7-Step Drop: Nick Saban Makes Life Miserable Even for Successful Head Coaches

In the waning seconds of Michigan State’s victory over Ohio State on Saturday as Michael Geiger’s kick sailed through the uprights to knock off the previously undefeated Buckeyes, the cameras caught Urban Meyer’s blank stare into the abyss after the clock expired.

This was supposed to be an all-time team that was better equipped than just about anybody to repeat as national champions but here Ohio State was, at home, losing to a team without its starting quarterback.

It gave me flashbacks to January of this year when Meyer was proclaimed by many to have surpassed Alabama’s Nick Saban on the coaching totem pole after first beating him in the Sugar Bowl and then later guiding the Buckeyes to a surprise national title, all with a third-string quarterback no less.

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Meyer may still be the top dog in coaching thanks to the sheer number of astounding statistics that relate to how often he wins, but I couldn’t help but think that in the Big Ten he is not viewed as some sort of unstoppable train but mortal once again after running off 30 straight conference victories.

Spartans coach Mark Dantonio clearly has found an answer to Meyer. Many will note this week’s clash between Ohio State and Michigan could mark something of the beginning of another 10 Year’s War between Meyer and Jim Harbaugh. If anything, it’s safe to say the latter is not backing away from the challenge.

That’s why Meyer still has some catching up to do with the only other coach in the country in his stratosphere.

That’s why Saban still remains the king of coaching in college football…at making everybody else, particularly in the SEC, miserable. Even if there is success, it never quite seems good enough because of what is happening in Tuscaloosa year-in and year-out. That somehow doesn’t quite seem the case in Columbus after this week’s loss.

You’ll hear it brought up time after time on nearly every college football broadcast, but the old adage, "Never let a team beat you twice" is applicable more than it should be in the sport nowadays. Saban not only beats teams on the field, but he seems to beat them again by making life more difficult for the rest of his league’s head coaches.

Nowhere is this more readily apparent than at LSU, where the tenure of Les Miles may be quickly reaching a breaking point despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

According to The New Orleans Times-Picayune, a highly ranked source told the paper that Miles may indeed be on the way out of Baton Rouge, and his enormous buyout (in the range of $15 million) "will not be a hindrance."

That’s an incredible statement about the willpower of LSU boosters given the cash-strapped nature of the entire state of Louisiana at the moment. It’s an even bigger statement about a man who is 110-32 at the school, has a national title ring while wearing purple and gold and was coach of the No. 2 team in the country earlier this month with the current No. 1-ranked recruiting class, according to 247Sports.

Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

While it’s true Miles’ relationship with athletic director Joe Alleva has been rocky at best over the past few years for a variety of reasons, it says plenty that Tigers fans and administrators are starting to slowly turn their attention from keeping Les to trying to figure out who can replace him.

In many ways this situation derived first because Miles couldn’t beat Saban on the field this season, and then festered because people started to believe LSU should be seeing the same kind of success Alabama has been experiencing every year.

That of course is a bit unrealistic, since sustained success is hard to come by in a league as tough as the SEC, and the fact Saban is doing what he’s doing in Tuscaloosa should be viewed not as normal, but as historical by any measure. Even if LSU wants the same set of circumstances, the Tigers need to realize it’s hard to replicate despite the inherent advantages the school has and the fact they have one of the better coaches in college football at their disposal.

Miles and Mark Richt at Georgia, given that he too could be on the way out, have issues keeping their fanbases happy. They also serve as prime examples as to why it is so difficult to last, and remain happy, in a head coaching job long term.

Many have come to believe a coach shouldn’t stay in his current job, no matter how good, for more than 10 years because of how stale the relationship between him and the fanbase can become. Some have to work so hard to live up to the high standard they established early in their tenures.

The presence of Saban, it seems, simply acts as an accelerant to this process, making whatever short- and long-term success result in restless fans sooner rather than later.

That’s also why Ole Miss fans grew unhappy at Hugh Freeze despite not recognizing their place in the pecking order historically and why there was even talk starting to surface in Arkansas that maybe Bret Bielema’s turnaround was taking a bit too long for some Razorbacks’ liking. Those coaches can thank their enormous salaries for the hot seat talk just as much as the runaway winning machine in Tuscaloosa Saban has built.

That’s not quite the standard yet in the Big Ten, even if Meyer looks perfectly capable of winning the next few league titles in 2016 and beyond. It’s certainly not the case in the cordial Pac-12 without Pete Carroll or Chip Kelly around. The ACC has Jimbo Fisher and Dabo Swinney set at the top, but the jumbled mess behind them keeps things fresh each season. In the SEC though, there’s a different beast and different game altogether.

Never let a team beat you twice, but Saban seems to keep on doing that to teams and coaches.

Stats of the Week

• Ohio State’s FBS record for consecutive regular season conference victories ended at 30 thanks to Michigan State. It was Urban Meyer’s first Big Ten regular season loss since taking over in Columbus and was the first time he lost a regular season conference game since Nov. 13, 2010 against South Carolina (while at Florida).
• Incredibly, it was just the eighth time in Meyer’s head coaching career he lost a regular season game to somebody in his own division (three times at UF, four times at Bowling Green and once at Ohio State). Mark Dantonio is just the fifth head coach to beat Meyer twice (joining Saban, Miles, Steve Spurrier and Tommy Tuberville)
• Good news for the next head coach in Blacksburg as Virginia Tech notes 301 of 325 points (93%) have been scored by players who have eligibility remaining.
• Great note from Oklahoma SID Mike Houck, the Sooners have won at least 10 games in 13 of 17 seasons under Bob Stoops. This year was the 12th time OU has gone undefeated at home under Stoops.
• Also of note, Oklahoma ends the season facing the No. 1, No. 6 and No. 7 scoring offenses in FBS and played No. 2 earlier this year. So far the Sooners are 3-0 and their own offense is No. 3. 
• Under Jim Mora, UCLA is 19-6 in road games and picked up their seventh road win over a Top 25 team  since 2012 against Utah.
• The SEC East has just one team in the top 50 in scoring offense (No. 48 Tennessee) and two of the three worst teams in all of FBS (Vandy/Mizzou).
• Texas Tech leads the country in third-down conversion percentage (53.5%) running the Air Raid offense. Navy’s triple option attack is just a tick behind at No. 2 and 52.2%.

Quote of the Week

Via the Detroit Press, Jim Harbaugh was asked if he believes in the theory that not all teams can be "up" for every game and could lay an egg. 

"The egg analogy doesn't resonate with me," Harbaugh said. "I don't really like comparing humans to chickens or any other type of animal."

Tweet of the Week

Play of the Week

If there’s anything that sums up LSU and Les Miles’ week, it’s this.

Sound from Saturday

Pre-Snap Reads

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State

Bedlam for all the marbles? Why not, as a semifinal berth in the Playoff is undoubtedly on the line for the Sooners as they travel up the road to take on their in-state rivals. A lot depends on the status of OU quarterback Baker Mayfield (they can’t win without him) but if he plays, expect Bob Stoops’ team to continue its winning ways even if strange things happen in this rivalry when things are on the line.

Notre Dame at Stanford

Injuries seemingly pop up every week for the Irish and while that may not hurt them against the Boston Colleges and Wake Forests of the world, Stanford is an entirely different ball game. The Cardinal are not perfect and their defense is capable of giving up some big run plays, but this game has stellar defensive effort and a big Christian McCaffrey performance written all over it. More than anything, it would make life for the committee a lot easier.

Ohio State at Michigan

The Wolverines are vastly improved under Jim Harbaugh this season, but quarterback Jake Rudock can still be the team’s Achilles heel if he’s turning over the ball. Given it will be an angry Ohio State defense in a hostile, rivalry environment, here’s to thinking the Buckeyes play like they were supposed to this season and put it on their rivals to the North.

Bryan Fischer is a national college football columnist at Bleacher Report. You can follow him at @BryanDFischer.