We’re six games into this Syracuse football season, and a fifth Orange loss means a fifth installment of CoachWatch. We’ve had one job open up this week in D-1A as Clemson dumped perennial underacheiver Tommy Bowden. Hopefully Syracuse isn’t too interested in trying to bring him in.
There are a few coaches that DG should be looking at rather closely as he organizes his shortlist of candidates. Here’s my top five this week.
#1 – Butch Jones, Central Michigan (No Change)
Butch and the Chippewas continued to vanquish other coaches frequenting the CW rankings, this week taking down Al Golden and Temple. Now 3-0 in the MAC this season, CMU has a big showdown with another MAC team unbeaten in the conference this weekend against Western Michigan. The dangerous Ball State Cardinals loom late in the season. It’s a shame for these 3 teams that they are all in the same half of the MAC, though the winner seems pretty likely to roll through the conference championship game.
#2 – Randy Edsall, Connecticut (Last Week: 3)
The Huskies had a bye this past week to lick their wounds following a first-class beatdown in Chapel Hill. When you allow three blocked punts in a season, things are bad. When you allow three to one player in a single game, that is the definition of a special teams meltdown. Coach Edsall creeps up a spot this week in the rankings as it seems that the repeated gaffes are more fluke than trend and because UNC is looking strong so far. We’ll see how Connecticut responds to the loss this week at Rutgers.
#3 – Turner Gill, Buffalo (Last Week: 4)
So I realize that the Bulls have now reeled off three straight losses since winning on a Hail Mary against Temple. Looking at their opponents though, it’s fairly understandable. After playing tough at Missouri, the Bulls lost by two at Central Michigan and lost in OT this week to MAC-leading Western Michigan. Gill has absolutely turned this program around, though they may not have the wins to show it right now. The next step for him as a coach is making sure his team wins the games they should – that means Army and Kent State. They should be able to pick one up against Ohio, Miami-OH, Akron or Bowling Green as well. Five wins for the Bulls would be pretty miraculous.
Give a warm, Orange welcome to CoachWatch's latest contestant.
#4 – Chip Kelly, Oregon Offensive Coordinator (LW: Unranked)
I am officially drinking the Kool-Aid. With an offense averaging almost 40 PPG this year, clearly he knows a thing or two about how to score points in bunches. Four quarterbacks have combined to throw for 1336 yards for the Ducks this year – not amazing. However, it’s been an orgy of big plays rushing the football. Oregon has already put up 1926 yards and 25 TDs on the ground, and they still have five games left. It’s worth noting that the remaining five game slate will be moderately more difficult, but the overrated Pac-10 should provide plenty of chances for Kelly’s offense to pad their resume.
#5 – Skip Holtz, East Carolina (LW: 2)
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. If you had called a 3-3 start for the Pirates at the start of the season, most would have found it to be a reasonable projection, just not for it to happen as it actually has. What a missed opportunity this has been. Granted, the ride was bound to end eventually – but a complete derailment seemed unlikely. They haven’t even been competitive since their OT loss to NC State, getting handled by both Houston and Virginia. With Memphis, UCF and Marshall still on the schedule, it’s going to be a battle just to get bowl eligibility.
Also considered: Lane Kiffin; Al Golden (Temple); Bronco Mendenhall (BYU); Chris Peterson (Boise State); K.C. Keeler (Delaware); Dan Mullen (Florida – O. Coord.); Mike Locksley (Illinois – O. Coord.)
