SEC Football Q&A: Is Mark Richt Really a Possibility at Miami?
The coaching silly season in college football has been accelerated this year, thanks to the sudden dismissal of former USC head coach Steve Sarkisian, the resignation of South Carolina legend Steve Spurrier and the recent departure of former Miami head coach Al Golden.
Those three rather high-profile jobs opening up, along with Maryland, Illinois and a high-upside Group of Five job in UCF has made late October feel like mid-December in the coaching speculation business.
Where will Miami turn? That question along with the prospect of the SEC being left out of the College Football Playoff are addressed in Bleacher Report's weekly SEC Q&A.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
While this may get confused with the asinine "Mark Richt is on the hot seat" talk, let's first try to separate the two conversations.
Georgia head coach Mark Richt isn't on the hot seat, isn't getting fired and isn't coaching for his job down the stretch in 2015. He just got raises for himself and his staff, completed the tough task of getting an indoor practice facility approved, and his Bulldogs, while not national championship contenders, are still in the conversation in the SEC East.
He is a former Miami player, though, and knows the sunshine state quite well after working on the Florida State staff from 1990-2000.
Because of that, his name has been bandied about in the Miami talk, including from USA Today's Dan Wolken. He was even asked about it during his press conference Tuesday, according to Logan Booker of Cox Media Group, and quickly shot down the speculation.
Unless some serious tension arises between Richt and the Georgia administration—you know, like last winter when he played hardball and won—there's no reason to think he becomes so unhappy that he takes a step down to a lesser job like Miami.
Make no mistake, that's what Miami is.
The Hurricanes haven't won 10 or more games in a season since joining the ACC in 2004, don't have facilities comparable to Georgia's and bring as much pressure to the head coach position as there is in Athens.
Why would he move?
Richt is going to be mentioned because of his ties. But as Wolken mentioned in his list of candidates, that's about the only reason to consider him a candidate.
I generally don't like to speculate about specific College Football Playoff scenarios because it's almost impossible to know what the landscape of the sport will look like when the season wraps up.
But this is a rather simple one.
Yes, one-loss Notre Dame would get the nod over a two-loss SEC champion seven days a week and twice on Sundays.
Think about all Notre Dame has gone through this year. It lost running back Greg Bryant to academics before the season, lost his replacement Tarean Folston to injury during the season and moved C.J. Prosise to full-time running back. All he's done is rush for 922 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Malik Zaire out? No problem. Sophomore DeShone Kizer has thrown 10 touchdowns and only four picks in a pinch while keeping the Irish in the mix.
Those are just a few of the six season-ending injuries suffered by Fighting Irish players this year. Through it all, they're still 6-1 with a close road loss to undefeated Clemson on their resume, have a solid win over USC and would need to get by ranked foes Temple, Pittsburgh and Stanford to finish as a one-loss team.
Would a two-loss SEC champ have a tougher schedule? I'm not sure at this point based on the inconsistent nature of some of the middle-of-the-pack teams in the conference, such as Tennessee, Georgia, Texas A&M and Arkansas.
Even if the hypothetical two-loss SEC champ's schedule is tougher, it won't be nearly enough to make up for that second loss—which wouldn't be on Notre Dame's resume.
"@BarrettSallee who needs a Win more? A&M, Kentucky, or Auburn
— Frank Breaux (@fwbreaux) October 26, 2015"
Definitely Auburn.
Texas A&M (5-2) and Kentucky (4-3) should go to bowl games based on their future schedules. The only sure-fire win left on the docket for Auburn (4-3) is a home tilt with Idaho during the next-to-last week of the season.
Could the Tigers upset Ole Miss this weekend, A&M or Georgia? Sure.
The offense looks much better with Sean White at quarterback. As long as the wide receivers hold on to the football—which evidently is a lot to ask after last week's performance vs. Arkansas—the Tigers should at least be competitive in those games.
Make no mistake, though. They would be upsets.
The good news for the Tigers is that "Buck" Carl Lawson, who has been out ever since the second quarter of the season opener vs. Louisville, could be back soon to help boost a defense that's been horrendous this season, per Tiger Talk (h/t AL.com). The Tigers rank last in the SEC in total defense (430.6 YPG), third-down defense (47.42 percent) and red-zone touchdowns allowed (21).
Head coach Gus Malzahn's crew needs a win in the next three weeks to virtually secure a bowl game and, more importantly, bowl practices. This week against Ole Miss would be a good time to get it, so that Auburn can also gain a little momentum for the stretch run in November.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. 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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