Tag: Graham Harrell

Nebraska’s stifling defensive performance leads to changes at Purdue

The Nebraska Cornhuskers strong defensive performance on Saturday led to a coaching change at Purdue.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers’ holding the Purdue Boilermakers to just 224 total yards and ten points proved to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for Purdue offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. 

On Sunday, it was announced that Purdue head coach Ryan Walters decided to relieve Harrell of his duties. 

Walters’s decision comes after the Boilermakers averaged just 21.8 points and 322 yards of total offense over the first four games of the 2024 season. It was not the start that the now-former offensive coordinator could afford after Purdue struggled mightily offensively in 2023, averaging just 23.9 points and 380.3 yards per game. 

The stop in West Lafeyette was Harrell’s fourth offensive coordinator job after spending time at North Texas, USC, and West Virginia.

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Wisconsin upcoming opponent fires offensive coordinator after 1-3 start

Some big news before next weekend

Purdue has fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell after a 1-3 start to the 2024 season, the latest loss a 28-10 defeat at the hands of Nebraska.

Head coach Ryan Walters makes this significant move ahead of the Boilermakers’ upcoming matchup against the struggling Wisconsin Badgers.

Harrell joined the program with Walters in 2023. He previously held offensive coordinator positions at North Texas (2016-2018), USC (2019-2021) and West Virginia (2022).

Purdue averaged just 21.8 points per game during the first four games of the young season. It began with a 49-0 win over Indiana State, then followed with point totals of 7, 21 and 10 respectively in its next three losses. The team is 1-3 through four weeks and ranked No. 89 overall in ESPN SP+. Its offense is down at No. 84 in the nation.

Walters has his own issues to fix on the defensive side of the football — Purdue has allowed point totals of 66, 38 and 28 over the last three weeks as well. This change will likely be one of many to come as the Boilermakers continue to struggle in the post-Jeff Brohm era.

Wisconsin will host Purdue at noon ET, 11 a.m. CT on Saturday. It is a must-win for the Badgers if they have any chance at bowl eligibility. Purdue’s coaching change should shake things up entering the contest. For the Boilermakers, the on-field product can’t get much worse.

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What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame at Stanford

Who are you picking?

Notre Dame has one game left, and it’s against Stanford. There’s no telling exactly how much a win will improve the type of bowl the Irish get, but they doesn’t mean they want to win this game any less. At the very least, it will be the last game for any players who wish to opt out of the bowl game for whatever reason. So this could be the last of the 2023 Irish as we know them.

Here are some predictions for this game that have been posted by college football experts:

Purdue’s most glaring question heading into 2023

How good is the marriage of OC Graham Harrell and QB Hudson Card?

It will be a completely different look for the Purdue Boilermakers when they take the field on Sept. 2 against the Fresno State Bulldogs to open the 2023 campaign.

Jeff Brohm served as the head coach over the last six seasons in West Lafayette, Indiana. He returned to his alma mater to run the Louisville Cardinals program after Scott Satterfield left for the Cincinnati Bearcats opening.

The Boilermakers turned to a rising name in the coaching community to run the program. Ryan Walters was the architect behind the Illinois Fighting Illini defense that ranked among the nation’s best. Now he gets the opportunity to run his own program after 13 years as an assistant. Walters played safety for the Colorado Buffaloes from 2004 to 2008.

In Paul Myerberg’s series on power rankings and one big question for each conference team, he identified one major inquiry for Purdue. The Boilermakers were ranked No. 11 in the Big Ten.

‘How good is the marriage of OC Graham Harrell and QB Hudson Card?’

New Purdue coordinator Graham Harrell takes over an offense that loses three huge pieces in quarterback Aidan O’Connell, wide receiver Charlie Jones and tight end Payne Durham. In comes Texas transfer Hudson Card, who started multiple games the past two seasons with 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Early feedback this spring has been positively glowing: Card has been singled out by teammates for his production, command and leadership qualities during the transition to a new staff. – Myerberg

Card was dependable at Texas but it felt like he never really got a fair shake as the starting quarterback. Casey Thompson was originally the backup before taking over for the Longhorns in 2021. Last season, Texas had former Ohio State signee Quinn Ewers under center. Given that Arch Manning was coming to town, it was time for Card to find a new opportunity.

He will now be paired up with another former Big 12 quarterback, Graham Harrell. The Red Raiders’ all-time leading passer has been making the rounds as an assistant with Oklahoma State, Washington State, North Texas, USC, and West Virginia. Perhaps this will be Harrell’s opportunity to shine with a more defensive minded head coach.

We will soon find out if this marriage is a match made in heaven.

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ChatGPT ranks the top 10 Big 12 quarterbacks of all time

Open Source AI ChatGPT ranked the top 10 Big 12 quarterbacks of all-time. Four of them were Oklahoma Sooners.

Over the life of the Big 12 conference, it’s become synonymous with high-scoring offenses and high-level quarterback play.

There have been Heisman trophy winners and first-overall picks, and the conference that’s been at the forefront of the aerial assault that’ taking college football by storm.

We’ve all spent time ranking quarterbacks, but for this version, we thought it’d be fun to let the computers do it. Using Open AI’s ChatGPT, we simply asked, “Who are the best Big 12 quarterbacks of all time?”

Its response?

These quarterbacks have all made significant contributions to their respective teams and have impressive statistics and accomplishments. However, it’s important to note that there have been many other great quarterbacks in the Big 12 who could also be considered for this list. – ChatGPT

Their top 10 is pretty solid. There are certainly arguments to be made for several others that made significant impacts or even won a Heisman trophy, but not bad from a computer-generated AI.

Here’s a look at the rankings.

Updated FBS all-time passing TD leaders after 2022 campaign

Sam Hartman and Clayton Tune climbed the all-time list after the 2022 campaign.

Scoring touchdowns is the name of the game and some quarterbacks did it better than others.

The single-season record currently sits at 62, held by former Houston Baptist and Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe. He set the record with the Hilltoppers in 2021, less than two seasons after LSU Tigers’ quarterback Joe Burrow broke Colt Brennan’s record of 58. Burrow threw 60 touchdown passes en route to winning Heisman Trophy.

It goes beyond one season for the career passing touchdown records. Which quarterbacks showed up consistently each season to rack up the points and give their team the opportunity to win? Plenty of names on the top 25 list are similar to our rundown of the career passing yards list. However, the order might look a bit different for some players.

Former Wake Forest quarterback and current Notre Dame signal-caller Sam Hartman climbed the list after the 2022 season. He was joined by former Houston Cougars gunslinger Clayton Tune, who also climbed the ranks.

We break down the top 25 passing touchdown leaders in FBS history. Ties are listed in alphabetical order.

Updated FBS all-time passing leaders after 2022 campaign

Sam Hartman and Holton Ahlers climbed the all-time list after the 2022 campaign.

Following the 2022 college football season, our look back at the record books showed two new passers joined the top 25 in FBS history.

Eastern Carolina’s Holton Ahler threw for 3,708 yards to jump all the way to No. 11. He missed out on the top 10 by 146 yards. Likewise, Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman joined the top 20. He checked in at No. 19 with 12,967 yards knocking Ryan Lindley out of the top 25.

Hartman completed his fifth year at the collegiate level and will return for a sixth, but will suit for Notre Dame in 2023. In five seasons, Hartman has averaged 2,593 yards per season. That output in the upcoming season would move him up to No. 5 overall.

Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel is another quarterback to observe this upcoming season. Gabriel checks in at No. 69 with 11,205 yards. If he can reproduce his 2022 outcome, the southpaw could climb into the top 25 and land at No. 9.

The top 25 career passing yardage leaders are courtesy of Sports-Reference.

Former USC tight end coach Seth Doege heads to Purdue, reunites with Graham Harrell

Doege and Harrell, two members of the Mike Leach coaching tree, find a common home. Lincoln Riley, of course, is part of the Leach tree and its Texas Tech roots.

The USC Trojans’ coaching tree continues to move to different parts of the country.

Former offensive coordinator Graham Harrell spent one year at West Virginia before being named the OC at Purdue once Ryan Walters was hired as the new head coach.

Now, another former USC assistant is joining the Boilermaker staff: former tight end coach Seth Doege, who will be the tight end coach for Purdue (h/t Matt Zenitz of On3).

Doege was the tight end coach at USC in 2021 and then went to Ole Miss as an analyst for the Rebels on Lane Kiffin’s staff. Kiffin is, of course, another former USC coach.

Doege was also USC’s offensive quality control coach for two years, so he and Harrell know each other from their time working with Clay Helton in Southern California.

Also, both Harrell and Doege are former Tech quarterbacks, so they have even more familiarity with one another.

Purdue watched Jeff Brohm leave for Louisville in a bit of a surprising move, and they pivoted and brought in Walters, who was an often-mentioned favorite for the Colorado Buffaloes job after the year he had with Illinois as the defensive coordinator.

Purdue is searching for an offensive transformation, and bringing in Doege and Harrell is a good way to get things started.

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A look at notable names on the Mike Leach coaching tree

How many can you name?

Just a week ago the football world lost a great influencer of the game. Mike Leach was gone far too soon but the impact he had will never be forgotten. Many Oklahoma fans remember him for that 1999 season, and who could forget the playsheet trick in the Red River Rivalry game?

From high school to the NFL, you can see parts of the Air Raid System being installed. If you loved passing offense, Mike Leach was the man for you. Even his running game had elements of the passing offense. His teams put up points and yards in flourishes.

At Texas Tech from 2002-2009, Leach’s offense ranked among the top 15 in points per game every single season. With Graham Harrell as the quarterback, it reached its peak at 43.8 that season, which was No. 3 in FBS. Twice at Washington State, it was among the top 15 scoring offenses.

Beyond the scoring, he perfected the Air Raid and others have taken concepts and added them to their offenses. Leach left his mark on the game and now his disciples will carry it forward.

I put together a list of the most notable assistants to become head coaches and high-level assistants. From the 2000 Texas Tech team alone, there were a total of nine players and assistants who would move on to become head coach.

Plot twist: Graham Harrell could coach against USC in 2024 Big Ten football season

Former #USC OC Graham Harrell is waiting to see what the 2024 #B1G football schedule will look like. If USC plays Purdue, the Trojans will likely face Harrell.

The Big Ten Conference is one year away for the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins. In 2024, the new era begins for the Los Angeles schools and for the Big Ten as well.

When the Trojans make the jump, there will probably be a very familiar face coaching on the sidelines for one Big Ten program — if he doesn’t get fired before then. That coach is Graham Harrell, the former USC offensive coordinator who went to West Virginia in the same role.

After just one year with the Mountaineers, Harrell is joining the Purdue Boilermaker staff with new head coach Ryan Walters, who was the defensive coordinator at Illinois. It is quite a turn of events in the coaching carousel, and it puts USC in Purdue’s path, though a 2024 Big Ten football schedule has yet to be revealed. That’s the next big point of uncertainty which still has to be resolved.

West Virginia finished just 5-7 this season, although the Mountaineers averaged 30.6 points per game (90th in the country). Former USC QB JT Daniels got most of the work for the Mountaineers.

Purdue’s offense averaged 28.1 PPG (130th in the nation), and we can only imagine what it will look like with Harrell’s air-raid-style offense.

Walters was a strong candidate for the Colorado Buffaloes job — his alma mater — before the school hired Deion Sanders. Nonetheless, he got a Big Ten job and takes over the team that won the Big Ten West this season.

In 2024, Graham Harrell will face the USC Trojans — in the Big Ten. Who ever saw that coming?

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