Interim coaches impress given a chance
Not all is lost for programs making in-season changes at the top
Maybe making a coaching change less than halfway through the season isn’t such a terrible idea.
After an unprecedented spate of early season firings, teams with interim head coaches went 4-0 this weekend in major college football.
“We went from trying not to lose and now we’re learning how to win,” Georgia Tech interim coach Brent Key said. “That’s a valuable lesson that these guys can take to the next game.”
The Yellow Jackets (3-3) beat Duke to make it two straight victories since Geoff Collins was fired. At 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference,
Georgia Tech not only can dream about bowl eligibility, but there is still a path to serious contention for a Coastal Division title.
On Friday night in New Jersey, Nebraska won its second straight game for interim coach Mickey Joseph and will head into the second half of the season tied for first in the Big Ten West.
The Cornhuskers actually won a close game (14-13), something that never seemed to go their way under Scott Frost.
“A lot of adversity to push through tonight,” Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson said.
Now also lurking in the Big Ten West is Wisconsin. The Badgers dumping Paul
Chryst after five games last week was the one truly shocking move among the early firings.
Wisconsin elevated defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, essentially giving the de facto coach-in-waiting a seven-game audition.
Good start. The Badgers rolled over Northwestern, 42-7, with maybe their best offensive game in a few seasons.
Graham Mertz was 20 for 29 for 299 yards and five touchdowns and Braelon Allen ran for 135 yards. Add the obligatory it was only against Northwestern, but the Badgers looked like a different team. At 1-2 in the Big Ten West, they’re not out.
“This is the reward,” Leonhard said. “You put in the work, you put in the time and you should have confidence when you step off that bus that you have the right plan, you have the right guys, you put them in position to have success.”
Arizona State made it 4 for 4 for the interim coaches this week. The Sun Devils interim coach Shaun Aguano earned his first victory since taking over for Herm Edwards with 45-38 victory against No. 21 Washington, which now looks like a team that was overestimated after beating what looks like a bad Michigan State team. Who’s next to go? Well, Bryan Harsin left Georgia still the Auburn coach after the No. 2 Bulldogs pounded the Tigers 4210.
It seems inevitable that change is coming on The Plains. The Tigers have a road trip to No. 9 Mississippi next week and then an open date.
It’s hard to see a coaching change making a difference for Auburn the rest of the way — even though it seems to working elsewhere.
Boomer bust
The long and glorious history of Oklahoma football hit a nadir in the late 1990s, after a string of failed replacements for Barry Switzer.
In 1997, during a run of three straight losing seasons for the Sooners, they were beaten 69-7 by Nebraska.
That was the last time Oklahoma was on the short end of loss more lopsided than Saturday’s Red River game against Texas.
games into his tenure in Norman, but anytime you’re bringing back memories of the late 1990s in Oklahoma it’s not good at all. And really, it has been even worse than that.
Add in last week’s pummeling against TCU, and this is the first time in Oklahoma history that the Sooners have lost two straight game by 30plus points, according to ESPNStats and Info.
“We’re good enough on both sides of the ball to be a lot more competitive,” Venables said. “You can’t lose a game 49-0, with accountability beginning with me.”
Meanwhile, Texas fans can probably convince themselves the Longhorns would have beaten Alabama if Quinn Ewers wasn’t injured earlyagainst the Tide. Ewers threw for 289 yards
and four touchdowns against Oklahoma.
In a Big 12 that seems set to be all kinds of fun and competitive up top — TCU beat Kansas in what might have been the game of the day — Texas figures to be a factor.
As for Oklahoma, even in the dark days for the late 1990s, the Sooners never finished last in the Big 12. That is definitely on the table in 2022.
Around the country
There was a lot of talk about quarterback play in the ACC this year with an impressive group of returning starters. Turns out first-year starter Drake Maye might be the best of the bunch and the Tar Heels look like legitimate favorites in the ACC Coastal, despite their defensive flaws, after beating Miami.