SEC Football Q&A: Where Does South Carolina Rank Among Job Openings?
Week 6 saw Georgia blow a 21-point lead to Tennessee, but that seems like ages ago compared to what's gone on off the field since Saturday's action wrapped up.
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier retired, Florida quarterback Will Grier was suspended for a year and it was announced that Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil's suspension will last through this weekend and he'll be back for the Texas A&M game on Oct. 24.
That was just on Monday.
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Who knows what the rest of the week holds.
There are plenty of topics to dive into this week in the SEC Q&A, so let's get to it.
While South Carolina likes to call itself the "real USC," the one out in Los Angeles that recently became open after Southern Cal head coach Steve Sarkisian was fired Monday is a better job.
Much better.
It has better facilities, a better recruiting base, more support and more tradition than South Carolina, and will attract any and all candidates looking to make a move (or leverage play, for those coaches looking for raises).
It's certainly better than North Texas, but I'd put it slightly below Maryland and slightly above Illinois.
Maryland is simply begging to be the Oregon of the East Coast. It has a huge supporter in graduate and Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank, has all of the resources associated with being a Big Ten school and is in a major metropolitan area with a pretty solid recruiting base with Maryland, D.C. and Virginia all nearby.
Illinois is a little bit tougher, although there's no reason for Illinois not to be a bigger presence in the Chicago area despite having to contend with other Big Ten heavyweights and Notre Dame. Like Maryland in its own conference and South Carolina in the SEC, it has stability on the bottom line from the conference networks and consistent financial success.
- USC
- Maryland
- South Carolina
- Illinois
- North Texas
I'd place South Carolina third among current openings, with the top four of the five all being solid gigs.
No, because while the return of offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil will help Ole Miss protect quarterback Chad Kelly and provide a little more room for the Rebel running backs, he's not suddenly going to transform the Rebels into a force on the ground when he returns next week against Texas A&M after a seven-game suspension.
That's what they have to be in order to be successful this season, especially since the defense hasn't been as solid as expected (337.5 YPG, seventh in the SEC) and has suffered some key losses, including to linebacker C.J. Johnson and safety Tony Conner as well as a season-ending injury to defensive lineman Issac Gross.
Ole Miss needs to run consistently between the tackles in order to keep the offense balanced and protect a beleaguered defense, and Tunsil isn't going be the magic elixir that cures the ground game.
The schedule does set up well for Ole Miss, though.
The Rebels already have the Alabama win in their back pocket and get LSU and Texas A&M in Oxford down the stretch. That's nice, but the combination of running game woes, defensive struggles and injury issues will prevent Ole Miss from playing consistent football down the stretch.
I loved the Rebels in the preseason, but head coach Hugh Freeze's depth is being tested right now, and I'm not sure they can overcome it at this point.
I haven't been high on LSU so far this season, because I don't trust quarterback Brandon Harris, don't trust head coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron to find consistency with a dual-threat quarterback and don't trust the wide receivers to hang onto the football when Harris drops it in the bucket.
But as I wrote on Wednesday, the crazy nature of this season is setting up perfectly for head coach Les Miles—who won a national title in 2007 in a similar season that didn't have any elite teams.
Will I be sold on the Tigers if they beat Florida?
I did switch my pick from Florida to LSU with the news that Gators quarterback Will Grier was suspended for a year, but I'm more interested in how LSU plays rather than if it wins.
If star running back Leonard Fournette can have similar success against Florida's front seven like he's had through the first five games, that will convince me that this LSU team can be one-dimensional and still be elite. If quarterback Brandon Harris has success against Florida's defense, that will convince me that LSU is a national title contender.
I want to see LSU against a good defense, because they haven't played one yet. If they can look solid, I will buy into the Tigers for the rest of the season.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy of CFBStats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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