Category: 2021 ND Football

Ranking the Top 10 Jobs in College Football

What are your top jobs and why?

Anyone up for a good midweek debate?

I thought so.

Then again if I would have posted this on a Sunday afternoon I’m sure plenty would be ready to debate it with me.

In the wake of USC’s firing Clay Helton much has been made about where the job ranks compared to the best in college football.  We’ll get further into USC shortly but that discussion got me thinking about what the absolute best head coaching jobs in all of college football are.

Here are my ten best with a few reasons why each rank where they do:

(Reminder: these are rankings of the actual positions, not of the current coaches that hold each post)

Former Notre Dame assistant coach says ‘no chance’ to USC

Not really a surprise despite what some wanted to try and believe…

Former Notre Dame wide receivers coach Urban Meyer has been rumored by some to be the potential next head football coach at USC after Clay Helton was fired earlier this week.

Meyer, now the head coach of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars was asked directly about his interest in the USC opening late Wednesday morning.  His Jaguars squad was embarrassed by the Houston Texans in last week’s opener, 37-21.

In 17 years as a collegiate head coach Meyer’s teams went a combined 187-32 and won three national championships.  Nine of those 17 seasons saw his teams finish in the nation’s top-five as well.

This one hardly comes as a surprise seeing as if Meyer really wanted the USC job at various times he likely could have had it.

Related:

Dan Patrick speculates on USC coaching search

Notre Dame makes slight tweaks to depth chart ahead of Purdue 

Dan Patrick speculates on USC coaching search

What coach would scare you the most as a Notre Dame fan if USC were to hire them?

We’re now two days removed from USC firing head football coach Clay Helton and the speculation as to who will be the next man in charge of the Trojans football team is running rampant.

Dan Patrick got in on the fun on Wednesday as he he shared what he has heard in regards to the job.  I hesitate to call it a report as Patrick prefaced it by stating “By the way, raise your hand if you haven’t been mentioned for the job at USC.  It feels like everyone is open for business here!”

Patrick eventually went around to his producers and had them guess which coach there has been mutual interest between the coach and the school according to what a source told him.  P. J. Fleck, Matt Campbell, and Pat Fitzgerald were the incorrect guesses while the answer was James Franklin.  See the clip in full here:

 

Franklin as well as plenty of others would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn’t at least act somewhat interested in the USC job.  No, not by going out and politicking for it publicly but through the proper back channels.  How do you think you get a raise from your current employer?  I know from experience that simply being loyal and promising not to look elsewhere certainly doesn’t do the trick.

What I do know is that is seems real early in process to think that USC has their eyes set on just one person.  There are several strong potential candidates, almost all of which have regular seasons they’ve only just begun.  I don’t know it for a fact but I’m simply stating this feels more than a hair early.

As a lifelong Notre Dame fan I enjoyed the Clay Helton era because of the 4-1 mark the Irish had against his Trojans squads.  From that perspective, Franklin would be the coach I fear USC hiring the most.  That said, he’s got a pretty good thing going at Penn State right now and has roots in the northeast.

Related:

How Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fared in week two

The winningest major college football coaches of all-time

Notre Dame-Purdue restore rivalry: 5 things to know

Do you wish Purdue was still on the schedule every year?

This weekend will be the first meeting between Notre Dame and Purdue since 2014 when the teams met at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in the Shamrock Series game.  Notre Dame won that contest 30-14 in what was the seventh consecutive win in the series for the Irish.

If you’re of a certain age you’re actually too young to probably recall when these two would meet up each September.  If that’s the case or if you’re just a fan of old college football rivalries here are five things you need to know about Notre Dame and Purdue on the gridiron.

Purdue coach Jeff Brohm previews Notre Dame

How do you feel about this weekend’s matchup compared to how you felt about it a few weeks ago?

A couple of short years ago Purdue head football coach Jeff Brohm was a rising star in the college ranks.  His Boilermakers squad upset Ohio State on national television in 2018 but went on to drop 16 of their next 24 contests.

Brohm and the Boilermakers are off to a nice start in 2021 as they got by Oregon State in their opener before blowing the doors off of Connecticut last weekend.  Now awaiting Purdue is a 2-0 Notre Dame squad that is yet to play to anywhere near their level of expectations.

Brohm previewed the Notre Dame football team on Monday:

“Well, Notre Dame is a veteran football team. They’ve proven they can win at a high level. They play one of the toughest schedules in the country every year against great competition. They’ve got a really good defensive front that’s big and active and athletic and shows quickness and twitch. They’ve got linebackers that play downhill and strike. They’ve got a veteran secondary.

“Offensively they’ve got a proven quarterback (Coan) who’s played well at two different spots, a really good running back (Williams) and probably an all-pro tight end (Mayer).

“They’ve got weapons. They’ve got skill. They’ve got really good players.

“They’ve had to work for the last two wins, which actually from their standpoint really is a good thing because it gives them a chance to see the few things they need to work on to get better, but they found a way to win. That’s what winning football teams do. There have been a couple other top-10 teams in the country that haven’t been able to do that the last week or two, and they have, so give credit to them for pulling out victories.

“Very talented team, and we’ve got our hands full.”

-Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021

It’s an interesting twist on how Notre Dame has played through two games.  To this longtime observer overall it’s been incredibly unimpressive for the Irish despite having a few flashes along the way.  If they can turn that into a positive will obviously be a good thing but it doesn’t mean things are sitting well now, that’s for certain.

I would be curious to know what Brohm thinks about Purdue’s chances this Saturday versus how he may have felt about them a couple of months ago because my guess is he feels significantly better.

Purdue will be making their first trip to South Bend since September of 2012 as the once annual rivalry has been renewed with the Irish traveling to West Lafayette next season.

Related:

Notre Dame tweaks depth chart for game with 2-0 Purdue

How Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fared in week two

 

 

USA TODAY bowl projections have Notre Dame stumbling

How real does this projection feel after two games?

A week ago the USA TODAY bowl projections done by Erick Smith had Notre Dame headed to the Peach Bowl to take on Texas A&M in a meeting that used to be reserved for the Cotton Bowl. Despite not being the College Football Playoff it would be a trip to a New Year’s Six bowl for the Irish.

That took a hit this week however as Smith’s new projections are out and don’t have the currently 2-0 Irish in the New Year’s Six.  Instead, it’s a New Year’s Eve matchup with Auburn in the Gator Bowl that Smith has down.

For whatever its worth, Smith still projects the Aggies to the Peach Bowl despite needing a last-minute drive to escape Colorado with a victory last week.

Auburn has started the year 2-0 but travels to Penn State for a tough showdown this Saturday.  Notre Dame and Auburn have never met on the football field.

Notre Dame is 1-2 in their three all-time Gator Bowl appearances.

Related:

Notre Dame’s all-time bowl history

Student paper publishes letter scolding Notre Dame higher ups over football attendance

Is this an elitist way of doing business in your eyes?

It didn’t take much of an effort to see the empty seats at Notre Dame Stadium for the Irish home opener this past Saturday.  The first game at the stadium since pandemic restrictions for attendance have been lifted however resulted in roughly 15,000 empty seats.

It was the lowest attendance for a game at Notre Dame Stadium (pandemic year of 2020 not included) since it was renovated and added roughly 20,000 seats prior to 1997.

In Monday’s Letter to the Editor in the student newspaper The Observer, author Stephen O’Neil took a torch to Notre Dame administration regarding attendance and the decision to air the game on Peacock:

Something is wrong here. A professed Catholic university that has been built on the loyalty of its local supporters, its alumni (subway and traditional) and millions of others around the country, has forgotten them.

The University has become elitist. By limiting access to only those who can pay exorbitant ticket prices or subscribe to premium access television it is excluding a vast number of potential and past supporters.

In politics, that is called alienating your base. In this case, it betrays a tone-deafness that you have increasingly shown towards those who have carried the University through thick and thin. – Stephen O’Neil

Although I wouldn’t pay 90 bucks to see Notre Dame and Toledo my bigger concern is with Peacock, which I discussed to a degree last week.  The idea goes 180-degrees from a key element in what helped build the Notre Dame brand into what it is today.

Brian Kelly didn’t have a whole lot to say about the low attendance on Monday but I’d be curious to see if that changes next week if a good amount of Purdue fans decide to pay for the majority of remaining tickets.

Related:

Notre Dame slightly tweaks depth chart ahead of Purdue game

How Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fared in week two

Notre Dame-Wisconsin game time officially set

Do you like the early start or favor later in the day?

It was one of the worst kept secrets in college football early this 2021 season but kickoff time between Notre Dame and Wisconsin next weekend in Chicago has officially been set as the game will kickoff at 12 p.m. ET and as part of Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff.”

Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan will be taking on his former team in the Wisconsin Badgers, who will enter the contest 1-1 after dropping their opener to Penn State before rebounding with an easy win over Eastern Michigan.  The Badgers are off this coming weekend.  We’ve long called the Wisconsin game the toughest on Notre Dame’s schedule for 2021.

Notre Dame will try to make it 3-0 on the young season as they renew their instate rivalry with Purdue this Saturday.  It’s the first meeting between programs since 2014.

Related:

How Notre Dame opponents fared in week two of regular season

 

Breaking: USC fires head coach Clay Helton

Who can the Trojans realistically replace him with?

Many have called for his job for a very long time but Saturday night’s home blowout loss to Stanford was the straw that broke the camel’s back at USC has fired head football coach Clay Helton.

The University of Southern California released a statement on Monday afternoon, two days after the then-14th ranked Trojans were run out of their own building by Stanford, 42-28, in a game they trailed 42-13 with just over nine minutes to play.

Helton’s reign at USC last 70 games, the first being as the interim head coach in the 2013 Trojans win over Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Helton then took over the USC post in the middle of 2015, leading the Trojans to 5-4 mark after replacing Steve Sarkisian.  USC would go 10-3 and win the Rose Bowl in 2016 and 11-3 with a Cotton Bowl appearance in 2017 before things hit the skids for Helton as they’ve gone just 19-14 since.

Helton finishes his USC career with a 46-24 career mark, including going 1-4 against Notre Dame.

The Irish play host to USC on the evening of October 23 this year.

Related:

How Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fared in week two

Christmas comes early for Notre Dame fans from USC (From December 2019)

Purdue loses running back for 4-8 weeks after leg injury

A notable injury for Notre Dame’s next opponent.

Fifth-year senior Zander Horvath was the workhorse for the Purdue offense in their season-opening victory over Oregon State as he carried the ball 21 times for 81 yards and a touchdown.

Horvath exited Purdue’s game at UCONN on their second possession this weekend and will be out for up to as much as two months according to Boilermakers head coach Jeff Brohm.

Brohm said Monday that Horvath broke his fibula in the 49-0 thrashing of UCONN, a game Purdue was still able to run for 187 yards in.  King Doerue and Dylan Downing put up 146 of those yards and one rushing score.

Purdue makes their first trip to Notre Dame Stadium since 2012 this Saturday afternoon.

Related:

Notre Dame tweaks depth chart ahead of Purdue matchup