SEC Football Q&A: What to Make of the Chip Kelly to Florida Rumor
Championship week is the most wonderful time of year.
Not only do we get to discuss the SEC Championship Game, which is one of the best sporting events you'll ever attend, we get to discuss coaching rumors for recently vacated head and assistant coaching jobs from around the SEC.
A high-profile job like Florida being open, combined with coordinator positions at Texas A&M and Auburn make this week highly intriguing.
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What veteran college and NFL coach could be flirting with Florida? Can Missouri rattle Blake Sims? Will one coordinator switch make Auburn a contender?
Those questions are answered in this week's Q&A.
It's really simple, we take it as Chip Kelly trying to get paid, plain and simple.
Mark Farzetta of CBS in Philadelphia reported on Monday that Kelly, in his second year as the Eagles coach, is expected to be contacted by Florida about the opening. The fact that this it's being reported that Florida is contacting Kelly from a Philadelphia reporter and not someone with closer ties to Florida makes me think this is Kelly playing games.
His Eagles are 9-3, in first place in the NFC East and on the verge of their second playoff appearance in as many years. He is making $6.5 million per year and, as ProFootballTalk.com points out, has control of personnel.
Why on Earth would he leave when he's just getting started proving himself and his system at football's highest level with full control and a lucrative deal?
His show-cause from the NCAA's case against Oregon expires on Dec. 26, so, conceivably, he could return to college this year.
I could quit to train for the motocross career that I gave up after realizing that I wasn't good and that motocross injuries hurt. Just because I can do it doesn't make it a good idea.
They can, especially if offensive tackle Cam Robinson isn't 100 percent.
Robinson injured his shoulder in the Iron Bowl. In that game, Auburn—a team where pass rush was something out of the fiction section of the library—got Sims rattled and forced some mistakes.
Missouri defensive ends Markus Golden and Shane Ray are better than anybody Auburn had off the edge, and arguably better than anything Alabama's seen this season. Ray leads the SEC with 12 sacks and Golden isn't too far behind at 8.5. The duo certainly doesn't lack confidence.
"No matter what, we're going to be able to get after the pass-rusher," Golden said on Tuesday. "We know he's fast, but we're fast enough to run him down."
It was clear that Alabama trusted its offensive line more against Auburn than it did earlier in the season, when tight ends and running backs spent more time in pass protection than they did running routes. That may have to change against Missouri. Golden and Ray have been making a living in opposing backfields, and they'll do it again against Alabama.
It'll be up to Sims to stay composed, make smart decisions and don't force the issue. I think he'll do exactly that.
Considering the schedule which features Georgia and Alabama at home, a Thursday night game against Kentucky (which gives the Tigers a semi-second bye week) and the returning talent on both sides, I'll give them a 35 percent chance of doing both. That's actually a relatively high number considering the SEC West is typically a balanced division.
I touched on how scary it would be for the rest of the SEC if Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn teamed up with defensive guru Will Muschamp earlier in the week.
Muschamp would have an experienced defense to work with, and he would benefit from the return of defensive end Carl Lawson from his ACL injury. Lawson's absence made a huge impact on the 2014 Tigers. The pass defense was the punchline to a bad joke, but it was the inability to get pressure unless they brought five or six players that really did the defense in.
Combine Muschamp's ability to coordinate a defense with an offense that will include sophomore running back Roc Thomas, junior college transfer running back Jovon Robinson, rising junior quarterback Jeremy Johnson and could include receivers Sammie Coates and Duke Williams if they don't jump to the NFL, and Auburn will be right back in the thick of the conference and national picture.
This was a down year for the Tigers, and a marriage between Malzahn and Muschamp would get them back into the mix.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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