2022 College Football Discussion & Pick'em Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

Florida Atlantic hiring former Texas Head Coach Tom Herman to fill their head coaching vacancy.

This is a very good hire for Florida Atlantic, as Herman brings an impressive record of success from both Houston and Florida, including two NY6 Bowl wins (the 2015 Peach Bowl and the 2019 Sugar Bowl).

The one concern for Florida Atlantic is that Herman has never coached in Florida, and that could cost him in recruiting battles, but overall this is an excellent hire.

That's a typo. He coached at Texas, not a Florida school (though I suspect he would have been a better hire than Dan Mullen).

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/brett_mcmurphy/status/1598357022579245064?s=46&t=U9Bm3XB...
This may be enough to push ND past its p——yfooting and outright join the ACC. They’ve stayed indie so long because they want more control over their schedule and their astronomical NBC deal but walling off their easiest path to another natty might do it.

If Notre Dame caves, I'm sure it will be to join the Big 10 (along with Stanford, Washington, and Oregon maybe?) and not the ACC that is sure to get picked apart by the SEC and Big 10 sooner or later.

Notre Dame should really be in the B1G if it is forced to join a conference for football, because a sizable portion of their historical rivals play there (or will soon).

Yeah, though I can see Notre Dame reversing what it's been doing and becoming a football only member of whatever conference they join (assuming they don't want to be full conference members of any conference),and becoming Independents for other sports.

[NewYorkExpress]

Over in the PAC-12 Championship Game, #4 USC is trailing #11 Utah, 24-17 with about ten minutes to go in the third quarter....

[NewYorkExpress]

Current playoff rankings with USC's loss:

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. TCU
4. Ohio State

In with a TCU loss: Alabama or Clemson, with a TCU loss and Clemson victory in the ACC Championship game.

With TCU and Michigan losses: Ohio State, Alabama and Clemson are all in.

[NewYorkExpress]

Deion Sanders will be the next Head Coach at Colorado.

If accurate, this this is a fantastic hire for Colorado. Deion's already proven that he's a fantastic recruiter and coach at Jackson State.

There'll be a void in the PAC-12 with USC leaving, and with Deion Sanders arriving, Colorado might well be in good position to fill that void within a year or two.

I wouldn't be shocked if the Buffaloes make the 2024 or 2025 PAC-12 Title Game.

[NewYorkExpress]

I expect TCU to get in, but if the committee went with Alabama, it would cause issues in the NY6:

Playoff: Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama/TCU
Rose: Penn State vs. Utah (either way)
Sugar: Kansas State vs. Alabama or Tennessee (if Bama got in)
Orange: Clemson/UNC vs. Tennessee or [BLANK]
Cotton: Tulane/UCF vs. USC or TCU (if they were left out)


The issue is that the Orange Bowl contractually couldn't choose USC.  They have to pick a school from the SEC, Big Ten, or Notre Dame.  All reasonable candidates from those conferences (assuming no conference championship upsets) are already in NY6 bowls.  That would mean that USC would probably get snubbed for the other USC (South Carolina, that is).  The issue is that two of the three NY6 bowls with no conference tie-ins are hosting semifinals this year.  That makes the rest of the lineup much more rigid.

Couldn't the Orange Bowl just pick Notre Dame instead (presumably they will be ranked roughly near, if not ahead of South Carolina in the final rankings)?

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1599237653437612032

This looks like a good hire. Golesh even has experience coaching in Florida, having previously served as co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends coach at UCF in 2020.

However, most of his coaching experience is in the Midwest, and it's interesting that Cincinnati, for example didn't move to hire him, or that he wasn't in any real contention for the opening at Wisconsin, as he would have been a fit there.

[NewYorkExpress]

Multiple NFL Teams reportedly eyeing Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh.

If Harbaugh leaves Michigan (I don't think he will), here are my guesses as to who will be the next head coach for the Wolverines (I did this last year too).

Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin
Kansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman
Florida State Head Coach Mike Norvell
UCLA Head Coach Chip Kelly
Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury
Illinois Head Coach Brett Bielema

[NewYorkExpress]

Multiple NFL Teams reportedly eyeing Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh.

If Harbaugh leaves Michigan (I don't think he will), here are my guesses as to who will be the next head coach for the Wolverines (I did this last year too).

Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin
Kansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman
Florida State Head Coach Mike Norvell
UCLA Head Coach Chip Kelly
Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury
Illinois Head Coach Brett Bielema

Add in Dan Mullen as a wildcard

Given how Mullen's tenure at Florida ended, I don't think he'd do particularly well at Michigan.

[NewYorkExpress]

UAB
Troy
Cincinnati
BYU
Fresno State
Oregon State
Boise State
Marshall (how the hell did UConn win six games?)
San Jose State
Toledo
Western Kentucky
Baylor
Houston
Wake Forest
San Diego State

[NewYorkExpress]

Coastal Carolina Head Coach Jamey Chadwell has accepted the vacant position at Liberty.

Great hire for Liberty, but I can't help but think Chadwell could have gotten a better job if he'd waited another year or two (Maybe North Carolina's when Mack Brown retired, for example).

NC State Offensive Coordinator Tim Beck will be Chadwell's replacement at Coastal Carolina.

Beck has a long history as a position coach and coordinator, including stops at Kansas, Ohio State, Texas and NC State, and should hold up well in recruiting. Good hire.

[NewYorkExpress]

Cincinnati has hired Louisville Head Coach Scott Satterfield to fill their Head Coaching vacancy.

Good Hire by Cincinnati, as Satterfield is a program builder, and that's what the Bearcats need as they transition to the Big Twelve.

Best guess for the head coaching vacancy at Louisville:

Alabama Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Brien
Michigan Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter
Former Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen
UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor
Former Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst

[NewYorkExpress]

Cincinnati has hired Louisville Head Coach Scott Satterfield to fill their Head Coaching vacancy.

Good Hire by Cincinnati, as Satterfield is a program builder, and that's what the Bearcats need as they transition to the Big Twelve.

Best guess for the head coaching vacancy at Louisville:

Alabama Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Brien
Michigan Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter
Former Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen
UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor
Former Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst

The top candidate is going to be Jeff Brohm from Purdue. He's a Louisville native, played quarterback at Louisville, and was an assistant there for years. The job he's done with Purdue has been tremendous considering how putrid they were before he get there.

I'm pretty sure Brohm turned down the Louisville job the last time it was open. Why would he take it now?

[NewYorkExpress]

Tulsa is filling their head coaching vacancy (apparently they fired Phillip Montgomery and I didn't notice) with Ohio State Offensive Coordinator and former Indiana Head Coach Kevin Wilson.

Interesting hire. He was a great coordinator at Ohio State, but his prior Head Coaching job at Indiana didn't go well, with the only bowl game he made and got to coach in being a loss in the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl to Duke.

Not sure Tulsa could have gotten anyone better, though. They really aren't an attractive destination for most marquee coordinators, recently fired head coaches, and even some top FCS head coaches, being both one of the weakest overall programs in the American (though that status should improve somewhat with Cincinnati, Houston and UCF leaving for the Big Twelve and UAB, FAU, UNC-Charlotte, North Texas, Rice, UTSA arriving).

[NewYorkExpress]

Kent State Head Coach Sean Lewis is becoming Colorado's Offensive Coordinator

As much as I think working with Deion Sanders will be great for the resume if Lewis wants a Power Five job in the future, he could have gotten a different Head Coaching position if he wanted it (like Louisville or UNLV).

No clue who becomes Kent State's head coach, and I'm not seriously going to guess.

[NewYorkExpress]

Georgia got screwed in a big way. The committee can say what they want that the “rematch” thing was never discussed but they clearly tried like hell to avoid it. No doubt. Which was a screw up because not only were ratings going to set records but it was the right matchup.

Georgia will of course beat Ohio State. But Ohio State is more talented then maybe any team other then Georgia and will make Georgia put in at least mild effort. Meanwhile Michigan gets a bye week. TCU has absolutely no prayer

Yes, Ohio State/Michigan would have been great for ratings, but I can't see any result other than another Michigan victory as possible.

If they wanted to avoid a rematch, they should have figured out a way to put Clemson in over Ohio State.

[NewYorkExpress]

Lane Kiffin in a defensive conference? Um

Did they stop playing defense in the SEC, or have I not been paying attention?

[NewYorkExpress]

UNLV will fill their Head Coaching vacancy with Arkansas Defensive Coordinator Barry Odom

Interesting hire, Odom's only previous Head Coaching job was at Missouri, which led to losses in the 2017 Texas Bowl (to Texas) and 2018 Liberty Bowl (to Oklahoma State). He's never coached out west before, so this will be interesting from a recruiting standpoint.

[NewYorkExpress]

Apparently I missed it, but about a week ago, Texas State filled their coaching vacancy with Incarnate Word Head Coach G.J Kinne

Kinne is young, and this is his first significant FBS job of any kind, but he did very well leading Incarnate Word to the FCS Playoffs this year, with an 11-1 season so far (including a win over Nevada).

If he does well here, he could be in play for jobs like Houston, SMU or Texas Tech when their coaches move on or are fired (or possibly even Texas A&M if they decide to axe Jimbo Fisher any time soon-surely they wouldn't be able to afford a bigger name.)

[NewYorkExpress]

Well, I was wrong. Louisville is indeed hiring Purdue Head Coach Jeff Brohm.

Best guesses for Purdue's Head Coaching Vacancy.

Former Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst
Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers
Former LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron
West Virginia Offensive Coordinator Graham Harrell
Alabama Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Brien

[NewYorkExpress]

The ten remaining members of the Atlantic Sun and WAC are merging into an FBS football-only conference.

The remaining football members of the Atlantic Sun and WAC have agreed to align to form the foundation of a 10-member football-only conference, sources told ESPN, with the intention of becoming the 11th FBS conference.

Sources said the founding documents for the league state the group intends to move "from what is currently known as FCS football to what is currently known as FBS football at the earliest practicable date."

The schools that have signed on to join the league are WAC football members Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian, Utah Tech, Southern Utah and Tarleton State and Atlantic Sun football members Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, Central Arkansas and North Alabama.

UT Rio Grande Valley, which recently announced it is starting a program, is also expected to join in 2025, in that program's first season, as the league's 10th member.

The goal is for the conference to start playing in 2024 with nine members. Ambiguity looms around the process to becoming an FBS league, however. All the schools that play in the FCS will also need to go through a formal transition process.

[NewYorkExpress]

Caleb Williams wins the Heisman Trophy.

[NewYorkExpress]

Stanford has named Sacramento State Head Coach Troy Taylor to fill their vacancy.

I'll admit, I was at least expecting Stanford to name someone with history as an FBS Head Coach (maybe Jeff Tedford or Brady Hoke), but Taylor does have history coaching in California, having, in addition been the head coach at Sacramento State, been a position coach at Cal for from 1996 to 2000.

He's also a much better option for Stanford than the other rumored choice, Jason Garrett (seriously, did Stanford not learn the lesson that Arizona State did when they hired Herm Edwards? Former NFL Head Coaches don't usually work out, and when they do, it's because the program itself is built for success, not because of the coach).

[NewYorkExpress]

In what probably will be the final coaching change of the season, Ken Niumatalo is out as the Head Coach at Navy.

Best bet to be the next Head Coach at Navy?

Former The Citadel Head Coach Brent Thompson

[NewYorkExpress]

Assuming Mike Leach is no longer able to coach going forward (whether because of death or permanent incapacitation), here are my best guesses as to who would replace him at Mississippi State.

Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda
Georgia Co-Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp
Alabama Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Brien
Liberty Head Coach Jamey Chadwell
Troy Head Coach Jon Sumrall