By Rock Westfall
Sam Pittman and Sonny Dykes are on the clock, Nebraska’s four-week bowl bid is shattered, and Toledo is the new cradle of coaches.
Do Arkansas and Yurachek Want to Renege, and Should They?
Last Sunday Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek announced that Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman would return for the 2024 season. It was an effort to shut down speculation that Pittman would be fired. But after Friday’s sickening 48-14 Senior Day loss to the Missouri Tigers, Yurachek and his key contributors may be having second thoughts. Additionally, Arkansas (4-8, 1-7) fans are now screaming for a new coach.
In an utterly humiliating CBS national TV late afternoon tank job, the Hogs fell behind 41-0 by the end of the third quarter. Arkansas was outgained 370-225 with five turnovers and seven penalties.
Since the forced departure of Bobby Petrino in 2012, Arkansas has tried three permanent head coaches with no sustained success. Pittman’s record of 23-25 is not much better than Bret Bielema’s 29-34. Chad Morris was far and away the worst of the group at 4-18. None of those three coaches sniffed a division title.
Bielema did produce three bowl seasons compared to two by Pittman, with a top season of 8-5 in 2015. Pittman went 9-4 in his second season to spark hopes of a turnaround but slipped to 7-6 in 2022 and 4-8 this season.
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Of major concern is that the problem for Arkansas is as much institutional and geographical as it is coaching.
Since its move to the SEC in 1992, Arkansas has only one season with a Top-10 national finish (5th in 2011). Arkansas suffers from a comparatively small population and a lack of fertile recruiting territory. It is something of an SEC outpost that gets lost in the branding of bigger powers. And with Texas and Oklahoma entering the SEC in 2024, those gravity issues will be accentuated.
Arkansas does boast a wealthy, enthusiastic, and committed donor base. Still, its gravity has been a historic challenge that only Petrino threatened to penetrate before his ill-fated motorcycle wreck with a young blonde on board cost him his job. Thus, it is safe to assume that the next Razorback head coach will struggle to sustain success and could do as badly as Morris.
Yet Arkansas fans are correct in believing they can do better than the mess of 2023. If Pittman makes it to 2024, he will be in one of the hottest seats in college football with zero margin for error. It is hard to envision a successful campaign in that scenario. For most observers, Pittman is considered a lost cause. The question in the days ahead is if Yurachek and his donors agree.
Here’s video of @TreyBiddy’s question on how to generate momentum into next season following a loss like this.
Sam Pittman swatted that one away. pic.twitter.com/Kp2Eq3Sz97
— Jacob Davis (@JacobScottDavis) November 25, 2023
Sonny Days and Honeymoon Ends for TCU and Dykes
Last year Sonny Dykes took TCU to the national championship game, going for the ride of his life with players that his predecessor Gary Patterson left behind. Patterson is the savior of the modern TCU program, getting it promoted from Conference USA and the Mountain West into the Big 12 during a terrific run that admittedly ran out of steam.
After producing the greatest season in modern TCU history with Patterson’s recruits, Dykes crashed and burned this year with a roster that lacked the key weapons of 2022.
TCU (5-7, 3-6) will not even go to a minor bowl next month. The Horned Frogs defense ranks 102nd in the country and the offense slipped to 42nd nationally for scoring. When TCU lost its opener to a terrible but uber-hyped Colorado team, it was an omen of a stunning fall from grace.
Dykes should be able to recover in the fruited recruiting map of Texas and without Oklahoma and Texas in the league. But Friday’s 69-45 blowout loss at Oklahoma was a bitter pill to swallow for fans. TCU allowed 607 total yards to the Sooners and committed seven penalties. The Frogs were completely outclassed, most alarmingly.
Dykes had better use the extra time without bowl preparation to restock the cupboard. Meanwhile, is Gary Patterson having a good chuckle this morning?
BILLY BOWMAN PICK SIX, The Oklahoma Sooners are up to 69 points (NICE) with over six minutes remaining left to play.
Oklahoma 69-38 TCU pic.twitter.com/hNoY2eZSk5
— CFBLIVE247™ (@CFBLive247_) November 24, 2023
Four and Out
First-year head coach Matt Rhule and his Nebraska Cornhuskers were looking like a Big Ten West Division contender with a 5-3 start and a manageable schedule ahead. Nebraska needed just one win to attain bowl eligibility. Incredibly, the Cornhuskers failed to deliver, losing their final four games heartbreakingly.
Inconsistent quarterback play wasted the efforts of a defense ranked 14th best in the land. Ultimately, the Big Red was ruined by ranking 132nd out of 133 FBS teams for turnover margin. Friday’s 13-10 Senior Day loss to Iowa was especially painful for Nebraska.
Nebraska had the ball at midfield after their defense intercepted Iowa QB Deacon Hill with 31 seconds remaining. But the Huskers’ bid to set up a game-winning field goal was ruined by an Ethan Hurkett interception of Nebraska QB Chubba Purdy, which he returned to the Nebraska 37-yard line with 15 seconds left, eventually setting up Iowa backup kicker Marshall Meeder for the game-winning 38-yard field goal.
Adding to the Nebraska gut punch was that 12 of those 15 seconds never should have existed. But the extra time was available due to a previous clock freeze that the Big Ten officials never caught, despite the issue being fully exposed on the CBS telecast.
A crushed Rhule said he would not wish such a loss on anyone. Nebraska lost each of their final four games in 2023 by one score. Ultimately, it was the turnover flood that sank the Big Red’s season.
To casual observers, Nebraska is no better than it was under previous coaches Mike Riley and Scott Frost. But a deeper dive shows that Rhule has instilled a tougher and more prideful culture that will pay dividends, perhaps as soon as next season.
But for now, it is a seventh consecutive season without a bowl for one of the game’s most successful and historic programs. Nebraska has the best fans in the game, but one wonders how much more inhumane football cruelty they can take.
this nebraska vs iowa game is sooo bad😭😭😭😭
pic.twitter.com/xB2D3iF0Uh— Riley (@rileyduewel) November 24, 2023
The New Cradle of Coaches
Once upon a time, Miami (OH) was called the cradle of coaches. The proud Mid-American Conference program boasted such legends as Bo Schembechler, Bill Mallory, Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, and Ara Parseghian among its coaching tree.
But there is currently another MAC school laying challenge to Miami’s historic boast. The Toledo Rockets have emerged as a program that produces impactful coaches such as Nick Saban, Gary Pinkel, Matt Campbell, and currently Jason Candle. Candle replaced Campbell, who in 2016 went on to success at the coaching graveyard of Iowa State.
This year, Candle led the Rockets (11-1, 8-0) to the West Division title. Toledo successfully concluded its regular season with a 32-17 win at Central Michigan. The Rockets will face Miami (OH) in next week’s MAC championship game.
Candle has a career record of 65-33 with two 11-win seasons, three division titles, and two MAC championships at Toledo. He has never suffered a losing season with the Rockets and was 2017 MAC Coach of the Year.
Candle is a native of Salem, Ohio, and has deep ties to the state. He would figure to be an attractive candidate for a Big Ten job, if not elsewhere. While the coaching carousel is always about name brands, Candle has a resume that is among the most substantive of any available candidate. As Saban, Pinkel, and Campbell have demonstrated, successful Toledo coaches can accomplish much when given a chance on the big-time stage.
Running up that electric bill! 1️⃣1️⃣ straight for this amazing group of selfless young men. 🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/TbtpD4REz0
— Jason Candle (@CoachCandle) November 25, 2023
