By Kyle Golik
During Week 11, two of the sport’s worst big game coaches predictably lost in their most consequential games of the season.
While very few had Ole Miss upsetting No. 2 Georgia on the road, many were hoping for the Rebels to have a better output and be competitive in this Top 10 matchup. Early on, the Rebels were in a 14-all game until the two-time defending national champion Bulldogs had a 31-point avalanche that destroyed any hope for Ole Miss to be competitive.
Following Ole Miss’s 52-17 loss to Georgia, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said, “I’m very realistic. (Ole Miss) was not a playoff-looking team at all that we out out there today ,the last thing I’m worried about is that knocking us out of the playoff. We don’t deserve to be in the playoff, or have a conversation about it.”
The loss dropped Kiffin to 2-15 all-time in his head coaching career against Top 10 teams, with his two wins coming against No. 4 Oregon in 2011 and last season against No. 7 Kentucky.
Hopes were high in Happy Valley following the news Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh would not be coaching against Penn State. The Nittany Lions had an opportunity with a win over the Wolverines to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive, as well as enter a potentially complicated Big Ten East Division tiebreaker if Michigan had defeated Ohio State at the end of the season.
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Much like their earlier matchup against Ohio State, quarterback Drew Allar failed to wake up for the matchup against the Wolverines. The lack of creativity and execution combined for Allar’s second dud of the season, where he completed 10 of 22 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. But it was a second-half fumble that was back breaking for the Nittany Lions.
Following the 24-15 loss to No. 3 Michigan, Penn State head coach James Franklin, whose record dropped to 3-17 against Top 10 teams at Penn State (3-22 overall including his Vanderbilt tenure), seemed to throw his offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich under the bus for the loss. “We’ve got to do a better job of calling a game to allow our quarterback to get into rhythm. That is critical. We’ve got to find easy completions for a quarterback to get into rhythm. That’s what everybody does. We’ve got to do a good job of that. And then on top of that, although there weren’t sacks, there were too many pressures and there were too many times where we were not creating separation.”
With both coaches’ abysmal records against elite competition, it’s only natural to compare and see who is the sport’s ultimate big game loser:
The Case For Kiffin
Record against Top 10: 2-15
Record against Top 5: 1-11
Record against No. 1: 0-5
Kiffin was always seen as an offensive wunderkind when he got the Southern California offensive coordinator job from Norm Chow. He ended up going to the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and firebombed in the NFL. Remember the now-infamous Sebastian Janikowski 76-yard field goal attempt?
He brought excitement in his one season at Tennessee, but when the Southern California job became open, Kiffin couldn’t resist. His high water mark in South Central LA was when the Trojans were preseason No. 1 in 2012 and then managed only a 7-6 record.
By the time he was fired on the tarmac, Kiffin was 1-6 against Top 10 opponents and had talent such as quarterback Matt Barkley, wide receiver Robert Woods, safety T.J. McDonald, and defensive end Leonard Williams.
After completing his coaching rehabilitation under Nick Saban at Alabama, Kiffin resurrected an FAU program into national relevance enough for Ole Miss to give him a chance.
Kiffin notched a bowl win against No. 11 Indiana in the 2021 Outback Bowl and rode that to a Sugar Bowl berth against Baylor. Again, in Kiffin’s defense, he lost quarterback Matt Corral to an injury that may have gotten Kiffin his biggest bowl win ever.
Throughout his time in The Grove, Kiffin has had flirtations with making it over the hump. Last season, Kentucky was a preseason darling and made it to No. 7 in the country. Ole Miss was able to edge the Wildcats 22-19. Kiffin would guide the Rebls to a 7-0 record before losing to a then-unranked LSU team in Baton Rouge 45-20.
The loss led to a downward spiral where Ole Miss went 1-5 the rest of the way that included Kiffin being distracted with the Auburn job.
When you look at Kiffin’s time in Oxford and even back at Southern Cal, it always seemed he was distracted by something else. He comes across as a poor knockoff of Nick Saban. He can talk like Saban but doesn’t get any of the results.
The Case For Franklin
Record against Top 10: 3-22
Record against Top 5: 1-13
Record against No. 1: 0-1
Franklin can’t buy a big-time win at Penn State to save his life.
It also doesn’t help him that both Michigan and Ohio State have been in the same division as both programs have ascended to being Top 5 programs in the nation. The two programs have made seven combined appearances in the College Football Playoff.
Franklin has always seemed to identify the right defensive coordinators, as Brent Pry was able to get a Power 5 job at Virginia Tech, and Manny Diaz seems destined to return to the Power 5 head coaching ranks with the job he has done in Happy Valley.
However, Franklin has failed once again with Sunday’s announcement that offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has been relieved of his duties. Outside of Joe Moorhead, Franklin has yet to find the right offensive coordinator to maximize the talent he has hauled into Happy Valley.
Consider: Franklin has had a bevy of offensive talent in Trace McSorley, Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders, Jahan Dotson, KJ Hamler, Chris Godwin, Mike Gesicki, Pat Friermuth before the current crop, and only once in 2017 under Moorhead has a Penn State team finished in the Top 10 in total offense.
When you consider the amount of NFL talent Franklin has developed and had at Penn State, the 3-17 record in Happy Valley against Top 10 teams is very underwhelming.
What is even more alarming is that in Penn State’s last ten regular season Top 10 matchups, the Nittany Lions are 0-10, averaging only 18.5 points per game on offense while surrendering 31.4 points per game on defense in each of those games. Penn State has been outgained offensively in nine of those games ten games by an average of 415 yards per game to 297. The only one Penn State outgained a Top 10 team in was last season’s Ohio State game.
The Biggest Loser Is: FRANKLIN
No one “wins” this challenge, and only one loser can be named.
Both Franklin and Kiffin have dealt with the sport’s pre-eminent powers in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Michigan and have done poorly with them.
The major difference is Kiffin, while the self-proclaimed “Portal King” has never consistently recruited at the same level as James Franklin.
The amount of talent Franklin has wasted in Happy Valley is absurd. What makes it absurd is Penn State hasn’t even been consistently competitive in these big games.
Kiffin is just as bad, but the bigger sin being committed is by “Big Game James.”
