JJ Arey
Wednesday, September 15th
USC’s Clay Helton Out after 7 seasons
After an overall disappointing six year tenure at USC, Athletic
Director Mike Brohn announced earlier this week that the program will be heading in a new direction. After posting a
record of 46-24 over that span of time, Brohn pointed to the lack of recruiting prowess and overall lackluster performances against top ranked teams in the nation. In order to help restore USC’s storied reputation as a giant in the college football world, a few coaches possess the skills and opportunity to do
so.
1. James Franklin, Penn State
- A name that has been floated around the past couple seasons, James Franklin would be an almost perfect fit for the new vacancy. Franklin has an impressive track record at Penn State- securing a Big Ten Championship and posting 10 winning seasons under the helm as the head coach. His player-first coaching style and charismatic persona has made him one of college’s most beloved coaches, and moving out west to a storied program like USC would prevent Franklin from having a yearly matchup with Ohio State.
2. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
- The time spent under Urban Meyer as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator equipped Schiano to direct a quick rebuild of the shell of a program that was Rutgers. After starting this season with two impressive wins, Schiano has proved that he can win games with a far less talented roster than the likes of USC. On the more personal side of things for coach Schiano, the addition of a new team facility at Rutgers was a project agreed upon by the school during his most recent contract negotiations. The current status of the new facility is still up in the air, and the failure of the university to uphold their bargain could push Schiano to leave.
3. Bill O’Brien
- There is a very clear pipeline of success for former Alabama assistants as new head coaches. What program could not benefit from a coach learning under the likes of Nick Saban? USC has direct access to West coast recruiting and could provide O’Brien with a similar set of players that he has used to turn Alabama
into one of the most potent offenses in college football. His experience in the NFL also provides some excitement for Trojan fans to buy into.
Ohio State Drops 6 Spots After Tough Loss
Before diving into what went wrong for the Buckeyes, it is important to note that Oregon is the real deal. Despite playing without their two top defensive players in Kayvon Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe, Oregon won every facet of this game from the very first whistle. Barring any unforeseen losses, this Oregon
team will be one of the top four
squads come December.
The good news for Buckeye fans is
that their season is not over yet.
An early season loss to a top-15
team only dropped them 6 spots in
the AP ranking, and there were
flashes of a very good football
team at times this past Saturday.
The play of redshirt freshman CJ
Stroud was nowhere near the expectations set by Justin Fields, but the young QB proved he can work through multiple reads and make the throws necessary to win games. The elite level wide receiver core that the Buckeyes possess will make them very tough to guard for any team in the country.
The defensive side of the ball however will prove to be the most difficult change the Buckeyes will have to make this season in order to stay alive. Defensive Coordinator Kerry Coombs was out game-planned by the Ducks on every level as they exploited an already weak secondary. The very talented interior of the Buckeye defense was embarrassed last week, as head coach Ryan Day recently said adjustments would be made on “how we’re attacking other offenses, but also just structurally how we’re doing our day-to-day operations.”
Iowa, Auburn, Arkansas on the upwards trend
For the first time in 65 meetings, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones both faced off as top-10 teams in the country. In a game where many experts predicted Iowa to lose, the Hawkeye defense managed to turn four turnovers into 20 points en route to a very impressive road win. With a softer schedule on the horizon, look for the Hawkeyes to notch a few more impressive wins.
After putting up 122 points over the course of a two week span, the Auburn Tigers finally seem to be figuring things out. The hype surrounding quarterback Bo Nix is starting to come to fruition, and this offense looks very, very lethal. Although both these games were played against FCS opponents, it is nonetheless impressive to string together two 60 point games.
And finally, the Arkansas Razorbacks. Doing the entire country a favor by beating the TexasLonghorns, the Razorbacks turned a lot of heads this past week. The dual-threat option of KJ Jefferson and RB Trelon Smith ran all over the Longhorn defense. With matchups against TexasA&M, Georgia, and Auburn on the horizon, look for the Razorbacks to pull off an upset in atleast one of these games.
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