Unfiltered Takes after Week 8: Brian Kelly, Mike Norvell, Texas, hiring strategy and much more

A lot happens on college football Saturdays. It’s hard to keep up with everything.

So this season, in an attempt to bring everybody up to speed — while taking a chance to provide you with some takes in the process — I’m going to rattle off over-arching thoughts from the previous weekend. I’ll also do my best to spring thoughts forward, not just tell you what already happened.

Let’s keep it going with the latest edition of Unfiltered Takes.

1. James Franklin: Penn State’s former head coach made an appearance Saturday morning on ESPN’s College GameDay. It was his first time James Franklin spoke since being fired last weekend. He gave some insight into when he found out, whether he felt he was treated fairly and what is next. It was a brief interview where not much was said, but you did come away feeling like Franklin got a raw deal. The design of the interview was to remind the world Franklin should still be a desirable coach. Here was the money quote: “I thought we were going to win a national championship there. That goal hasn’t changed. We’re now going to win a national championship somewhere else.”

2. Nick Saban’s opinion: Nick Saban, the greatest coach of all time, said this to Franklin during the interview: “It’s unfair as hell for you to go to the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, get in the Final Four. Come out, being ranked No. 1 this year — an expectation that you created by what you accomplished at Penn State — and for those people not to show enough appreciation for that and gratitude for all the hard work that you did, I’m saying it’s unfair.” That may be true, but there are so many examples of coaches who change the standard of a place and then fail to live up to the new standard. That’s coaching.

3. The Penn State job: When Franklin earned his big extension in 2021, he had only won the Big Ten one time. No College Football Playoff berths. No national titles. So by rewarding him with an almost fully-guaranteed contract worth nearly $100 million, that means the standard, at the time, wasn’t what it is now. By assembling a really good team and being a drive away from the national title game a year ago, Franklin changed that standard last year and failed to live up to it. That’s why the Penn State job is going to be so hard for whoever takes it. The standard isn’t to win 10 games. The standard is to elevate the program to the heights Franklin failed to reach. The next coach will be expected to do that right out of the gate, which may make it harder to get someone at another Power 4 school to jump. It isn’t the no-brainer it may have used to be.

4. Brian Kelly: With James Franklin out of the picture at Penn State, Brian Kelly is now going to find himself in the middle of the national discussion about coaches with expensive buyouts who can’t get over the hump. It’s not that LSU lost to Vanderbilt. It’s that in year four of Kelly in Baton Rouge, LSU doesn’t have a better team than Vanderbilt. The most ironic part? Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea was hired at Vanderbilt less than a year before Kelly got his 10-year, $95 million deal. Kelly has always been an easy target for pot shots, but there is no question the Tigers aren’t getting what they paid for.

5. Mike Norvell: You may have been sleeping late Saturday night, but Florida State lost to Stanford. Yes, you read that right. This feels like the end of the road for Mike Norvell in Tallahassee. Yes, he did some great things during his tenure — like being an undefeated ACC champ a few years ago and beating Alabama to start this season — but things are too off the rails to feel fixable. There’ s a long discussion about his portal-heavy roster building technique and whether a team can sustain success long term doing it that way, but the issue is with the lows to which this Florida State team has fallen. You can’t go 2-10. And you certainly can’t lose to Stanford a year later. If Florida State were to fire him, it would owe him more than $55 million.

Florida State released a statement Monday backing Norvell: “Florida State football benefits from unmatched passionate support from the entire FSU family, and the commitment to our football program is unwavering. We rightfully have high expectations in everything we do to represent Florida State in the manner that built out reputation as one of college football’s best programs, cultivating an extraordinary group of supports nationally and globally. We embrace those expectations while also sharing the deep disappointment when the results on the field are short of that standard. As we continue to move forward this season, our comprehensive assessment of the football program will be completed at season’s end. Meanwhile, we are fully committed to helping Coach Norvell and the 2025 Seminoles strongly rebound in the coming weeks.” 

6. Billy Napier: Florida could have lost to Mississippi State on Saturday because Billy Napier couldn’t get the right amount of players on the field for a two-point conversion attempt. That sums up the entire Napier experience in Gainesville. Though he’s a likable coach who did a good job improving the talent on his roster, the Gators never put a product on the field commensurate with that talent. He had plenty of opportunity to turn things around, but he was a sub-.500 coach when his tenure ended Sunday. Florida gave him enough time, but his firing — though sad — was warranted. You don’t get five years to win at Florida. Period.

7. Expensive buyouts: Franklin being fired by Penn State got us to a situation where no buyout seems too expensive. But there is a caveat. In Franklin’s contract, there is a duty to mitigate clause. That means Franklin — who clearly is looking for a new job — has to try to offset part of his insanely expensive buyout by earning money from somewhere else. Kelly doesn’t have that clause in his contract, so LSU would have to pay the full amounts, which is currently north of $50 million. That will be taken into account by LSU before making any rash decisions with its coach. It may not save him, but it’s something to ponder.

8. Big-named coaches: The Penn State job is open. So is Florida. Many others are going to be open in the next few months. But when you look around the market, there are no clear, obvious candidates for these places. No big-time coach with a national title on his resume is waiting in the wings to take over. But if there is anything we can learn about the Kelly and Lea situation, it’s the big-named coach isn’t always the slam dunk you think he’s going to be. Going out and spending north of $90 million on a guy because he has a sexy/recognizable name isn’t always the best way to go about hiring. Winning the fanbase’s approval out of the gate is secondary to actually winning on the field.

9. No-named coaches: Want to know why I’m saying this now? Because when you look around at coaches who are enjoying a ton of success, most of them went to their new jobs in relative obscurity. Did anyone discuss Lea’s hiring to Vanderbilt? Did anyone know who Curt Cignetti was when he took the Indiana job? Were Texas A&M fans fired up about Mike Elko? Just because you have never heard of the coach doesn’t mean it isn’t the right hire. If you’re a Penn State or Florida fan, remember that. No matter who these places hire, it’s going to be speculative and risky.

10. Mike Elko: Texas A&M is off to its first 7-0 start since 1994 and the Aggies look pretty close to a lock to make the College Football Playoff. Texas A&M may not actually be one of the five best teams in America, but there is nobody remaining on its schedule it can’t beat. Mike Elko, one of those hires that wasn’t a grand slam, has now proven to be one of the best head coaches in the country. It seems like his name would be popping up as this coaching carousel spinning, but you could make the case he’s already at one of the five best destination jobs in college football. Texas A&M is in the SEC, it has unmatched tradition and fan support, it is in a fertile recruiting territory and it has money to spend in NIL. Also, if you win anything in College Station, you get a statue. Elko is sitting pretty.

11. Miami: One of the biggest upsets of the weekend came on Friday night when Miami lost to Louisville at home. Coming into the weekend, Miami felt like one of the two best teams in college football. Then Carson Beck threw four interceptions and the Hurricanes fell. Was that just the worst possible game Miami could play or an indication that we all misread how good it is? Ironically enough, Miami no longer controls its own destiny in the ACC race but it still controls its own destiny in the College Football Playoff race. With its front seven on defense and its offensive line, Miami should still be able to compete with anyone in the country. The thing that would keep me up at night if I were a Hurricanes fan isn’t Beck’s awful performance. It’s how Miami got pushed around. This Miami team was supposed to be different.

12. Two ACC teams in the CFP? Was ACC commissioner Jim Phillips happy to see Miami lose to Louisville? Stick with me here. The ACC race is a disaster. Miami doesn’t play Georgia Tech, Duke or Virginia. Louisville doesn’t play Georgia Tech or Duke. Tiebreakers are going to be out in full force. So if Miami runs the table against an easy schedule and is left out of the ACC title game, it seems probable the Hurricanes will get into the CFP alongside the ACC Champion.

13. Texas Tech: The Red Raiders dominated everyone on its schedule all season and it was starting to feel like they were too talented to fall into the Big 12 muck. Oil billionaire Cody Campbell was probably laughing at how he was able to turn the program into a CFP team with his wallet. Then Saturday happened. Texas Tech laid an egg on the road against Arizona State. Even after the Red Raiders fought back from a two-score deficit to take a late lead on the Sun Devils, ASU scored on the final drive to escape with a win. Now Texas Tech, still very much alive in the Big 12 race, feels like much more of an equal to its Big 12 counterparts than it did before. Joey McGuire can’t let things slide or his seat will heat up. Nobody knows that reality more than him.

14. Vanderbilt: This team is legit good. And after Indiana locked up Curt Cignetti last week with a massive guaranteed deal that will pay him more than $11 million per year, you have to wonder whether Vanderbilt is going to do something similar to keep Lea soon. I laughed at Diego Pavia for saying he returned to Vandy to win a national title. Now he is the one laughing as he shoots up Heisman Trophy charts. He is the epitome of what makes college football special and nothing about Vanderbilt’s win over LSU was a fluke. Is it time to take the Commodores more seriously in the SEC race?

15. Lane Kiffin: There is one clear target for the Florida job. That’s Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. Though there’s no question Kiffin is coming into his own the last few years — why else would he post a thirst trap of his sweaty, shirtless body after hot yoga Saturday? — but I do find it intersting that the coach the Gators covet has yet to win a conference title as a head coach at a power school, only at FAU. He has yet to make the College Football Playoff. That’s not to say he wouldn’t be a good hire or isn’t still ascending as a coach, but coming off a loss to Georgia, Ole Miss still needs to find a way to make the CFP. The schedule sets up nicely, but Ole Miss can’t allow the Georgia loss to compound into other disappointing losses like the ones it took last year.

16. Georgia: You may be shocked to read this, but Georgia is really, really good. Yes, the Bulldogs suffered a loss to Alabama a few weeks ago, but they found a way to beat Ole Miss despite giving up five touchdowns to the Rebels in their first five drives. Georgia’s defense isn’t as iron-clad as it was a few years ago, but quarterback Gunner Stockton — one hell of a runner — is starting to find his groove as a gritty, reliable SEC quarterback. The Bulldogs will rightfully be favored in every game they play for the rest of the season.

17. Alabama: You may be shocked to read this, too, but Alabama is really, really good. The Crimson Tide can finally turn the page completely on their season-opening loss to Florida State, which looks more and more flukey as the weeks go on. Alabama has won four consecutive games over ranked opponents and Ty Simpson has turned into one of the four Heisman Trophy favorites. Kalen DeBoer’s black hoodie of death turned the season around and it is starting to feel like we may get an Alabama-Georgia rematched in Atlanta for the SEC title game. Texas A&M, though, doesn’t play either team, so the Aggies still control their own destiny.

18. Texas: Texas stinks. It is one of the most shocking things I’ve written all year, but there’s no more reason to let things play out. We’re heading into November now. The Longhorns are a deeply-troubled team that was fortunate to get out of Lexington with a win in overtime Saturday. Kentucky out-gained the Longhorns 395-179 and were stuffed at the goal line in the first overtime, but the Wildcats looked like the better team. Arch Manning completed only 12 of 27 passes for 132 yards. Nothing is easy offensively. No playmakers make something out of nothing. The defense is good, but Texas has been brutal to watch. No more waiting for Longhorns to turn it around. It’s not impossible they do, but when someone tells you who they are, believe them.

19. Ohio State: Ohio State’s best win is over Texas, which means virtually nothing now. The Buckeyes haven’t played a really good team all year and with Penn State’s implosion, they won’t face another ranked team for the remainder of the season. That will be used as a way to discredit this team, but Ohio State is up and away the best team in college football this year. If you want to play the “everybody stinks” game, you can’t do it until Ohio State lets you do it. Also, quarterback Julian Sayin is not getting the attention he deserves nationally. He is a stud, insanely accurate and it seems clear Ryan Day has found his next great quarterback. Combine Sayin with two of the best receivers in college football and a defense that’s allowing 5.9 points per game, and this team likely won’t lose in the regular season.

20. Michigan: The Wolverines may have something to say about that. After beating up on Washington on Ann Arbor on Saturday to improve to 5-2, the picture is starting to become clearer. Quarterback Bryce Underwood is developing in front of our eyes and the Wolverines defense is starting to feel like what we’ve come to expect from them. Now Michigan faces Michigan State, Purdue, Northwestern and Maryland during the next month. Which means there’s a high probability the Wolverines will be ranked in the top 15 and fighting for a CFP spot when Ohio State comes to town on Nov. 29. Buckle up.