Mike Farrell's Week 5 Notebook

Some thoughts from the past weekend.

— For the second time I’m doubting whether or not Brian Kelly is the right fit for LSU. Why? The knocks against him at Notre Dame were a lack of an elite QB and academic recruiting restrictions. Neither of those are the case at LSU and here we are in year two and there are still inexplicable performances on the field. Last year it was a head-scratching loss to Texas A&M and two awful defensive performances against Tennessee and Georgia. This year there’s already been a meltdown in the second half against FSU and now this defensive debacle against Ole Miss. This team seems to adjust poorly, the scheme on defense is odd at times and I have no idea how they are so bad against the run. A few more losses like this and BK could quickly turn into Jimbo Fisher as an overpaid coach with disappointing results.

— Speaking of Jimbo, he’s not even close to being safe through 2023 in my opinion despite what some may suggest. He’s beaten nobody so far and despite the excuse of having lost his starting QB, big losses are coming and won’t have boosters happy. Blowouts against Alabama, Tennessee, and Ole Miss are on the way and a loss to LSU to end the season could finish the season at 7-5. While his nearly $80 million buyout is tough to pay, talk to me after this season and see if there isn’t a fund put together to get him out.

— Florida fans and boosters don’t even know who they are and it’s such a lack of self-awareness to me it’s staggering. All I heard about was how patient everyone is going to be with Billy Napier after pushing Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen out the door so quickly and yet here we are. I’m seeing articles being written about how much his buyout is and droves of Gators fans leading the charge to get rid of him. This is just a couple of weeks after they were all thrilled with a dominant win over the Vols. It’s not gonna stop and Napier won’t survive it through 2024 which is what he needs. And the next coach taking the job better pay attention because the same thing will happen to him.

— Lincoln Riley won’t win a national title with Alex Grinch as his DC, that’s clear. And with Caleb Williams as his QB, it would be a shame to at the very least not be able to compete in the playoff. This has become as obvious as Brian Ferentz at Iowa but there’s no nepotism going on so it’s more puzzling. Grinch held Oklahoma back when Riley was there and he’s doing the same with USC. Yes, they are undefeated and all but if anyone thinks this defense can win the PAC 12 or make a national title push they are clearly mistaken. A change needs to be made at the very least to save face publicly because right now he’s looking completely clueless to the situation.

— More and more transfer QBs are going to fail as we are seeing with guys like Brennan Armstrong and Phil Jurkovec among many others. Why? It’s just too difficult in this day and age to plug yourself into a situation with new players, different schemes and the like unless the talent level is exceptional or the QB himself is remarkable. The days of sitting and learning a system are close to over as coordinators and position coaches move around each year and now with QBs doing the same it makes for a bad situation. Many felt the portal would help even the playing field overall but it honestly hasn’t at least at QB. Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix have resurrected their careers through the portal in a sense but the top teams like Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, and Penn State and Florida State have all developed their guys. I know Quinn Ewers and Jordan Travis are technically transfers but they have grown up in their current systems. The plug-and-play of Caleb Williams is rare and will continue to be rare.

— I had Florida State as my No. 1 and they shouldn’t drop because of an off week but they did because of how balanced Michigan looks. Here’s my top 10…

1. Michigan

2. Florida State

3. Texas

4. Georgia

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5. Ohio State

6. Penn State

7. Washington

8. Oregon

9. USC

10. Oklahoma