Three teams had their sights on the College Football Playoffs since the early offseason, but underdogs and upsets have left these national powerhouses speechless and coachless. Their next question to answer – who do we hire now? Not many people are happy in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. Penn State began the season ranked second, only behind Texas, when Oregon gave them their first loss of the season in week 4. Losing yet another top 10 matchup, head coach James Franklin was reminded he struggles to win the biggest games of the season.
Photo Cred: Mike Farrell Sports
The following week, the Nittany Lions traveled out west to visit the 0-4 UCLA Bruins, who had just fired their head coach and made Jerry Neuheisel, the tight ends coach, their new offensive coordinator just two days before the game. And with hardly anyone in the stands to watch, UCLA jumped to a commanding 27-7 lead, and held on until the final whistle. And to top things off, Penn State then hosts Northwestern the following week and starting quarterback Drew Allar goes down with an injury. Losing to the Wildcats, and losing 3 consecutive games shattered national championship dreams and Franklin was promptly fired after 12 seasons.
Down south, the struggles are alive and well. In Gainesville, Florida, the Gators were looking for their first playoff appearance. But the trials began before they entered conference play when they were upset in week 2 against the South Florida Bulls. Then dropping the next two games to LSU and Miami, they found a glimmer of hope when they beat Texas. Then a week later they fell to 2-4 after getting boatraced by Texas A&M. That seemed to be the final straw but the head coach Billy Napier was fired the next week after beating Mississippi State.
And in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, LSU head coach Brian Kelly got all the praise for beating Clemson in the first game of the year. Starting the year 4-0, the Tigers stumbled for the first time after losing to Ole Miss. Two weeks later, they were upset by Vanderbilt. And hosting Texas A&M, at night, was supposed to be a season defining win but quickly turned into an embarrassment. The day after losing 49-25, Kelly was fired and said his final goodbyes after 3 full seasons.
Photo Cred: Yahoo Sports
And the most important decision for each school is deciding who is up next. A lot of eyes turned to Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. He has an impressive coaching career across the nation and has won in many different settings. The attraction of either LSU or Florida is appealing; both schools are desperate for a coach that can salvage what’s left and keep the program at its highest level.
Another name being thrown around is Clark Lea at Vanderbilt. It’s been a very long time since Vanderbilt has been this high in the AP Poll and it’s all because of him. Many are wondering what he can do with a team with more prestige, better recruiting, and more funding.
Finally, another SEC coach is Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri. He has established a winning culture at a school that has been down for a while and is making the push to keep Mizzou as a highly competitive team that can hang with anyone. And again, the questions are about what he can do if he gets more resources to work with.
