It's Only SEC (but I like it....) : Week 11

GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT

We are now into the final furlong of the SEC football regular season. And it’s getting very tasty indeed.

Chaos continues in the Conference with the sacking of Auburn’s Hugh Freeze, meaning that 25% of the SEC football jobs are currently vacant. Which is wild….and the season hasn’t ended yet.

So it’s no great surprise that this week’s round-up of SEC football news has a strong focus on the pressure Head Coaches find themselves under.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. This is Bama v LSU week, which is one of the great fixtures on the college football calendar. Even without Brian Kelly in charge of the Tigers, the rivalry is a huge one and sure to be a game which lives up to the hype.

So let’s get on to the headlines from this week’s SEC news.

The Coaching Carousel

Photo Credit: SEC Media

Auburn, AL

Last week, we talked about the chaotic situation unfolding at LSU. Already, the SEC has seen a proliferation of sackings of Head coaches with Sam Pittman leaving Arkansas and then Billy Napier exiting Gainesville. Kelly’s sacking took the tally to three vacated SEC Head coaching seats, which, given that we had barely made week nine of the regular season schedule, feels like some kind of unwelcome record.

frozen out

Of course, it was human nature – although I disagree with the current mindset – for folks to speculate who would be next. We didn’t have to wait long for the answer to that obtuse question. Auburn’s loss to Kentucky on Saturday, 3-10 – a Wildcats team yet to win an SEC game at point – was the straw that broke Auburn’s AD John Cohen’s back. So it was that Hugh Freeze left Auburn on Sunday as the Tigers’ Head Coach, leaving a fourth seat vacant in the Southeastern Conference. Such is the win-now mentality in college football that currently, 25% of the league is without a Head coach.

So what’s next for Auburn? This is a football team searching for its fourth Head Coach in seven years, which is not a postcard for stability.

Athletic Director John Cohen outlined some of the key attributes that he is looking for from his next Head football coach.

“Somebody with an edge,” Cohen told the media early in the week. “Somebody who’s highly competitive… priority No. 1 is defining the part. Then, intelligence, strategic, forward-thinking. All those things matter. At this level of college football, you’re obviously going to have somebody who has a track record in all these areas, and you can look into that track record with the utmost seriousness. You look at somebody who can lead a building, lead a staff, lead 18 to 22, 23, 24-year-olds to compete in the best league in the country.” 

Now the search is underway and vying, dare I say it, in the same talent pool as LSU, Florida and Arkansas. All I can say is that some schools won’t get the coach they prefer.

All not well in Columbia

Just quickly, before I move on, another school where the Head Coach is under pressure is at South Carolina. Shane Beamer finds himself teetering on the hot seat in a season where much was expected from the Gamecocks. For a team that flirted with the playoffs last year and a returning quarterback many thought would be in New York come January, the Gamecocks have seriously underperformed. A record so far of 3-6 (1-6 in conference) has been such a huge disappointment that Beamer finds himself in trouble.

So what does an under-fire Head Coach do? Yup, they fire a coordinator. It is job-saving 101 and probably keeps Beamer in a job for the rest of the season.

This week, Beamer fired Offensive coordinator Mike Shula after the Gamecocks’ most recent defeat to Ole Miss, 30-14.

Beamer had already let offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley go a month ago, signalling that Beamer is trying to right a very leaky ship.

Shula was in his first year on the job at Columbia, replacing Dowell Loggains, who left to take the head coaching job at Appalachian State. Once Beamer successfully recruits for the vacant OC job, it will be the Gamecocks’ fourth OC in six seasons.

The Votes are in!

Grapevine, TX

first Tuesday in novemeber

Depending on your viewpoint, the first week of November is a date you look forward to eagerly or a date you have come to loathe with a healthy degree of cynicism. Why, you ask?

Early November sees the first sitting of the Playoff committee in Grapevine, TX, to debate and agree on the inaugural set of CFB Playoff rankings. Yup, it’s that time of the year again.

As the saying goes, “you can’t please all of the people all of the time”, which is especially true when it comes to the rankings.

But let’s not go over old ground, eh? New year, new rankings and all that.

no change

Let’s get the headlines out of the way. The BIG10 dominated the top two spots, with Ohio State and Indiana ranked #1 and #2. Texas A&M was ranked #3, which is where the controversy started, albeit it didn’t end there.

However, the age-old debate about taking strength of schedule into account raised its head as soon as the rankings were released. The debate was simple: why did Texas A&M not rank higher than #3?

drink wades into the argument

During this week’s SEC Head Coaches teleconference, this subject came up more than once. First to take the bait was Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, who was asked if he thought the Playoff Committee had softened their approach to strength of schedule over absolute wins.

“The top two teams’ schedule rankings and strength of schedule is in the mid-30s,” Drinkwitz said, referring to Ohio State and Indiana. “Texas A&M is in the top five. They were ranked (No.) 3. So I don’t know what’s changed”.

“The reality is college football needs to be decided on the field,” Drinkwitz continued. “There needs to be play-in games. There’s not another sport in the country that is decided, besides NCAA basketball, NCAA baseball and NCAA football, by committees. Like, decide it on the field. Just like pro sports do.”

Outside of the Top Three, the SEC was well represented. Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss sit at #4, #5, and #6, respectively. Texas and Oklahoma were ranked #11 and #12, respectively, but would miss out on a Playoff spot to the winners of the ACC and Group of 5 Conferences, as they have currently been ranked outside the Top 12.

the irish are back

So six teams in the Top 12 is pretty impressive. But a 6-2 Notre Dame team has been ranked ahead of both Texas and Oklahoma, who hold a 7-2 record at this stage of the season. Worse still, Louisville has a better record than Notre Dame and beat Miami, who recorded one of the Irish losses. 

Which has SEC folks scratching their heads.

Speaking after the rankings were announced on Tuesday, Mack Rhoades, the athletic director at Baylor and chairman of the selection committee, said this about the Irish’s ranking. 

“When we look at the tape, we think Notre Dame is a really solid football team, both sides of the ball,” which frankly gave little understanding behind the #10 ranking.

“I think we refer to it as art and science,” Rhoades continued. “I think the art is watching the team on film and tape and how good they are, how physical they are up front, offensive line, defensive line play, how good are they up the middle, their quarterback play, their skill players, and then certainly contemplating and looking at metrics. “I know you know this, but not any one metric weighted heavier than the other. We use them all at our disposal to try to get the very best answer, and I think that’s where the public misses out a little bit. Just the beauty in this is the actual debate and discussion and conversation in the room when we’re talking about all of those metrics.”

Indeed.

Trouble in Tennessee - really?

Photo Credit: Tennessee Athletics

knoxville, TN

crazy times in college football

I make no apologies for the headlines this week being about Head Coaches. These are the times we live in. Crazy times.

The lifespan of a Head Coach has probably never been shorter. While money has always been a factor in college athletics, the pursuit of money or the fear of missing out on events that generate revenue means we live in a win-now culture.

Take Tennessee, for example. Before current Head Coach Josh Heupel arrived in Knoxville, the Vols were in crisis.

The disastrous Jeremy Pruitt era left Tennessee football in chaos. You will recall that Pruitt had been caught handing out cash to recruits in brown paper bags. Pruitt received a 6 year show-cause order back in 2021 for his involvement in recruitment violations.

And just to be clear, because this is important for Tennessee fans to remember. Pruitt was fired after Tennessee was found guilty of  18 Level 1 alleged rules violations, the most severe under NCAA rules.

short memories

However, people have short memories. Josh Heupel has transformed the Vols into a College Football Playoff team. This is a fact. Last year, the Vols made it to the Playoffs only to be beaten by eventual winners Ohio State.

But following last week’s defeat to Oklahoma, there were mutterings, no louder than that, that Heupel wasn’t the right guy to take the Vols forward.

What nonsense.

However, what is true is that with the loss to Oklahoma last weekend, Tennessee was effectively eliminated from this year’s College Football Playoff.

The Franklin effect

This has left Vols fans hot under the collar. But to what end? Is Vol Nation actually saying they want to move on from Heupel?

As crazy as this sounds, it’s not as far-fetched as it seems. James Franklin found himself and his team ranked #1 in preseason polls. Penn State did not have the off-the-cliff start to the season like Clemson has had, far from it. But the rhetoric that Franklin couldn’t get a win over a top 10 team couldn’t leave him. The same can be said for Heupel. However, three successive defeats spelt the end for Franklin, meaning Huepel’s margin for error is small.

With pressure mounting on the Vols head coach, some in the media, including ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, have jumped to his defence. As of yet, Vols Athletic Director Danny White has not felt the need to make any comment. 

Tennessee rounds off the season with games against New Mexico State, Florida and Vanderbilt. While any defeat is not going to help Heupel’s cause, a defeat to in-state rival Vanderbilt might be a hurdle too far even for Heupel to overcome.

week eleven schedule

Photo credit: SEC Media

Across the SEC

Week 11 brings us some blockbuster games, as well as some intriguing fixtures that could literally break a School’s season. While much of the focus will be on the mega rivalry game, LSU travelling to Tuscaloosa, Georgia, facing in-form Mississippi State is a must-win for Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs. There is no room for error at this stage of the season. Similarly, Texas A&M. As previously discussed on these pages, the Aggies’ #3 ranking is the subject of considerable debate. However, any kind of trip up against Missouri, who have proven themselves to be an excellent team, could prove very tricky for Mike Elko. And everyone will be reminded of A&M’s late-season collapse last year.

This leads us to another exciting week in SEC Football. Here are this week’s fixtures.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8

Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) at Mississippi State (5-1, 1-4 SEC)     

Series: UGA leads, 21-6

11 a.m. CT • ESPN                                                      

Last: UGA, 41-31 (2024 at Athens)                                                   

Starkville, Miss. • Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field (60,311)   

The Citadel (4-5) at Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 SEC)   

Series: UM leads, 1-0

Noon CT • ESPN+ / SEC+                                    

Oxford, Miss. • Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (64,038)         

Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0 SEC) at Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC)

Series, TAMU leads, 10-7

2:30 p.m. CT • ABC                                       

Last: TAMU, 41-10 (2024 at College Station)

Columbia, Mo. • Faurot Field (57,321)                                                                                                                                                                              Auburn (4-5, 1-5 SEC) at Vanderbilt (7-2, 3-2 SEC)    

Series: Tied, 22-22-1

3 p.m. CT • SEC Network                                           

Last: VU, 17-7 (2024 at Auburn)                                        

Nashville, Tenn. • FirstBank Stadium (35,000)          

LSU (5-3, 2-3 SEC) at Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC)

Series: UA leads, 57-27-5

6:30 p.m. CT • ABC                                               

Last: UA, 42-13 (2024 at Baton Rouge)

Tuscaloosa, Ala. • Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium (100,077)    

Florida (3-5, 2-3 SEC) at Kentucky (3-5, 1-5 SEC)       

Series: UF leads, 54-20

7:30 p.m. ET • SEC Network                                      

Last: UF, 48-20 (2024 at Gainesville)

Lexington, Ky. • Kroger Field (61,000)           

Open Date:

Arkansas (2-7, 0-5 SEC);

Oklahoma (7-2, 3-2 SEC);

South Carolina (3-6, 1-6 SEC);

Tennessee (6-3, 3-3 SEC);

Texas (7-2, 4-1 SEC).

GEORGE SOMERVILLE

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER

GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.

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