10 College Football Coaching Showdowns We Can't Wait to See in 2015
Their only contact will come during pre- and postgame handshakes, but what happens in between is what we'll all be watching for in 2015.
Some of the most notable games of the upcoming season come with the added intrigue of pitting great coaching minds against each other. This includes several clashes featuring assistants or head coaches in new roles, moves that have helped invigorate already strong rivalries or turned what would have been otherwise dull nonconference games into early-season chess matches.
We tune in for the players and the teams, but it's the coaches pulling the strings who will keep us from turning away from these upcoming contests.
Chris Petersen vs. Bryan Harsin
1 of 10
Matchup: Washington (Petersen) at Boise State (Harsin)
When: Sept. 3 or 4
The teacher gets to face the student, and on the former's home turf to boot.
Boise State has become a national power thanks to the work that Chris Petersen did from 2006-13, but last season he finally set out for another challenge by taking over Washington's program. That left his job open for a former assistant, Bryan Harsin, who had been Petersen's offensive coordinator from 2006-10.
Harsin won 12 games, a Mountain West Conference title and a earned Fiesta Bowl victory over Arizona in his first season at Boise. Petersen won eight games with the Huskies, maintaining the level of success that Steve Sarkisian had risen to before going to USC after the 2013 season.
Art Briles vs. Chad Morris
2 of 10
Matchup: Baylor (Briles) at SMU (Morris)
When: Sept. 5
When Baylor opened the 2014 season with a shutout win over SMU, it signaled the beginning of the end for coach June Jones. The rematch this December will mark the start of a new era for the Mustangs, adding some intrigue to what on paper looks to be another mismatch.
Chad Morris comes to SMU after spending the past four seasons at Clemson's offensive coordinator. With the Tigers he generated some of the most prolific offenses in the country, an acumen that was among the many reasons his hire at SMU has been universally lauded as both a great opportunity for him and the perfect choice to resurrect a long-struggling program that bottomed out at 1-11 last year.
"Morris has a chance to build his legacy in Dallas and make SMU a contender for years to come," wrote EJ Holland of the Dallas Morning News. "One of the top assistants in the country, Morris was a home run hire for the Ponies."
Morris gets a rather ominous debut, hosting a Baylor team that led the nation in total offense last season at 581.5 yards per game, more than twice what SMU (269) averaged in 2014.
Bo Pelini vs. Pat Narduzzi
3 of 10
Matchup: Youngstown State (Pelini) at Pittsburgh (Narduzzi)
When: Sept. 5
When Pittsburgh's athletic department lined up a 2015 season opener for the football team against an FCS opponent, it had no idea how huge a coaching matchup that game would become. When the contest was scheduled last October, Pitt was in its second season under Paul Chryst and Youngstown State was run by Eric Wolford.
Wolford was fired shortly after going 7-5, while Chryst left to return to his alma mater and coach Wisconsin.
Now we get Bo Pelini against Pat Narduzzi, a matchup of coaches moving in opposite directions.
Pelini was fired by Nebraska in December despite a seventh straight season with at least nine wins, but after a brief spell of unemployment he landed the Youngstown State job as a chance for redemption. Narduzzi is making his first foray into head coaching, taking the Pitt job after spending eight years putting together top-tier defenses as Michigan State's coordinator.
Narduzzi's Spartans defense held Pelini's Nebraska offense to a season-low 47 rushing yards in a Michigan State win in October.
The game itself also has plenty of storylines to it, as Narduzzi's father (Bill) coached Youngstown State from 1975-85. Additionally, Youngstown State's last win against an FBS team came in 2012, at Pittsburgh.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Tom Herman vs. Bobby Petrino
4 of 10
Matchup: Houston (Herman) at Louisville (Petrino)
When: Sept. 12
Tom Herman worked wonders last season as Ohio State's offensive coordinator, seamlessly moving from one quarterback to the next en route to the Buckeyes winning a national title. Along the way, Houston tabbed him as the man to get its program back on track, hopefully finding a way to develop the Cougars' passers in a similar way.
One of Herman's first games will come against another noted quarterback guru, Bobby Petrino, who throughout his college career has mentored some of the most prolific and productive passers in the game.
This past season, Petrino also had to juggle quarterbacks because of injuries, helping Louisville win nine games in its first season in the ACC and his first season back at the school.
At 39, Herman is one of the fresh young offensive minds in the game. Petrino, at 53, has established himself over the past two decades as one of the best around. How their approaches will mesh (or clash) when pitted against each other will be fun to watch.
Brian Kelly vs. Dabo Swinney
5 of 10
Matchup: Notre Dame (Kelly) at Clemson (Dabo Swinney)
When: Oct. 3
Brian Kelly's coaching career has been on a near-constant upward trajectory, going from Division II to the Mid-American Conference, then from Cincinnati to Notre Dame. Along the way he's had some amazing offenses and has also brought out a style and approach that few can match.
Dabo Swinney's track has been far less circuitous, spending eight seasons working his way up Alabama's staff before moving over to Clemson and eventually taking over the Tigers. Since becoming head coach in 2008, Clemson has won 61 games including 42 over the past four years.
Their paths have never managed to cross before—the closest brush being their mutual reported disinterest in the Florida job after Will Muschamp stepped down last November—but thanks to Notre Dame's loose affiliation with the ACC we get to see what it will be like for Kelly and Swinney to match wits in Death Valley in October.
Bret Bielema vs. Butch Jones
6 of 10
Matchup: Arkansas (Bielema) at Tennessee (Jones)
When: Oct. 3
We've seen what Bret Bielema and Butch Jones have been able to do at their respective schools in just two years on the job, and we can't wait to see what they have in store next for Arkansas and Tennessee.
Whatever lies ahead for the Razorbacks and Volunteers, though, will include having to figure out each other. Arkansas and Tennessee meet for the first time since 2011 in one of the most anticipated SEC divisional crossover games of the upcoming season.
"Both squads finished with 7-6 overall records in 2014, but are primed to return to their once higher standing within the conference next season as dark-horses for the SEC Championship," wrote Drew Laing of Saturday Down South.
Bielema inherited an Arkansas program that was still reeling from Bobby Petrino's transgressions, and toward the end of last year he was finally putting his smashmouth stamp. Back-to-back shutout wins, a punishing run game and a dominating win over Texas in a bowl game has made the Razorbacks one of the trendy picks to take a big step forward in 2015.
Jones's turnaround at Tennessee wasn't as pronounced, but he did get the Volunteers to seven wins for the first time since 2009. He did so with an inordinate amount of freshman contributors, which will make Jones' 2015 team still among the youngest in the country yet far from the least experienced.
Les Miles vs. Steve Spurrier
7 of 10
Matchup: LSU (Miles) at South Carolina (Spurrier)
When: Oct. 10
This matchup will be worth it just for the press conferences. Regardless of what happens between the lines, neither the Mad Hatter or the Head Ball Coach disappoint when a microphone is nearby.
LSU's Les Miles and South Carolina's Steve Spurrier are among the best tacticians in the game, but their interview game might be even better. Miles is a master of using words in the wrong syntax, as well as expounding on his love of holidays and other interests, while Spurrier might be the most the most bluntly honest coach in the game.
"I love Steve Spurrier because the man is the only coach in the business who doesn't seem to have a filter between his mind and his mouth at times," Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports wrote in 2010. "While other coaches may think things they won't say in public, Spurrier just doesn't care."
Both coaches continue to grow more and more quotable as their careers progress, and while each has a team coming off a down year, that won't in any way take away from the work they'll put in to outplaying and outwitting each other on the field.
Jim Mora vs. Steve Sarkisian
8 of 10
Matchup: UCLA (Mora) at USC (Sarkisian)
When: Nov. 28
The USC-UCLA rivalry has always been one of the best in college football, but with Jim Mora's arrival at UCLA (and his subsequent 3-0 record against the Trojans) the series' quality went up exponentially. Steve Sarkisian's return to USC has furthered this, as the two master recruiters have managed to load up on talent that will keep these games of high quality for years to come.
They also developed a friendship while both living and working in Seattle, and this has continued since their subsequent moves to Los Angeles.
"I think there's a great deal of respect in both directions," Sarkisian told Bleacher Report's Kyle Kensing.
Respect aside, there's no love lost when the games get played. Mora's Bruins rolled to a 38-20 win over Sarkisian's Trojans in 2014, but USC will be the more experienced team when they meet this November.
Each figures to also be rolling out a long list of impact freshmen, as USC (second) and UCLA (seventh) both landed top-10 recruiting classes, per 247Sports' composite rankings.
Lane Kiffin vs. Will Muschamp
9 of 10
Matchup: Alabama (Kiffin) at Auburn (Muschamp)
When: Nov. 28
Lane Kiffin's arrival in Tuscaloosa led to an offensive revolution for Alabama in 2014. Auburn is hoping that Will Muschamp will do the same for its defense this fall.
With Kiffin calling the plays last year, Alabama set numerous offensive records and tore through some great defenses, including the one Muschamp had as head coach at Florida. The Crimson Tide gained 672 yards against the Gators in a 42-21 win, representing more than double what they allowed on average for the season.
Auburn's defense was quite woeful last season, most notably when it gave up a season-worst 539 yards and 55 points to Alabama in the Iron Bowl.
Muschamp's addition to the Tigers program is being viewed in a similar vein to when Kiffin joined Nick Saban's Alabama staff.
"Nick Saban struck gold in hiring Lane Kiffin as his offensive coordinator," wrote Duane Rankin of the Montgomery Advertiser. "A year from now, will we be saying the same thing about Gus Malzahn for hiring former Florida head coach Will Muschamp as his new defensive coordinator?"
Urban Meyer vs. Jim Harbaugh
10 of 10
Matchup: Ohio State (Meyer) at Michigan (Harbaugh)
When: Nov. 28
Sure, hiring Jim Harbaugh was great for Michigan. But think of what it means for the the Ohio State rivalry!
The Wolverines brought back the prodigal son to revive the program as a whole, but no one is denying that a key part of that effort involves being able to compete with (and beat) rival Ohio State again. Brady Hoke won his first game against the Buckeyes, but then whiffed on all three tries once Urban Meyer took over OSU.
Now, we've got the heavyweight clash that Michigan-Ohio State has always deserved to be but hasn't consistently been for some time. Harbaugh and Meyer have star power and resumes to back up that wattage.
"Urban Meyer versus Jim Harbaugh will generate storylines reminiscent of the 10-year war between Woody Hayes and Schembechler," Bleacher Report's Phil Callihan wrote.
Their first game won't come for more than nine months, but the opening salvos have begun. It started on the recruiting trail, with Meyer beating out Harbaugh for 4-star Detroit running back Michael Weber, then Harbaugh fired back on Twitter with a Sir Walter Scott quote that many suspect was a shot at Meyer and Ohio State for the departure of the coach who recruited Weber (Stan Drayton) for an NFL job.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
