This Week in Coaching: Lane Kiffin, Mark Stoops and Auburn, plus highlighting the impressive work by Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker
There are five Top 25 showdowns this weekend in college football, but only one features a pair of undefeated teams with coaches who could find themselves in the carousel later this fall.
I’m not sure what to make of No. 7 Kentucky or No. 14 Ole Miss right now, but we’re going to find out a lot about both teams this weekend.
Mark Stoops’ Wildcats are 4-0 and 3.5-point road underdogs to Lane Kiffin’s Rebels in a noon showdown in Oxford.
Take a quick peak at each team’s schedule, and whoever wins Saturday has a real chance to get to Halloween undefeated with a head coach who could become the bell of the ball this cycle.
By then, Auburn will likely be open, and it would be no surprise to see Stoops and Kiffin as headliner candidates for the Tigers.
Auburn fans have long had eyes on the Lane Train, believing Alabama’s former offensive coordinator would be the perfect foil to Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide. Under Kiffin, Ole Miss had its first 10-win regular season in school history in 2021, and the Rebels haven’t slowed their momentum this fall despite so many changes on the staff and roster.
Meanwhile, Stoops continues to do the unthinkable at Kentucky — win with regularity. The Wildcats are 16-3 in the last 19 games, including back-to-back wins over Florida and a couple of bowl victories.
The irony is that neither coach may have any interest in taking the Auburn job. Kiffin retweeted a story on how he should stay at Ole Miss earlier this week, while Stoops has continued to rebuff bigger jobs (see LSU’s interest last cycle).
The sport has changed. With the transfer portal, NIL and the soon-to-be expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, both coaches could be quite content continuing to build their own programs rather than jump for a job with a nominally higher upside — but an infinite amount more pressure and mess to inherit.
COORDINATOR OF THE WEEK TO WATCH
Quick, without grabbing your phone and hitting a Google search, can you name Iowa’s defensive coordinator?
3 … 2 … 1 …
Nope?
Phil Parker, who has been on Kirk Ferentz’s Iowa staff since 1999, including the last 10 years as the Hawkeyes’ defensive coordinator.
Under Parker, Iowa has fielded one of the best units nationally for several seasons, ranking No. 2 in the country behind only Alabama in yards per play allowed in 2022 (3.45).
The Hawkeyes’ offense is a joke because if it had even a modicum of life, they’d be a legit Big Ten contender with their defensive and special teams.
They surrendered just 23 points all season so far (their best showing in 65 years), and just had two pick-sixes in a 27-10 win over Rutgers.
“Clearly, the guys are really playing at a high level right now,” Ferentz said Saturday.
Parker is also Iowa’s defensive backs coach, and the Hawkeyes led the nation in interceptions with 25 in 2021.
Parker is now tasked with devising a game plan to slow down a recent nemesis. The Hawkeyes host No. 4 Michigan this weekend, as the Wolverines bring the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense to Kinnick Stadium.
Michigan, which racked up 500 yards of offense in its 34-27 win over Maryland last week, torched Parker’s defense in the Big Ten Championship Game in 2021 for 461 yards and 42 points.
Still, Jim Harbaugh was effusive in his praise for Parker and the challenge Iowa’s defense presents, saying just this week, “It’s a system. It’s a way of playing. It’s the Parker way, and it’s really good.
“Everybody knows what to do, everybody’s playing the proper leverage, the proper technique, the proper fundamentals at all times. Opportunistic. The challenges that it presents are if you are inaccurate where the throw, overthrow, underthrow, tip ball, it’s highly likely that it’s going to result in a turnover. If you’re not as sound as you can possibly be, then you’re in for a rough one.”
DID YOU KNOW?
In the inaugural edition of this column, I featured Florida State’s Mike Norvell in this space, noting that as the Seminoles’ head coach, he was 0-fer in September.
Well, FSU is now 4-0 and ranked No. 23 in the country.
Norvell signed a recent contract extension and has won his way off any hot-seat scuttle.
If the Seminoles beat No. 22 Wake Forest on Saturday, Norvell will have FSU 5-0 for the first time since 2015.
QUOTABLE
“Let it get as nasty as it can. Our guys would like that. Obviously, we have to keep a great functional base. We can’t be falling around, especially with the quarterback run game. If it gets nasty and wet, I’m sure they’re going to use him a bunch. We have to get an extra guy in the box or whatever we need to do to stop it.”
— NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson
The Wolfpack play at No. 5 Clemson on Saturday night in what many anticipate to be a windy and rain-soaked Memorial Stadium thanks to Hurricane Ian.
NC State’s DC Tony Gibson said his unit is relishing the opportunity to play in sloppy conditions, going so far as to say, “let it get as nasty as it can.”
Gibson’s unit is ranked in the Top 10 in scoring defense in 2022 and is looking to stuff Clemson’s offense for the second-straight year.