1. On Sunday afternoon, just hours after Texas A&M destroyed Mississippi State 51-10, Texas A&M fired head coach Jimbo Fisher. (Adding to the LOLs, Mississippi State also fired their head coach, Zach Arnett.) Meanwhile, after losing to Michigan, 24-15, Penn State fired their offensive coordinator. Out West, just hours after thumping New Mexico, 42-14, Boise State fired their coach, Andy Avalos. Just last week, USC fired their defensive coordinator, Alex Grinch.
The college football season still has a few weeks left to play, but for a bunch of schools, it’s already the offseason, and those hot seats have become scalding. Because the truth is, it’s much easier to flip one or two coaches than it is to recruit a dozen new players. Even if it costs a lot of bingo.
Look at Texas A&M, where Jimbo Fisher is cleaning out his office. Texas A&M started well under Fisher, including a 9-1 season during the COVID year. But things have been more middling ever since, including a 4-3 record in the SEC this season. Fisher leaves College Station with a 45-25 overall record, including 27-21 in the SEC.
Athletic Director Ross Bjork, who inherited Fisher and his massive contract, announced that he knew it was time to make a change because, “We are not in the championship conversation and something was not quite right about our direction and the plan… We should be relevant on the national scene.”
Bjork wasn’t wrong—Texas A&M is not in the championship conversation and something isn’t right about the direction of their plan. Making a change is necessary, but at what cost? (How about $76 million, the price of his buyout?)
Fisher never seemed to be a perfect fit in Texas, mainly because he came in with such a gigantic price tag attached. It’s a lot cheaper to bring in a new coordinator than it is to flip coaches, but of course Texas A&M tried that last year by hiring Bobby Petrino. Heck, Penn State’s James Franklin will be bringing in his sixth new offensive coordinator.
Sometimes you have to start at the top, I guess, even if it costs you almost a hundred million bucks.
2. Speaking of starting at the top, I’ve tried to spare you guys the anguish I experience each Sunday as a fan of the Atlanta Falcons. But since hiring Arthur Smith as head coach in 2021, the Falcons have compiled a record of 18-26. The Falcons somehow haven’t found a viable franchise quarterback during that span, despite having three top 10 picks. The latest touted pick to be added was dynamic running back Bijan Robinson, who through 10 games has exactly as many carries as his backup, Tyler Allgeier. The Falcons have basically refused to use Robinson in goal line situations, until this week, when he finally got a handoff in the red zone and promptly scored a touchdown.
The Falcons have now lost six of their last eight games, and while they’re somehow still only a game out of first in the NFC South, I have zero confidence in this team’s ability to win the division, to build a sustainable model of success, much less to find an above-average quarterback—I mean, it says something about the play of Desmond Ridder that fans were begging to have 30-year-old Taylor Heinicke out there.
The Falcons aren’t getting blown out—the last three losses were by 5, 3 and 2 points—and certainly injuries have hurt, particularly losing Grady Jarrett for the season. I understand the Falcons have been rebuilding, and that the process isn’t always linear.
But it feels like we should at least be able to see the thru line. And I haven’t been able to see that. At all.
2. To end this week, let’s give some credit where it’s due and give a shoutout to the Memphis Tigers, who went to overtime to beat Charlotte last weekend, and enter this week with an 8-2 record and a chance to play in the AAC title game. To get there, they’ll have to beat a surging SMU team this weekend at the Liberty Bowl, which is no small task—SMU has won six in a row and is currently tenth in the nation on offense, averaging 473 yards per game.
The only thing that’s been consistent about this Tigers team is that they never make it easy—they’ve trailed in eight consecutive games—but they’re resilient, and they can put up some points as well—Memphis is 21st in total yards, at 452 per game.
SMU is favored by 3.5 points, but the Tigers will hopefully have a big home crowd to cheer them on. I’ve been as dubious of Ryan Silverfield as anyone, but 8-2 is 8-2. Go Tigers Go.