The LSU-Brian Kelly marriage never seemed like a good fit. And some Tigers fans were asking for a divorce Saturday night. Elsewhere in the SEC, a few desperate teams had ranked foes wriggle off the hook, while Purdue and North Carolina found new ways to lose games.
Here’s the worst from Week 9 of college football in our Flop 10:
Brian Kelly
Only one place to start.
In college football, no coach is safe. Not even one with a $54 million buyout. If Penn State was willing to fire James Franklin, who was one win away from the national championship game, don’t think for a second LSU won’t fire Brian Kelly for achieving less. LSU entered this season with one of the nation’s most-expensive rosters and national title expectations. When November hits, the Tigers will be under .500 in the SEC and unranked. That’s why LSU fans were booing and chanting ‘Fire Kelly’ during Saturday’s 49-25 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M. Aggies fans dancing in Death Valley only added salt in the wound — especially if you’ve seen Aggies fans dance. Kelly left Notre Dame to compete for national titles. His replacement, Marcus Freeman, will have the Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff back-to-back years. Go figure.
Mississippi State
Steve Sarkisian was ticketed for this spot. Was tough to follow those leaked NFL rumors with laying an egg in Starkville… Then, Mississippi State, WYD?
The Bulldogs led by 17 in the fourth quarter, but Jeff Lebby’s puzzling play calling and a 79-yard punt return by Ryan Niblett tied it for Texas with 1:47 left. In the final minute, MSU had a first down in Longhorns territory but couldn’t get in field goal range after a sack on 3rd down. It got worse in overtime. Texas scored with its backup QB, while the Bulldogs’ final plays looked like this:
- incompletion
- incompletion
- false start penalty
- false start penalty
- fumble, sack, loss of 31 yards
‘That might be the worst overtime possession ever,’ USA TODAY’s Erick Smith said.
Game over. Texas survives 45-38.
South Carolina
Let’s stick with SEC teams blowing a chance at home to knock off a ranked team. South Carolina had No. 4 Alabama on the ropes. The Gamecocks led by eight with under 3 minutes left… and lost by seven.
‘I’m thinking we need to finish in the fourth quarter,’ USC coach Shane Beamer said postgame. ‘When you got an eight-point lead at home and you got a team on the ropes you gotta put ’em away, and we didn’t. We had an eight-point lead and we allowed them to go, whatever it was, 80 yards down the field and convert some third downs, and we did not play well on offense, defense or special teams in the fourth quarter.’
Other than that…
UCLA
This year’s feel-good story met last year’s feel-good story Saturday, and it was no contest. UCLA was a trendy upset pick (despite the 24.5-point spread) as some people resist the notion Indiana just might be really good. (I’m an alum and still can’t believe it.) IU went up 28-0, led 35-3 at halftime and ended up winning 56-6. It was the Hoosiers’ third-largest Big Ten win in their history. UCLA had won three straight and its offense was humming under Jerry Neuheisel’s direction. Not on this day as the Bruins failed to score a touchdown for the first time this season.
Fox noon games
The Big Ten may have some of the nation’s best teams (Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon), but its way too top-heavy. The SEC and even the Big 12 are probably deeper, more competitive. That provides more intriguing matchups. Fox went with UCLA at Indiana for its noon game Saturday and even sent their Big Noon Kickoff show to Bloomington. It was 35-3 at halftime. There’s a reason ABC/ESPN’s ratings are dominating Fox and CBS’ numbers. It’s all about inventory, and the Big Ten just doesn’t provide enough compelling TV week in, week out. Next week? Tail-spinning Penn State at Ohio State. Mercy.
Deion Sanders and Colorado
(via USA TODAY’s Brent Schrotenboer)
With less than two minutes remaining in Saturday’s game at Utah, Deion Sanders put both hands on his knees and bent over on the sideline.
If it looked like he was getting ready to vomit, pardon him for how he felt. He had never experienced anything quite like this — a 53-7 loss against the Utes on a night when almost everything seemed to go freakishly wrong for Colorado.
“This is bad,” Sanders said afterward. “It’s probably the worst beating I’ve ever had since my mama whooped me as a kid.”
He’s right, at least in terms of his college coaching career. It was the worst loss under Sanders in three seasons at Colorado — a span of 33 games. It also was the worst loss in Sanders’ college coaching career overall, including his tenure at Jackson State.
How bad was it? Here’s a stat for you:
- Total yards in the first half: Utah 398, Colorado minus-18.
Purdue
Reddit thread r/purduefootball: ‘You can’t be serious… Unbelievable. How bad can it get?’
Apparently pretty bad. The Boilermakers — now losers of six straight — found a new way to lose Saturday. Up by three points with a minute to play, Purdue held Rutgers to a tying 20-yard field goal on 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line.
On the first play of the next drive, Boilermakers QB Ryan Browne had his pass batted in the air, he caught it, went to make a move and fumbled. After two running plays, Rutgers hit a game-winning 30-yard field goal as time expired, pushing Purdue’s losing streak to Power conference teams to 17, worst in the nation for a Power Four program.
“That’s a hard way to lose one,” Purdue coach Barry Odom said afterward.
North Carolina
Speaking of finding inventive ways to lose… UNC is getting so close they’re making Hugh Freeze proud. Last week, the Tar Heels lost after a receiver fumbled the ball just short of the goal line in a 21-18 loss at Cal. On Saturday, Bill Belichick went for two and the win in overtime over No. 16 Virginia. Credit for the guts to go for it, but UNC came up inches short and remain winless in the ACC. In true Belichick fashion, he offered insightful analysis on his decision after the game: “Trying to win the game,” Belichick said. “I don’t know what else you want me to tell you.”
South Florida’s CFP hopes
The highest-ranked Group of Five contender for the College Football Playoff, No. 20 South Florida led Memphis by 14 going into the fourth quarter… Then Memphis scored the game’s final 17 points, including a 10-yard catch and 2-point conversion to give the Tigers a three-point lead with a minute left. USF drove to the Memphis 24-yard line with 11 seconds left and well within Nico Gramatica’s range to send it to OT. (Gramatica beat Florida in The Swamp earlier this season). But instead of clocking the ball with 3 seconds left and kick, coach Alex Golesh got greedy, clocked it immediately and decided to run another play. You know how this story ends: Byrum Brown’s deep shot was incomplete, and accompanied with a back-breaking holding penalty, pushing the FG to a 52-yard try, which Gramatica pushed wide. Now Memphis has life as a potential CFP entrant. It’s the margins.
Minnesota
The Gophers were rowing the boat… upstream, and to no avail, eventually going over the waterfall Saturday vs. Iowa. The Hawkeyes got an interception return for a score and returned a punt for a touchdown in this 41-3 rout.
‘I want to make sure that I give credit where credit’s due,’ Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said postgame. ‘So starting with that, so nothing ever sounds like an excuse. There’s reasons, there’s no excuses. I mean, they absolutely dominated the football game from start to finish… Three hours of bad football, and that 100% falls on me, because that is unacceptable.’
IndyStar Purdue reporter Nathan Baird contributed to this story.
This story was updated to change a video.