Sunday Superlatives: The best, worst and wackiness in coaching from an entertaining Week 6
Well, Week 6 of the 2022 college football season shall hence be known as Status Quo Saturday.
On an entertaining day of football, there were no Top 10 upsets or seismic results. We just got good games, great finishes and some fun postgame coaching spice, too.
Texas A&M-Alabama was thrilling late, but the best coaching beef came from another SEC divisional showdown.
Tennessee and UCLA announced its arrivals as contenders, while Oklahoma felt pain for a third-straight weekend.
So let’s dive into it all in the Week 6 Sunday Superlatives looking at the best, worst and everything else in coaching.
SMARTEST CALL OF THE WEEK
Chip Kelly has never cared about non-conference football.
He’s openly opined as much throughout his extensive college coaching tenure, so it was hard what to make of UCLA early in the 2022 season with shoulder-shrug performances against Bowling Green and South Alabama.
Not anymore.
Kelly’s Bruins were playing opossum — even if he won’t admit as much now.
For the third straight week, No. 18 UCLA dropped 40+ on a Pac-12 opponent, blasting No. 11 Utah on Saturday.
Lincoln Riley has his USC Trojans the talk of the town in Los Angeles, but it’s clear that UCLA will have a real say about who is the King of the West Coast this fall.
“We’ve gotten better each week,” Kelly said.
“I don’t think that any of us are governed by the fear of what other people say. It is a tough society nowadays, with likes and everybody, do they like this or do they like that? Just go play football and that’s the fun part. The best part about football is football. And our kids really enjoy playing football and that is what you saw on display today.
“Are we markedly improved? No. I’m telling you. I don’t see a marked improvement. I saw a really good football team last spring. I saw a really good football team in week one, and I see a really good football team in Week 6. I think that we have gotten better, incrementally, from Week 1 to Week 2 to Week 3 to Week 4 because we are all a byproduct of our experiences.”
Dorian Thompson-Robinson looks like the second-best quarterback in the Pac-12, and Zach Charbonnet, who nearly had 200 rushing against the Utes’ front, is the best tailback. Just like he did at Oregon, Kelly’s offense continues to highlight different playmakers each Saturday.
The Bruins’ defense has come up with some timely stops the last two weeks, too.
Add it all up and UCLA looks like a potential playoff contender.
With a bye week upcoming, UCLA’s next test is against Kelly’s former Ducks, who continue to play well under first-year coach Dan Lanning since getting trucked by Georgia in Week 1.
UCLA’s administration showed real patience with Kelly after he was just 10-21 in his first three seasons with the Bruins. He received a contract extension in 2021 following a 8-4 year, with Kelly believing the program was on the cusp of making a leap.
Sure looks like he was right.
Honorable Mention: I wrote about Tennessee’s annihilation of LSU yesterday, so how about some love for James Madison?
Smartest Call of the Week? How about moving up from the FCS and immediately blasting every Sun Belt school.
Curt Cigetti’s team is ineligible to win the conference this season in Year 1 of FBS play — which is a travesty because the Dukes just keep beating up on conference foes.
They’re 5-0 after smashing Arkansas State 42-20 on the road.
COACHING CALAMITY OF THE WEEK
Brent Venables and Mario Cristobal are in a dead sprint to see which first-year head coach can throw a worse homecoming party.
The Year 1 blues are bad at Oklahoma and Miami right now.
The Sooners have now lost three straight games — each performance more embarrassing than the last. After Venables’ defense was torched by TCU last weekend, Oklahoma found rock bottom at Red River.
Texas blasted OU 49-0 — setting all sorts of history in the Cotton Bowl.
It was the Sooners’ worst loss in the rivalry in 118 years. It was their worst margin of defeat in nearly a quarter century. It was the worst shutout loss in program history.
That’s three ‘worsts’ for Venables, whose return back to Norman has hit DEFCON disaster levels already in Year 1.
OU fans talked themselves into the idea that trading Riley and a bunch of stud players (who also transferred to USC) for Venables, a coach with no head experience, was somehow a net win.
They were predictably wrong, only it’s been even worse than imaginable.
The Sooners will be home underdogs to Kansas next weekend. I’d say that’s shocking, but “nothing shocks” Venables right now.
“Shock? Nothing shocks me. This game will punish you when you don’t do all kinds of different things, whether it’s coaching or playing,” he said.
That might be the “worst” of it all, then.
Meanwhile down in Coral Gables, Miami failed to hold a single lead for the third straight game.
Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (nearly 500 yards and three touchdowns) bounced back from his benching in a big way against UNC’s sieving secondary, but it still wasn’t enough as Cristobal’s team continued to make critical mistakes at the most inopportune times.
The Hurricanes botched a 1st-and-goal from North Carolina’s 2-yard line — failing to gain a yard on three runs and an incomplete pass. Later, tailback Jaylan Knighton converted a 4th-and-1 in UNC territory, only to fumble the football before going down.
“We’re all about the work and the lumps that come with it and it stinks and it’s painful to deal with,” Cristobal said.
“But you know what? That’s what we’re here for, and gladly ready for whatever comes with it to make sure we get it back to a certain level. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Miami has a much better shot than Oklahoma at “getting back to a certain level” in 2022, but with games still to come against Florida State, Clemson and Pitt, there are plenty of more lumps coming its way, too.
THE MORAL VICTORY MEDAL OF THE WEEK
Jimbo Fisher was two yards away from taking down the man he called a narcissist with a God complex just months earlier.
Despite all of Texas A&M’s issues in 2022, the Aggies found themselves six feet away from walking on water and upsetting Nick Saban and No. 1 Alabama for the second-straight season.
All night inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Tide kept giving the Aggies every chance to take the game. Four turnovers. Two missed field goals. A slew of penalties, including a defensive pass interference to set up the final play.
So what did Jimbo Fisher, who has a call sheet the size of the Cheesecake Factory menu dial up for the final chance to win the game?
A quick-out to a freshman receiver short of the goal line. The play call was terrible. The execution was worse, with Evan Stewart rushing his route and Haynes King throwing the ball short of the end zone.
Talk about despicable, Jimbo.
It was a major missed opportunity for Fisher to rewrite the narrative — on Texas A&M’s season, his $86 million guaranteed contract, on the future of the Aggies’ program.
Instead, Saturday was just Fisher’s latest Texas tease.
“You can’t take moral victories, I don’t believe in moral victories,” said the coach who also made sure to note that Texas A&M was “also playing with a backup quarterback.”
I mean, come on.
Conflating Alabama having to start Jalen Milroe in place of Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young to the Aggies starting King, the quarterback Fisher benched three weeks ago, for the injured Max Johnson and essentially saying, “Samesies?
“It shows you what we’re capable of,” Fisher said.
SIRI: Show me, moral victory.
Honorable Mention: Kansas fought valiantly in a 38-31 defeat to TCU, with Lance Leipold’s team nearly overcoming the loss of star quarterback Jalon Daniels, who was injured early in the second quarter.
Backup quarterback Jason Bean looked nothing like the QB who struggled as the Jayhawks’ starter much of last season, throwing for four second-half touchdowns and nearly leading a dramatic comeback win.
Kansas is no longer undefeated, but it remains a player in the Big 12 race.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HONESTY HONOR
Well, the spice was real Saturday.
For the uninitiated: Many believed Stoops took a swipe at Beamer in an interview at SEC Media Days when UK’s coach said, “I talked years ago about climate versus culture. It’s easy to change a climate. You just change the uniforms, talk a little game, dance around and put on some stupid sunglasses and you can change a climate.”
A day earlier, Beamer had done just that filming a viral Tik Tok video promoting his Gamecocks’ program.
So fast forward to Saturday, after South Carolina upset No. 13 Kentucky in Lexington, Beamer let his true feelings show.
Ice-cold troll.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HONESTY HONOR, PART DEUX
I did not see a single second of Jackson State’s 26-12 win over Alabama State on Saturday, but the postgame comments by Deion Sanders and Eddie Robinson Jr. were impossible to miss.
We got more coaching feuding, y’all.
Robinson, no relation to legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson, did not appreciate Coach PrimeTime’s early week WWE-esque promotion of the homecoming game, nor Sanders’ pregame stroll through Alabama State’s warm-ups. When Sanders continued to throw the ball late in JSU’s win, that was the final straw for Robinson, who refused to embrace Sanders postgame.
“He ain’t SWAC. I’m SWAC,” Robinson said.
“I love what he’s doing for the conference, but you’re not going to come in here and disrespect me, and my team, and my school, and then want to bro-hug me afterward. Shake my hand and get the hell on, period. I pray that he doesn’t get a Power 5 job, so we can play them again next year and I pray that they put us as their homecoming.”
That’s the type of full-fledged honesty we appreciate.
Of course, Sanders had to respond, rebutting Robinson with, “If I ain’t SWAC, who is?”
He then repeated the line multiple times for emphasis.
If Sanders doesn’t get the job at Arizona State or Auburn or elsewhere in the Power 5, we’ll check back next year when JSU and Alabama State square off again.
THE TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS CUP
I looked at the Red River slaughter from the Oklahoma perspective earlier, but Steve Sarkisian deserves credit for Texas’ complete domination on Saturday.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers returned to action to throw for four touchdowns, and after losing to Texas Tech a couple weeks ago, the Longhorns have appeared to right the ship and remain Big 12 contenders.
Elsewhere, Oklahoma State stayed undefeated, as Mike Gundy’s squad rallied to beat Texas Tech. Similarly, Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels dusted off a slow start at Vanderbilt to wax the ‘Dores 52-28.
Mississippi State thumped Arkansas 40-17 to move to 5-1, while Georgia ran all over Auburn in the second half, Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud threw for six touchdowns at Michigan State.
That Mel Tucker contract extension looks more and more confusing each week. The Spartans have now lost four straight games to Power 5 teams — none of which they were even competitive in.
THE NEW BLOOD BUMP AWARD
After a 2-3 start, Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst last Sunday, giving beloved defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard an extended audition to become the Badgers’ next head coach.
The best medicine for a dead-cat bounce? Playing Northwestern.
In Leonhard’s debut, the Badgers blasted the Wildcats 42-7 on the road, as quarterback Graham Mertz tied a career-high with five touchdown passes.
“We’re going to have bigger ones ahead. More challenges ahead, but I gain a lot of confidence in the people around me and the look in their eyes and seeing the confidence they have in me,” Leonhard said.
“I’m just trying to feed off that and give it back to them.”
Also, shouts again to Brent Key, who moved to 2-0 as Georgia Tech’s interim head coach with an upset over Duke on Saturday. Same for Shaun Aguano, who picked up his first win as Arizona State’s interim head coach with a 45-38 stunner over No. 21 Washington.
THE LOSING THE BATTLE BUT WINNING THE WAR AWARD
Rutgers coughed up a 13-0 lead to Nebraska on Friday night, losing 14-13.
Bad!
Or maybe not?!
Perhaps Greg Schiano was just playing the long game.
The Nebraska curse is real in 2022. Beat the Cornhuskers, and your season goes off the rails.
Just ask Northwestern, 0-5 since, Georgia Southern, 1-3 since, and Oklahoma, 0-3 since.
The Scarlet Knights host Indiana next weekend, and history suggests that since they lost Friday, they should win next week.
Smart, Schiano.
THE KIRK FERENTZ BRAVERY AWARD
Sometimes the sections just write themselves.
Iowa had the most Iowa set of series in the second quarter Saturday against Illinois — where parody performance art became indecipherable from reality.
After a typical Hawkeyes 3-and-out, they punted. Only, the Illini muffed the kick, giving Iowa the ball at the Illinois 35-yard-line.
Iowa promptly went backward, with a sack, false start and holding penalty. The ball now at the 41, Kirk Ferentz opted to punt again.
This time, Illinois fumbled the football on second down (progress!), with the Hawkeyes taking over at the 5-yard line.
Allergic to the end zone, the Hawkeyes had two more negative plays, getting backed up to the 9-yard-line. Rather than try for a touchdown and keep an Illinois offense that couldn’t move the ball either pinned, Ferentz kicked a field goal to tie the game 6-apiece.
Iowa went on to lose 9-6, barely crossing midfield once the rest of the game. The Hawkeyes had six drives that went for negative yards.
Once again, Kirk Ferentz has his own definition of fortune favoring the brave.
You have to respect it.
Honorable Mention: Bryan Harsin finds himself weekly somewhere in this column, but with calamity already well-established on the Plains, what about Harsin’s decision to settle for a field goal in the third quarter at No. 2 Georgia?
Down 14-0 to the Bulldogs, the Tigers faced a 4th-and-3 from UGA’s 12-yard line. Go for it, right? As four-touchdown underdogs, take some chances, right?
Nope. Harsin opted to kick, keeping a two-score game … a two-score game.
The Tigers went on to lose 42-10.