The Hangover, Week 12

Welcome to the fourth edition of The Hangover, where I recap the previous weekend in college football. This week, The Hangover comes from Athens, Georgia, home of a great bar scene and a pretty good football team, too. Saturday, I watched as Kirby Smart’s squad rebounded after last week’s drumming to Auburn and did the exact same to Kentucky. The Bulldogs looked pretty good, which scares me because… how good does that make Auburn? It was a decent college football Saturday, so let’s dive right into what went down across the country.

 

Next weekend is the final regular season Saturday of college football. Excuse me while I wipe away the tears and blow my nose, because it hurts to think that the insanity is nearing its conclusion. After 12 weeks of upsets, insane finishes, polls, and banter, we’ve reached the last weekend of regular season action.

Sure, we have conference championship week coming up, but it’s not the same. There won’t be seven games that you want to watch all happening at the same time. Every team in every conference won’t play on the same day again after this Saturday. It’s kind of depressing to think about, but also very exciting. Why? Because there will be lots of questions that finally get answered. Let’s dive into some of those:

Who wins the Iron Bowl?

It’s the fiercest rivalry in college sports, and it means something again this year.

The winner of the annual duel between Alabama and Auburn will move on to an SEC Championship bout against Georgia. Both teams can win out and make the playoff; only Alabama can (possibly) afford a loss.

Auburn can’t lose, although the argument can be made that, right now, the Tigers are playing the best football in America. Can Gus Malzahn and Jarrett Stidham take advantage of a depleted Alabama defense? Christian Miller is coming back, so the linebacking corps will be a little bit more solid, but can the vaunted Alabama defense keep its eyes up and shut down Auburn? We’ll find out Tuesday.

Can Jim Harbaugh win a big game?

I would argue that Jim Harbaugh should be slightly on the hot seat. Not necessarily fearing for his job, but Coach Khaki has questions to answer. Since he arrived in Ann Arbor, Harbaugh’s Michigan teams haven’t gotten a big win. He hasn’t beaten Ohio State yet, and he’s lost twice to Michigan State. I doubt Michigan will put pressure on him if he loses this weekend in the Horseshoe, but I do think it’s fair to ask if he’s underachieving. I say yes right now, but that can change if the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes this Saturday.

How competitive is the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry this year?

For the last few years, South Carolina hasn’t posed a real threat to Clemson. This year should be different. No coach in America has done a better job over two years than Will Muschamp has at South Carolina. Muschamp has consistently gotten his teams in Columbia to overachieve, and I believe that they’ll prove to be a good match against Dabo Swinney’s Tigers on Saturday. If Jake Bentley can protect the football, South Carolina has a shot to win.

How many coaches will be fired or hired by this time next week?

Already today, Jim Mora was let go by UCLA. How many more teams will follow after the final regular season weekend? I believe Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Arkansas will all be open by next Sunday. Mississippi State might be as well, if either Tennessee or Florida moves in on Dan Mullen. SMU could be open if Texas A&M goes after Chad Morris. Chip Kelly may also have a job in less than a week, either at Florida or UCLA, but we’ll get to that later. Basically, there are about to be a lot of moving pieces on the coaching carousel. The craziness is just getting started.

Gray’s Top 10

Here’s my updated Top 10 after this past week’s action. Remember, I rank these teams using both the eye test and resumes. Plus, I factor in how the committee ranks the Top 10. These rankings are as of right now, not how I think the season will end.

1. Alabama
2. Miami (FL)
3. Oklahoma
4. Clemson
5. Auburn
6. Wisconsin
7. Georgia
8. Ohio State
9. Notre Dame
10. USC

No real changes at the top, although I finally moved Wisconsin ahead of Georgia. Fine, Big Ten fans…the Badgers might actually be pretty good. The fact that they’re undefeated despite how poorly Alex Hornibrook has played this season is a testament to how much the Wisconsin defense is dominating. USC moves in after beating UCLA as well. Like I said, not much movement after this past weekend. Next weekend will be a different story, so stay tuned.

Coach of the Week

Let’s give the man his due as a coach. Sure, we love his tweets and his epic troll jobs, but Lane Kiffin has done a tremendous job at Florida Atlantic.

Saturday, Kiffin’s Owls beat Florida International 52-24 to lock up a spot in the Conference USA Championship Game. Kiffin has repeatedly shown how good of a play-caller he is, and it’s high time a Power Five program takes the leap and offers him a job.

Fun fact: Kiffin’s Owls are one win away from tying their win total the previous three years (9). Lane has done a splendid job and, if Bill Clark didn’t exist, I’d say he’d run away with Conference USA Coach of the Year. Seriously, Arkansas or Ole Miss or somebody, take the risk and hire Kiffin. Your program will be exciting and will start winning almost immediately if you do.

Idiot of the Week

#Pac12AfterDark gives us this week’s idiot. Kyle Whittingham‘s Utah Utes outplayed Washington late Saturday night, yet lost because of a bone-headed timeout. With 24-seconds left, tied at 30-30, Washington ran the football, clearly playing for overtime. Whittingham called timeout, stopping the clock and inspiring the Huskies to make a push for a game-winning field goal.

Washington did just that, throwing for 49 yards on two plays to set up a 38-yard attempt at the buzzer. The kick was good, and Washington eked out a victory. If Whittingham hadn’t called timeout, the game goes to overtime and Utah has a chance to win. Because of the idiotic call, however, Washington pushed the ball down the field and snagged a victory.

Random Rankings

We’ll head back to TV for this week’s Random Rankings. If you haven’t seen Stranger Things on Netflix, I highly recommend it. It’s an excellent show with plot twists and lots of intensity. The characters, though, are what make this show so fantastic. Therefore, it seems like it’s time to give the definitive ranking of Stranger Things characters. *Disclaimer*: once Random Rankings are posted, they aren’t changing. So if you like Nancy, sorry. I’m very stubborn.

Best Stranger Things Characters

1. Steve-The hair, the baseball bat, the badassness. Steve is a beast, and obviously the best character on the show. Season two elevates Steve to the status of “Best Babysitter Ever,” and I honestly wish we could be best friends.
2. Eleven-The real superhero of Stranger Things, Eleven is just a badass. Expertly played by Millie Bobby Brown, this character got everything started in season one. Then, even though she wasn’t given much to do in season two, she still comes and saves the day. People, get you somebody that looks at you the way Eleven looks at Eggo Waffles. Oh, and did I mentioned her powers? Yeah, she’s a badass.
3. Chief Hopper-The father figure of Stranger Things, Hop is a great character because he doesn’t patronize the kids when they tell him how their world has turned upside down (see what I did there?). Chief Hopper consistently risks his life for the kids, plus his friendship with Joyce is really pure. It’s sort of refreshing to see two adults have a friendship without it turning romantic. Hop is the man, and honestly there’s no character on TV that I’d trust to run into strange underground caves to save someone more than him. Plus, his genuine care for Eleven is pretty sweethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vveoTEfiptI
4. Mike-Eleven’s love interest, Mike is the character that leads the kids’ party. He makes the key decisions and always believes Will when he has his episodes. Played by the brilliant Finn Wolfhard, Mike is smart and committed to his friends. He just wants to make sure everybody makes it out alive. Plus, this reunion wins all reunion scenes.
5. Dustin-I’ll come clean. At first, I didn’t really love Dustin. To an extent, I still don’t. He’s funny, sure, but he consistently makes poor decisions and puts the group in danger. I mean, keeping Dart in season two and not telling anyone that he’s getting bigger is obviously stupid. Still, I can’t imagine the show without Dustin, and it’s clear that he cares about his friends. He may not be the smartest, but he’s always brave and always has good intentions. Plus, his final scene in season two is pretty great. Peak Dustin.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAXIK9NlKbc

Gray Goes Off

Let’s talk about Chip Kelly. While I was calling Alabama volleyball on Sunday, word spread that Florida and the most sought-after coach in America were close to a deal. Then, reports stated that Kelly hadn’t signed a deal yet.

Now, it appears that Kelly is waiting to hear from UCLA before he decides on Florida. This is a savvy move–Chip Kelly is known as someone who listens to all offers before making a decision. He doesn’t rush, and I don’t expect him to here. I do think it’s down to UCLA and Florida in the Chip Kelly Sweepstakes, as all other open or potentially open jobs don’t hold much appeal to him. Whether Kelly decides today or in a week doesn’t matter, as both teams have a few days before they can pursue other coaches around the country. My sources in Gainesville say that Kelly to Florida looks likely, though, and my gut says the same. Chip Kelly would be a great fit at Florida. He’d inject life into the program and would bring back the exciting offenses from the Steve Spurrier days. We’ll see what decision is actually made, but right now I think Kelly picks Florida over UCLA.

SEC Power Rankings

I’m an SEC guy through and through, so I have to include my SEC Power Rankings. Not much change at the top, but lots of shuffling at the bottom. Again, I’ll highlight the job Barry Odom has done at Missouri. When this went down,

everybody in college football was ridiculing Odom. Since this went viral, through, the Missouri Tigers have righted the ship. A 1-5 start has gone now to 6-5, and this offense is on fire. I doubt anybody wants Mizzou in a bowl game right now.

1. Alabama (1)
2. Auburn (2)
3. Georgia (3)
4. Mississippi State (4)
5. LSU (5)
6. Missouri (7)
7. South Carolina (6)
8. Texas A&M (8)
9. Kentucky (9)
10. Ole Miss (10)
11. Florida (13)
12. Tennessee (14)
13. Arkansas (11)
14. Vanderbilt (12)

 

So Who’s Ready for the Last Week of the Regular Season?

Is anything going on this weekend? We’ve got a helluva slate coming up, starting Thursday night. Here are the games we have to look forward to:

Ole Miss at #16 Mississippi State (Thursday)

#3 Miami at Pittsburgh (Friday)

#14 Washington State at #18 Washington (Friday)

#1 Alabama at #6 Auburn

Texas A&M at #20 LSU

#7 Georgia at Georgia Tech

#9 Ohio State at #24 Michigan

#2 Clemson at South Carolina

#8 Notre Dame at #22 Stanford

 

I’m headed to Auburn on Friday for the best rivalry in college sports. Have a great Thanksgiving, everybody! Enjoy the turkey, pumpkin pie, and football.