How every former Nick Saban assistant fared in Week 10 head coaching performance

How did Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin, Mario Cristobal, Curt Cignetti and other former Nick Saban assistant coaches do at their respective Power Four and G5 programs in Week 10? We take a look.

Several members of former Alabama football coach Nick Saban’s expansive coaching tree had a busy Saturday in Week 10 of the 2024 college football season this past weekend.

From as far south as Miami to as far north as Bloomington, Ind., Saban’s former Crimson Tide assistants had their teams involved in high-stakes conference games on the first Saturday of November.

Not all of the former Saban assistants were on their respective sidelines in Week 10. Among the coaches whose teams had bye weeks was Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team is ranked No. 5 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll.

Mike Locksley and the Maryland Terrapins were also on a bye, as were Brent Key and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Bill O’Brien and the Boston College Eagles, and Butch Jones’ Arkansas State program.

Former Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain’s Central Michigan Chippewas didn’t play Saturday as CMU has three consecutive Tuesday night games coming up (MACtion!).

Lance Taylor’s first-place Western Michigan Broncos also didn’t play Saturday but will look to improve to 5-0 in MAC play Wednesday when they welcome Northern Illinois to Kalamazoo.

A week ago, Roll Tide Wire ranked every member of the Saban coaching tree by their schools’ season-to-date performances. This week, we’re taking a look at how each of those head coaches and their respective teams fared in Week 10 action.

As with last week’s rankings, we’re also including salary information from the USA TODAY Sports College Football Head Coach Salaries Database.

Again, former Saban assistants whose teams were idle in Week 10 do not appear on this list. With that out of the way, here’s how every former Saban assistant and his team fared over the weekend.

Major Applewhite (South Alabama Jaguars)

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Overall/Current Record at South Alabama: 4-5

Week 10 Game: Georgia Southern 34, South Alabama 30

2024 Salary: $825,000

South Alabama had a fourth-quarter collapse against a Georgia Southern team they had on the ropes in Mobile. The Eagles got two touchdown passes from JC French to erase a 30-14 deficit heading into the fourth quarter. With both teams at 3-1 in Sun Belt play entering the game, this was a huge missed opportunity for Applewhite and the Jaguars.

Billy Napier (Florida Gators)

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Overall Record at Florida: 14-18

2024 Record: 4-4

Week 10 Game: Georgia 34, Florida 20

2024 Salary: $7.3 million

It’s hard for me to be too upset about Napier and the Gators’ performance against a Georgia team that’s simply better than Florida. The Gators competed and didn’t allow themselves to be pushed around in a game many figured would be a blowout. If not for an injury to Florida starting quarterback DJ Lagway, we could be talking about this game in a whole new light.

Charles Huff (Marshall Thundering Herd)

Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Overall Record at Marshall: 27-20

2024 Record: 5-3

Week 10 Game: Marshall 28, UL Monroe 23

2024 Salary: $755,500

Huff and the Herd won their fourth game in their last five contests, getting two fourth-quarter touchdowns to hold off ULM to improve to 3-1 in Sun Belt play. Marshall is a half-game behind Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt East division. At 5-3 and scheduled to face a Southern Miss team that’s one of the worst in FBS for the second straight year, Huff is well in position to lead the Herd to a fourth straight bowl game in as many seasons as Marshall’s coach.

Kirby Smart (Georgia Bulldogs)

Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union

Overall Record at Georgia: 101-17

2024 Record: 6-1

Week 10 Game: Georgia 34, Florida 20

2024 Salary: $13,282,580

If we’re going by season-to-date rankings, Smart still tops our list at No. 1. The Bulldogs struggled for much of the afternoon against Florida in Jacksonville as Carson Beck threw three more interceptions to continue an alarming trend. He now has eight interceptions over his last three games.

Georgia has won all three of those contests in spite of Beck’s turnovers. While Beck looked much in the second half, questions still linger about his turnover ratio — and how much longer Smart can seemingly pin the blame on his receivers.

Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss Rebels)

Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Overall Record at Ole Miss: 40-17

2024 Record: 7-2

Week 10 Game: Ole Miss 63, Arkansas 31

2024 Salary: $9 million

During his appearance on “College GameDay” Saturday, Nick Saban predicted that Sam Pittman and the Arkansas Razorbacks would pull an upset over Ole Miss. “Not so fast, my friend.” Jaxson Dart threw for a school-record 515 yards, and his six touchdown passes in one game tied Eli Manning (in 2001) and Matt Corral (in 2020). Ole Miss had 694 yards of total offense in a complete domination of the Hogs.

Last week, we wrote that Kiffin hadn’t been able to win the big one yet in Year 5 with the Rebels. With the No. 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs coming to Oxford this Saturday, Kiffin has a chance to change that and put Ole Miss squarely back into the College Football Playoff race.

Curt Cignetti (Indiana Hoosiers)

Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Overall/Current Record at Indiana: 8-0

Week 10 Game: Indiana 47, Michigan State 10

2024 Salary: $4.25 million

A week after hosting “College GameDay” for the first time, Cignetti and quarterback Kurtis Rourke led the Hoosiers to their first 9-0 start in program history with another offensive explosion on Saturday in East Lansing. The Hoosiers are averaging 49.0 points per game this season, and their fewest points scored in any one game was the 31 they put up against the Washington Huskies in Week 9 and their season opener against FIU.

The Hoosiers host the four-loss Michigan Wolverines in Bloomington in Week 11. If they can beat the reigning national champions, they’ll face a “Game of the Year of the Week” in Columbus matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes with major Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff implications on the line at “The Shoe.”

Mario Cristobal (Miami Hurricanes)

Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Overall Record at Miami: 21-13

2024 Record: 9-0

Week 9 Game: Miami 53, Duke 31

2024 Salary: $7.7 million

Cristobal’s Hurricanes pulled away from former Miami coach Manny Diaz and the Duke Blue Devils with a 36-point second half explosion to erase a 21-17 halftime deficit. Miami recently passed Ole Miss for the national lead in average yards per game at 556.9. They’re also averaging 47.4 points per game with quarterback Cam Ward leading one of the nation’s most explosive offenses.

At 9-0, Miami is one of only five unbeaten teams in college football, joining Cignetti’s Hoosiers, the No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks, BYU Cougars, and Army Black Knights. With Clemson suffering a stunning 33-21 loss to the Louisville Cardinals over the weekend, the ACC is officially Miami’s to lose. Their schedule takes them to Georgia Tech and former Saban assistant Brent Key in Week 11.