I’ve learned how fast the content game works. This list was made up before the firings, and already three doydoy coaches have been fired. Here’s the ultimate CFB Power rankings:
Add JMU to the “NY6” category. They would be in a CFP conversation any other year, but the 8 in that list are loaded. It’s a damn shame the playoff isn’t expanding until next year.
Speaking of CFP contenders, this is Nick Saban’s best coaching job yet. He somehow took a quarterback who couldn’t throw and made him a Maxwell Award finalist while marrying him with an inept offensive coordinator. Saban is playing NCAA 23 on expert mode and has his team in a great spot to earn a CFP spot.
Risers
I should’ve saved the “bowl eligible and trending up spots” for surprise teams. SMU, UTSA, and Memphis are all progrums battling for a conference chip in the American, so they’re far from jaw-dropping. However, Jerry Kill has New Mexico State bowl eligible and fighting for a conference championship. Is it in a terrible “FCS+” conference? Maybe…but you can still admire a successful rebuild. Texas State has came back down to earth a bit after shitpumping Baylor and Jackson State, but bowl eligibility in a solid fun-belt conference ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at. Clay Helton has Georgia Southern bowl eligible for the second year in a row. I think he’d be a great fit at a certain Pac-12 school that is charmin soft and plays on the west coast. Imagine? His toughness married with the USC cardinal and gold?…match made in heaven.
Should’ve been hired yesterday
Texas A&M is going to look for a splash hire to inevitably fail to live up to their lofty expectations (2 double digit wins in 30 seasons) which will lead to them picking the wrong guy, but Mike Elko, Lance Leipold, Jedd Fisch, and Matt Campbell should toward the top of their list. There’s rumors about Dan Lanning (for the sake of Oregon football I hope he stays), and although that’d be a great hire, I’d love to see some of these other guys get a chance.
Should’ve joined the chopping block
James Franklin is looking for his 6th different offensive coordinator while at Penn State. After watching the Michigan game on Saturday, where he was outcoached by an interim head coach who found out he was coaching the game at 10am the day of. Shit for brains is being kind to the bozo decisions this man made Saturday. If they were on the road, we’d be making “he shouldn’t be able to get on the plane” jokes. Take his key card away.
Half of this list didn’t survive the weekend, so I won’t dive too deep into it. Miami is winning/competing in spite of Mario Cristobal, and the Jake Dickert experience, that started off great after half the staff was fired during Covid, has sizzled.
We need to stop giving Billy Napier credit for having great recruiting classes if he isn’t going to do anything with them. You’re Florida, of course you’re going to get great players, now develop them. The SEC East has gotten much more competitive, but they’re not close to Georgia and are lucky to be competing for the second best team in that division year in and year out. All signs point to him getting another year to figure it out, but the aforementioned guys deserve a shot to turn this progrum around.
This playoff race is going to be fun to watch down the stretch. It will inevitably play itself out, but for the time being, one deserving team is going to be left out of the 4 team invitational. Again, it’s sad the playoffs aren’t expanding until next year because I firmly believe there are 8 teams that could legitimately win it all. Love you, bye.
The Morning Flush 