SEC Football Q&A: Is Les Miles or Gus Malzahn on the Hotter Seat?
The month of September is going to be wild in the SEC.
Not only are there some stellar out-of-conference matchups to help gauge the conference against the rest of the college football world, the three SEC West coaches on the hottest seats in the conference—Auburn's Gus Malzahn, LSU's Les Miles and Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin—all play critical games that could determine their careers at their respective schools.
Malzahn and Miles will square off on Sept. 24 on the Plains in the second SEC game of the season for each.
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How will that game impact the loser? Who's on the hotter seat? Those questions and more are addressed in this week's edition of SEC Q&A.
Without question, it's Miles.
That's not to say that Malzahn isn't fighting for his job too, because he is. But let's not forget what happened late last November when Miles was essentially on his way out of Baton Rouge before a late meeting during the regular-season finale against Texas A&M (or, if we're being honest about things, Jimbo Fisher saying "no") kept Miles around for one more shot at success.
On top of that, LSU has received an enormous amount of hype this offseason thanks to the return of stud running back Leonard Fournette, the presence of new defensive coordinator Dave Aranda and a medium-sized village of returning stars on defense who passed on the draft to return to school.
ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) tabbed LSU as not only the SEC favorite, but the best team in the nation. Sporting News has the Tigers inked in at the No. 12 spot. Here at Bleacher Report, we have them at No. 5 after spring practice.
That's a lot of pressure for a coach who was almost fired last year, chose to re-sign offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, returns a quarterback in Brandon Harris who struggled to stretch the field and whose stubbornness to even attempt to open up the offense and take pressure off of the running game has been a part of the offensive philosophy for a decade.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban hired Lane Kiffin to run his offense prior to the 2014 season because he recognized that, in this day and age, sometimes you have to win football games 38-35. It's not that Miles hasn't accomplished the same thing, it's that he hasn't tried.
Unless that changes—and it doesn't appear that it has—the combination of sky-high expectations and a stubborn philosophy will earn him a pink slip.
For Malzahn, there's a little more wiggle room.
As long as the offense improves to the point where it isn't a liability, Auburn is competitive against a brutally tough schedule that pits the Tigers against both participants in last year's College Football Playoff National Championship and the defense takes strides behind a front four that can rotate nine or 10 potential stars, Malzahn should be fine.
An 8-4 season—provided those four losses aren't embarrassing blowouts or come against teams that the Tigers have no business losing to—Malzahn should be fine. Miles likely has to hit that 10-win mark at the very least, and a win over Alabama—something Miles hasn't done since November 2011—would help.
A lot has gone right for Miles over the offseason, including Aranda's presence, a solid recruiting class and the uncharacteristic return of several draft-eligible stars like corner Tre'Davious White and linebacker Kendell Beckwith. None of that has addressed the real problem—the offensive philosophy. If that doesn't change, all of that goodwill will evaporate quickly.
Of course, the game between the two in Week 4 will set the tone for the future of both programs.
No.
And that's not a knock against Brandon Harris. Maybe he has, and maybe he hasn't. But I'm not one to put too much weight into spring game stats, and closed practices during the rest of spring limit the sample size that we use to judge teams.
Harris' spring game stats were decent—11-of-16 for 106 yards—but don't do much in convincing me that he can consistently hit those deep passes downfield to take pressure off of Fournette.
It's not so much a Harris problem as it is a Miles problem.
Miles has been infatuated with dual-threat quarterbacks since he signed Ryan Perrilloux prior to the 2005 season, and he has never used them properly when they ascended to the starting quarterback role. He wants to run a pro-style offense that uses the athleticism of quarterbacks to help make something out of nothing when protection breaks down.
That's not to say that LSU needs to run zone read all day long. Harris hasn't shown the ability to make proper reads in that department, and the roster isn't built run a hybrid spread-power scheme all day and night. But mixing a little more spread elements—more than the traditional three-wide sets or two-back power formations they typically use—would go a long way toward helping Harris.
As long as it doesn't evolve into something more than just Laremy Tunsil and the other items included in the notice of allegations, no, it won't be a distraction.
The outside world wants to label Ole Miss as dirty and the program as being out of control, but Tunsil isn't there anymore, any potential punishment—whether it's a slap on the wrist or potentially crippling—would likely come in the form of scholarship losses and football players and coaches generally live in a bubble while in the complex preparing for the season.
Scandal or not, the Rebels still have a proven offensive system, a stud dual-threat quarterback in Chad Kelly who should be a Heisman Trophy contender, a loaded wide receiving corps that can pick up the slack left from Laquon Treadwell's departure and a defense that has had success in the face of roster attrition in the past.
As long as those aspects of Ole Miss still exist, they'll be contenders in the offseason. Sure, there might be a coach or two, or some players, who have to take time out of their days to talk to the NCAA or the compliance department. But it's the offseason, and this is when players have the most time on their hands.
The Tunsil mess won't be a distraction to the 2016 Rebels. Whether it impacts the future teams through scholarship reductions, though, remains to be seen.
As much as I wish that he could be considered one of the best linebackers in the country, if Vanderbilt struggles to hit .500, the national perception of top-tier players around the country is impacted by a team's overall success or failure.
That's unfair to Cunningham, because he already should be considered one of the best linebackers in the country. For a defense that finished fourth in the nation in red-zone touchdown defense (38.78 percent) and sixth in third-down defense (28.16 percent), Cunningham was a stud in 2015. He led the Commodores in tackles (103), tackles for loss (16.5), sacks (4.5), forced fumbles (four) and earned first-team All-SEC honors from the coaches.
He was noticeably absent from most All-American teams, though, despite the other first-team linebackers—Alabama's Reggie Ragland and Missouri's Kentrell Brothers—appearing on the AP's first and second teams, respectively.
Cunningham pays a mortgage in the opposition's backfield, and he was not only one of the best linebackers in the country last year, he was one of the best overall players.
If Vandy is a nonfactor, though, he won't get the credit he deserves.
That's a shame.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
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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