonton

They don’t call it a finale for nothing. 

The last weekend of the 2022 regular-season delivered in spades, as the College Football Playoff field got shaken up like a snow-globe on a bustling holiday Week 13. 

In our weekly recap, here’s the best, worst and everything in-between in coaching this today’s Sunday Superlatives.

SMARTEST CALL OF THE WEEK

Ohio StateMichigan is officially a rivalry again, and that’s thanks to a singular, strategic decision Jim Harbaugh made earlier in the 2022 season. 

It didn’t come to true fruition until literally The Game, but Harbaugh’s ‘Biblical’ choice to ride with JJ McCarthy over Cade McNamara at quarterback proved prophetic, as Michigan thoroughly thumped its archival largely on the arm and legs of its former 5-star recruit. 

“King Solomon was known to be a pretty wise person,” Harbaugh said back in early September. 

Evidently so. 

Because while Michigan ran for more than 250 yards and frustrated CJ Stroud into multiple poor throws on third down (just 5 of 17 conversions), the Wolverines punked their rival for the second-straight season by bombing the Buckeyes deep with their 5-star quarterback.

As if he’d been waiting in the weeds all year, McCarthy finally revealed his majestic stardom, shredding OSU’s secondary for 263 yards with touchdown throws of 69, 75 and 45 yards.

He added a tough rushing touchdown, too, and when the Buckeyes started to crowd the box on defense, the Wolverines — even without star tailback Blake Corum — simply ran it down their throats for multiple explosive plays. 

“First-year starter, I don’t think there’s any first-year starter in the history of Michigan that has won 12 games, 12-0,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. 

“And in their first game, starting against Ohio State at Ohio State to play that great. Everybody on our team knows it.

“He was just on fire in every way — throwing the ball, running the ball.”

Last year’s win over OSU was a cathartic victory for Big Blue, but Saturday’s statement was more like a commandment. 

“The Team Up North, yeah, we’re called Michigan, and we’re not your little brother anymore.” 

Big Blue won at Ohio State for the first time in 22 years, and there was nothing flukey about their 22-point win. They played with their hair on fire, embodying their head coach’s passion and fury. Just last offseason, Jim Harbaugh lost both his coordinators and interviewed for the Minnesota Vikings job on National Signing Day.

And yet! For all the Buckeyes’ flash and pizzaz, for the second year in a row, it’s Jim Harbaugh’s gnarly Wolverines rocking the crown of the Big Ten after reclaiming the rivalry.

COACHING CALAMITY OF THE WEEK

Ryan Day spent the last 365 days focusing on The Game

After last season’s deflating loss, Day overhauled OSU’s defensive staff and paid Jim Knowles $2 million annually to fix it. 

He intensified practices, harping on physicality and toughness. 

He had his All-American quarterback and his All-American wide receiver. 

Everything seemed in place for Ohio State to restore order, take care of business and waltz into the College Football Playoffs. 

Instead, Ryan Day got into his own way, and now, there are John Cooper comparisons — especially after Day’s strange choice earlier in the week to postpone OSU’s 109-year tradition of Senior Tackle. 

Ohio State — the team, its coaches, its players, etc. — did plenty wrong in Saturday’s stunning blowout loss, but Day’s decision to turtle up and punt inside UM territory facing a 4th-and-5 midway through the third quarter swung the game and epitomized OSU’s mindset when things started to get tough: They pressed. Heisman Trophy candidate CJ Stroud was pleading to stay on the field, but Day panicked. He chose to punt (which netted next to nothing in field position thanks to a touchback), and that’s how you squander a talent advantage. That’s how you make a rivalry a true rivalry once again. 

”We are always going to be aggressive, but at those times, I felt the right thing to do was to punt,” Day said. 

Well, that was the antithesis of being aggressive, and that’s why Day now faces questions about his potential future as the fixture of Ohio State’s program. 

The man has lost three Big Ten games EVER, and yet, the seat starts to get a little warmer in Columbus when you miss out on back-to-back Big Ten titles thanks to two straight losses to Michigan. 

A year ago, OSU was banged up and full of excuses, looking to write off getting physically whipped by the Wolverines due to the flu and snow.

There are no such arguments today. The Buckeyes were once again bested at the line of scrimmage by UM’s mauling OL, and when things started to snowball, their staff panicked — like Day’s decision to punt or Knowles’ instance on calling so many Cover-0 blitzes. 

Day is the brain trust of an Ohio State offense that scored three points after halftime. Knowles’ defense couldn’t get a stop when needed either, allowing 5-star tailback Donovan Edwards to run wild in the second half with TD runs of 75 and 85 yards.  

It was a failure on all fronts. And after a year of steaming about the last loss to Michigan, now Day has 365 more days to figure out what he’s doing wrong to allow Michigan to not only close the gap but vault into THE TEAM of the Big Ten after delivering Ohio State its worst home loss in the series in nearly 50 years. 

THANK YOU FOR COACHING CHOKING

Ordinarily, I’d slot the following coaches in the calamity category — either honorable mention or otherwise — but we had such a who’s who showing of teams choking this week that Kirk Ferenz, Brian Kelly, Dabo Swinney and Dan Lanning all deserve their own Sunday spotlight. 

On Friday afternoon, Iowa squandered its opportunity to win a Big Ten West title, allowing Nebraska to jump out to a 24-0 lead before making a late second-half rally to fall by seven. The Hawkeyes’ suddenly leaky defense was gashed by the Casey ThompsonTrey Palmer combination, as the Big Red’s QB-WR duo went for 9, 165 yards and two scores. Thompson finished with three passing touchdowns on the afternoon. 

Considering Iowa could barely move the ball (just 3.4 yards per pass) against one of the worst secondaries in the Big Ten, perhaps Kirk Ferenz finally sees the light and will make a change with his son, Brian Ferenz, at OC. 

Probably not, though. 

Both LSU and Clemson took themselves out of any CFP conversations by gacking badly against rivals in their regular-season finale. 

Swinney’s Tigers were more than two-touchdown favorites at home against South Carolina, only to see Shane Beamer pull off his latest Stone Cold stunner in a 31-30 upset.

“We’re not entitled for it to always go our way,” said a disappointed Swinney, who strangely stuck with quarterback DJ Uiagalelei all day despite an objectively terrible showing (8 of 29 for 99 yards and a pick). 

Behind quarterback Spencer Rattler (who brushed off a pick-six to open the game to throw for 360 yards and two scores) and more Beamer ball (five punts inside the 20, including a pair that landed inside the 3-yard line, a pair of takeaways on special teams), the Gamecocks won back-to-back games over Top 10 teams for the first time in school history. 

“We were the feel-good story in college football last week, but nobody thought we were good enough to win this game,” Beamer said. 

“We were the team that just kind of caught lightning in a bottle (and the) narrative was, ‘No way they can do it again.’

“I saw one of the commentators on ABC on Friday night talking about how, “Clemson needs a really big win (Saturday). And they need style points for the Playoff.” Like, Clemson needed to win. And the group we had coming in here was very confident.”

As for Kelly’s Tigers, they looked flat-lined all night in College Station, as Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M Aggies were able to bust a 13-month streak of not scoring more than 24 points against an FBS team in a 38-23 rout. 

Fisher was so giddy about the upset postgame that he couldn’t help himself, quadrupling down on his offense with some I-told-you-so vindication.

“There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing. It’s how we’ve got to do it and how we’ve got to get the maturity out of (a young team) and execute what we’ve got,” said Fisher, a statement somehow so tone-deaf that it’s glorious Holiday music to the ears of every other SEC coach. 

Meanwhile, the Tigers were always a long shot to upset Georgia and make the playoff, but with Saturday’s deflating showing, they missed an opportunity to win 10 games in the regular season and secure a New Year’s Six Bowl spot — likely in New Orleans. 

“We didn’t have the same fire,” Kelly said. 

“This wasn’t a step back. It’s a bump in the road.”

And yet, the most galactic of all meltdowns occurred in the Civil War, where Oregon saw a late third quarter 21-point lead evaporate into a 38-34 loss to archrival Oregon State — which somehow took the lead with more than eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter and score 21 straight points without throwing the ball once!!!

It was stunning to watch. It wasn’t just a comedy of self-inflicted errors, it was a cataclysmic collapse where each blunder was worse than the next. 

Oregon had an empty red zone possession. A fumbled punt, giving the ball to OSU at the 2-yard line. A 63-yard kickoff return allowed. Turnover on downs inside its own 35-yard line. Four chances to score the game-winning touchdown inside the 5-yard line, and they gained all of two yards. 

First-year head coach Dan Lanning probably had close to a dozen decisions in the second half he’d want back (the conservative calls in the red zone killed Oregon twice), but the Ducks’ players were just as responsible for so many mistakes. They got punched in the mouth over and over, and never responded once.

“Coach(Jonathan) Smith was very well prepared for this game,” Lanning said. “We were prepared for half or three quarters of the game as it turned out.”

Oregon lost the Civil War and chance to play for the Pac-12 title and go to the Rose Bowl. That hurts. 

Honorable Mention: A pair of SEC coaches also had Fridays to forget, as Billy Napier used up all his good play calls in the first 1.5 quarters and Sam Pittman got strangely conservative on 4th downs.

Both Florida and Arkansas lost very winnable games this weekend, as the Gators fell to No. 16 Florida State 45-38, and the Razorbacks couldn’t break the red zone barrier in their 29-27 loss to the Missouri Tigers. 

Napier dialed up all the right shots for Anthony Richardson early against the Seminoles (UF was up 24-21 at halftime with its quarterback throwing for three scores), but Florida’s first-year coach was out-classed in the second half, as the Seminoles totally stymied (11 straight incompletions at one point) UF’s passing attack en route to their comeback win. 

Meanwhile, Pittman’s decision to settle for a red zone field goal or punt on 4th-and-short cost the Razorbacks a win. 

Arkansas was already bowl-eligible with nothing to lose and everything to gain in a rivalry its been dominated in, yet Pittman’s conservative calls were the difference in Eli Drinkwitz and the Tigers earning bowl eligibility and his Hogs, which underachieved this season considering the talent on the roster, going to a much worse postseason destination. 

THE TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS CUP

In a now-weekly tradition against an inferior opponent, the Georgia Bulldogs looked at their food, pawed around it for a half and then plowed through it to dismiss rival Georgia Tech 37-14 to become just the second SEC school to go 12-0 in consecutive seasons season the start of Nick Saban’s dynasty at Alabama. 

Depending on what happens the rest of 2022, Kirby Smart just might have something similar cooked up

Out West, Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans are one win away from making the College Football Playoff in Year 1 after handling Notre Dame 38-27. With a few more — HOLY **** Plays — Caleb Williams made his case for the Heisman Trophy, totaling four touchdowns in the victory over USC’s rival. 

The Trojans are starting to play a little defense, too, which makes them a potential scary-out if they make the CFP. 

How about Kansas State? Chris Klieman’s team is in position to play spoiler in the Big 12 Championship Game against TCU next weekend after besting Kansas 47-27. Since coughing up a double-digit lead over the Horned Frogs, the Wildcats have won four of five (including three in a row) by a margin of 174-61.

Still, the Hypnotoad magic still has plenty of fairy dust this season, as TCU absolutely splattered Iowa State on Saturday. With Max Duggan making his latest case to go to New York (three passing scores) and a now-timely TCU defense pitching in a pair of pix-sixes, the Horned Frogs dropped 62 points on the Cyclones to secure an undefeated regular season.  

Lastly, good on Tennessee for ignoring all the noise this week about alleged locker room drama following its bad loss to South Carolina, totally waxing Vanderbilt 56-0. Josh Heupel called it a “culture win,” as the Vols, without quarterback Hendon Hooker, leaned on a ground game that rushed for 360 yards and six scores — with Jaylen Wright leading the way with a crazy five carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

THE THANK YOU FOR YOUR HONESTY HONOR

In the second quarter of North Carolina vs. NC State on Black Friday, ESPN announcer Dave Pasch relayed some eye-opening comments from Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren regarding his opinions on the in-state Tar Heels and their coaching staff.  

“They don’t like us. We hate them. We’re blue-collar. They’re elitist. Their coaches talk down to us. They talk behind our backs in recruiting, negatively about our coaching staff,” Doeren said. 

Pasch then asked, “Well, ‘Coach, is this off the record or on the record?’ 

And Doeren said, ‘I don’t give a s***.’

Well then. 

Imagine what Dave Doeren felt or had to say AFTER his Wolfpack upset the Tar Heels in double-overtime with a fourth-string quarterback. 

NC State survived some late Drake Maye heroics to win 30-27. 

“Any time you beat your rival it’s huge. They are a top-20 team that is going to the championship game. That was a hell of a win,” Doeren said. 

“I told them all week that nobody is going to care about anything other than this win when we win this game. This will make a lot of things feel better. It’s a 365-day you-know-what sandwich that the other school gets to eat. We didn’t want to eat it. We wanted to have that. We wanted to finish with that pride. That’s what happens with rivalry games. One team gets to feel good for a year and the other team doesn’t. It’s a great job by our guys finishing.” 

For weeks, Lane Kiffin and Hugh Freeze have been the two names at the forefront of Auburn’s head coach opening

With Ole Miss playing the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving, we entered the holiday weekend with all eyes on the Portal King. 

Would Lane Kiffin stay or go to the Plains? Whether voluntarily — or involuntarily — Kiffin opted to sign his sitting contract extension with the Rebels, but not before Ole Miss lost to Mississippi State for the first time in three years.

The Rebels lost four of their last five games to end the season 8-4, yet Kiffin received an eight-year extension worth more than $9 million annually.  

Not to be outdone, Auburn’s purported choice to replace Kiffin Bryan Harsin, Liberty’s Hugh Freeze saw his Flames get extinguished by an inferior opponent for the third-straight Saturday.

At home, Liberty got smashed 49-14 by a 4-8 New Mexico State squad, as Freeze’s mind was clearly elsewhere Saturday. 

“I haven’t been offered a job but it certainly was hard to refute that report and it definitely was bothering some people. Just hate it,” Freeze said postgame. 

Here’s guessing he doesn’t “hate it” that much. Despite Liberty’s free-fall, Freeze is in line for a massive payday if he gets the Auburn gig. 

Only as a college football coach can you completely crap the bed and still secure generational wealth because a group of influential rich old guys think you’re a savvy offensive son-of-a-gun who’s fun to have a drink with.

Must be nice!