Hot & Not CFB Coaches: Who is coaching your team next year?

On yesterday's podcast, we discussed coaches that are clearly on the hot seat for next season, and that should probably be fired this year.  Along with that, we brought up some names of coaches that should be in bigger jobs...

There are 3 tiers in college football: the bottom tier is where the Sun Belt, MAC, Conference USA and others reside - the middle tier is the AAC and the Mountain West, and then you have your Power 5 schools.

The order of things is generally you move from level 3 to level 2 then to Power 5... but sometimes those things get bypassed, especially if you're already a coordinator on the Power 5 level, etc.  You don't have to have head coaching experience to get a big time job in those instances, although it would help in some cases to break in at a lower level than the big time expectations of a Power 5 job (i.e. Kirby Smart going straight to Georgia, Will Muschamp going straight to Florida, Lane Kiffin to the Oakland Raiders, etc).

Here's my stab at the coaches that need to be gone, and the upstart coaches that should be in bigger jobs sooner than later.

The Tuesday Rewind (a day late): Nov 29, 2016

Rivalry week didn't really do us any big favors, but we continue winning.  I've now gone 8-0 the last 2 weeks on my NFL picks, both in the biggest games and in my gambling picks, so that's definitely something.

Chris continues rolling in college football, hitting a winning week again, while I fell to 2-3 this go 'round.  On the year, in all picks combined, I'm sitting at 95-82-8 while Chris is at 83-95-7.  Still plenty of time over the NFL season and college bowl games to get back to even.

WCE College Football Top 10 #11 & Podcast #38

Things have definitely gotten weird - our top 10 is going to change an awful lot next week, depending on what happens in these championship games.

The committee is in a very weird spot with the Big 10 this year - Ohio St last year was basically in the same spot - didn't win their division, but was definitely one of the best 4 teams in the country... but the lost the game to the division winner, and if Penn St wins the conference championship, even with 2 losses, you have to wonder whether or not the championship and the head-to-head win will be enough to topple an Ohio St team with only 1 loss, but without a conference championship.

LSU hires Coach O: Now what?

The reports came out this morning that LSU cut off communication with Tom Herman and his agent at 5am.

LSU hired Ed Orgeron as their next head coach.

No real search.  No testing the waters with other proven candidates.  They fired Les Miles to hire Coach O.

Why Tom Herman should pick LSU, by an LSU fan

- Chris Giannini

On this Thanksgiving, I found myself feeling strangely torn emotionally. If you have followed Gary’s writing, you know he has been covering the coaching carousel in college football closely and has a belief that my Tigers will end up with Mike Gundy, whose name has came up recently, but not with a lot of steam behind it.

Gary was first on this trail months ago just after Les Miles was released. If it doesn’t come to be, it is still a fantastic job by him to make a call like that so far in advance when we don’t have the access full-time journalists do...

So where does my emotional struggle come from?

LSU, Texas, and the Herman - Strong - Fisher carousel.

Ok, so, let me get this straight.

LSU athletic officials met with Tom Herman personally today, 100 miles from College Station, less than 24 hours before Houston plays at Memphis?  And, according to the story that first broke by hornsdigest.com's Chip Brown, it appears that Herman has agreed to be LSU's next head coach?

Not sure that I believe all of this is legitimate.

WCE THANKSGIVING Picks (11/23/16)

Ahhh yes.  Turkey day is here at last.  A premiere day for the National Football League, and man, they've got some great games on today.  We do pick a couple of them in our big game picks today, so read below for that.

As far as how we're looking right now on our picks for the year, things are looking up.  Much better than they could have gone - both of us sit over 50% in our gambling picks, which is always good.  Chris has not fared so well in the head-to-head 7-on-7 picks thus far, but he still has time for a bounce back.  Final week of the regular season... we should know these teams by now, so let's do it.

College Football Playoff True Resumes (Nov 23, 2016 update)

Last night's College Football playoff rankings came out early - which gives us plenty of time to check out these resumes again.  The list seems to be expanding for teams that could still find their way into the college football playoffs, even though we're getting closer to the end of the season.  The college football crew for ESPN spent a LONG time discussing the possibilities of a 3-loss USC making the playoffs, which is not going to happen, regardless of whether they win the Pac-12 or not.  Not a lot changed this week, and my prediction is still the same...

Podcast: Episode 36 - Butch Jones participation trophy, naked Yale students, Texas players boycott? and Big 10 playoff scenarios

Gary and Chris start off with the WCE Top 10 and discuss the Big 10's playoff scenarios, South Carolina St's 55 year old player actually saw the field, Butch Jones claims that his seniors "won the biggest championship - the championship of life," Texas players are discussing boycotting the TCU game because of how Charlie Strong has been treated, Miami (OH) can make history Tuesday night, Harvard / Yale game was delayed by naked students, NFL recap over the weekend (Dolphins / Rams, Titans / Colts, Cardinals / Vikings, Cowboys / Ravens, field goals & point afters), and a recap of our picks from last week.

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The Monday Rewind: Nov 21st, 2016

Chris and I both won 5 games against the spread in our gambling picks this weekend, which was definitely a good thing.  We knew we liked the lines, and it showed.  There were a few games that didn't go the way we wanted, but when I go 5-2 and Chris goes 5-3, we all make money, and we're all happy about it.

The head-to-head continues to go in my favor, as Chris and I picked 6 of 7 games the exact same, but I got the one that mattered, taking the Seahawks -6 at home against the Eagles, taking my total to 4-3 in the big games of the weekend, while Chris went 3-4.  Only one more week in college football before the championship games, and we're ending the season hot.  Here's the results from this week...

Reaction to Butch Jones claiming UT seniors won a championship...

It just doesn't get any more ridiculous than this statement.

Butch Jones stated today about this senior class:

"They’ve won the biggest championship – that’s the championship of life."

And, fittingly, Tennessee twitter erupted with hilarity.  I've tossed in a few here just so you can see what basically everyone in the free world is thinking...

WCE College Football Top 10 #10 & Podcast #35

Week 12, supposedly cupcake Saturday, was anything but that for several teams.  It's always interesting to see who can dominate their opponent without any kind of gameplan, or while they're looking ahead to another game. 

This weekend was nothing like last weekend, where #2, #3, and #4 in the playoff rankings all were upset in the span of just a few hours.  This week, however, we did see Louisville's playoff hopes die, and almost saw Ohio State's go down in flames as well, if not for a defensive stop on a late 4th quarter 2 point conversion.

You never truly know what's going to happen this late in the season, as evidenced by Ole Miss losing at Vanderbilt, Texas Tech getting demolished at Iowa St, and Texas losing to Kansas for the first time since 1938.  Sometimes these cupcakes can be a little tough.

Why would Jimbo Fisher leave Florida St for LSU?

...and why does LSU want him?

He won a national championship in Tallahassee in 2013, and made the first ever college football playoff in 2014.

Those were Jameis Winston's only 2 seasons in CFB.

Those seasons went well, and with that national championship, Jimbo is one of only 4 active coaches that has that crystal football on his resume: Nick Saban has 5, Urban Meyer has 3, Jimbo has 1 and Bob Stoops has 1 (even though it was all the way back in 2000).

That's pretty select company.

WCE Thursday Picks

Chris has been on an absolute tear, going 7-2 against the number the last 2 weeks, but I got back in the winning column last week with a bad start, but a strong finish to close out 3-2 in college for the week.  My NFL picks decided to bite me, missing on both gambling picks, but I have started to feel a little bit better about some of these teams this week, and I think I've got two winners.

This is the bad weekend of college football.  Week 2 and this weekend, before the rivalry games, are the absolute worst, because you have very few competitive games, but it does make for some interesting gambling lines.  And we're feeling GREAT about these lines.

The True College Football Resumes for the Playoff (updated 11/18)

Ok, so here's the truth of it:

There are not very many good college football resumes out there.

We all know that the playoff committee appreciates strength of schedule and conference championships, but this year looks to make that an incredibly difficult proposition because of how bad the other sides of the big conferences have been.  There's a much larger gap this year between the good teams and the middle teams, which leaves some unexptected teams, that we wouldn't normally consider elite, with a shot at the college football playoff.

The Monday Rewind: Nov 14, 2016

Our gambling picks were ok this weekend, not so much in the NFL, but we were winners again in college football, and that's where we've been strongest all year.  SEC Fantasy picks are going to come down to the last 2 weeks of the regular season, and we're rolling right along on that.  I've won 5 weeks, Chris has won 6.  Whoever hits 7 wins.

After a crazy weekend of chaos in college football... at least we know where we stand with gambling!

WCE College Football Top 10 #9 & Podcast #33

Well... it finally happened.  Chaos took over college football, and we were able to sit and enjoy each insane ending as it happened, all spaced out over different parts of Saturday night.  We didn't have to try and swap as games ended simultaneously.  It started with Georgia outlast Auburn, moved quickly to Clemson crapping the bed at home against Pitt, flew over to the west coast, where USC proved that Washington had not really been tested, dropped down to the heart of Texas and saw Ole Miss with a freshman qb in his first action of the season score 23 points in the 4th quarter to take down Texas A&M on a last second field goal, and then moved back to the midwest and saw Iowa's defense hold, then get lucky on a facemask call on a punt return before their kicker hits a walk-off field goal and crowd rushed the field after beating Michigan 14-13.

WCE Thursday Picks

The closer we get to the end of the season, the more in-tune the lines on these games seem to be.  Everything seems right on the number, and really really close to what the FPI and the Sagarin rating would be, with adjustments due to injury, etc (like Texas A&M opening as a 20 pt fav over Ole Miss after Chad Kelly was announced as out for the year, then it dropped to 10 when Trevor Knight was announced out as well). So this is where you have to really really look for good value on picks - teams that haven't been performing well vs teams that are, etc.

Football states voted in President Trump

What an absolutely incredible night of television.  The whole debacle was fascinating to watch on every different channel.  From the left slanted crew at NBC, to the somewhat right wing Fox News, to the CNN crew that seemed to be behind everyone else (and seemingly holding out hope that Clinton could win states that had been called by other outlets).

The biggest thing that came out of last night is how out of touch with middle America the two coasts are.  The big cities voted majority Democrat.  The rural heart of America voted Republican.  And the Democrats did not motivate their supporters enough to actually get out and vote.

In fact, in Wisconsin alone, Trump had fewer votes in the state than either Bush in '04 or Romney in '12, but he won the state and they didn't.  Pretty amazing to see, actually.

The Monday Rewind: Nov 7th, 2016

Could've had a better week on the picks... but we did ok!  We're maintaining steady over .500 total.  See how we did this past weekend...

WCE College Football Top 10 #8

Lots and lots of blowouts meant not a lot of changes at the top.  Nobody was really even challenged, aside from Alabama, who had a close tough battle in Baton Rouge against LSU.  November is the crazy time of the year, and this weekend is when we should expect something crazy, with USC visiting Washington, Michigan traveling to Iowa, Clemson hosting Iowa, and Louisville, Auburn, and West Virginia all play decent, tough teams this weekend.

In the meantime, here's the WCE Top 10 after this week:

The Friday Five: Nov 4th, 2016

What a week in sports.  There's been a ton going on with a huge World Series Game 7 between the Cubs and Indians, the first game between Durant's Warriors and Westbrook's Thunder, MACtion and weeknight football, boring NFL games on Monday and Thursday, and now we're amped up for the big Alabama / LSU game this weekend.

If you missed it, we knocked out another podcast last night (which you can download on iTunes, or find it here), so make sure you grab that, and also check out our picks for the weekend before making your bets.

NFL Midseason Awards

- Chris Giannini

Finally, the NFL gave us an exciting Sunday of watching football!  It only took them 8 weeks to get it right.  After this week I still struggle wondering who is good?  Every week nothing seems to make since with this league except my Patriots are great and my Browns could stink up a Yankee Candle.  I thought I would break out the “tiers” to attempt to understand where these teams stand as of now.  It didn’t work.  Below is my ranking that I settled on after many attempts. 

Podcast: Episode 27 - Nov 3rd, 2016

Gary and Chris sit down for a live show on facebook and periscope and talk about the Cubs World Series win over the Indians, the massive ratings that it drew (even going against the CMAs with Beyonce... which was discussed), the amazing moments in Game 7, Memphis offensive coordinator calling the wrong number trying to recruit Jalen Hurd, and Richard Sherman talks about why NFL ratings are down. The Alabama / LSU game is broken down both in history and this year's game, whether or not Coach O deserves the job whether he beats Alabama or not, and, finally, the picks for the week in college football and NFL.

WCE Thursday Picks

Cubs win. And what a game it was. Now, it's time to get back to football. 

Holy freakin moly.  We've got this thing rolling right now.  Three straight winning weeks in college football, and 6 out of 8 thus far.  Last week we got tricked by Michigan and Washington St, who both won, but failed to cover in road games against conference foes.  We won't be fooled this week.  

This is the time of year where things get much, much tighter, so we're rolling with 4 underdogs in college games where the line is MUCH too big.

 Check out our NFL picks, head-to-head biggest games, and our SEC Fantasy picks for the week below.

Not just viewers... NFL gambling is down too.

NFL viewers are down this year. And apparently so is gambling.

This is the first time in 6 years that the 190 Nevada Sportsbooks have had a decline in the amount of bets taken.  The total amount is down 3.9% in September, which equals out to about $6 million down during the same month last year.

One thing we never figured to see a decrease in would be gambling, especially in today's market, but that just gives you an idea of how disinterested people have been in the NFL this year.

College football viewership has been up.  And the matchups have been fantastic.  But the NFL games have been so dreadful that even the betters have stopped giving a damn about the games.

Butch Jones's Tennessee team is a dumpster fire.

Yesterday's press conference from Knoxville just confirmed what we already knew about the Butch Jones tenure at Tennessee:  they won't reach expectations under this coach.

To be fair, Butch helped turn this thing around after the disastrous era under Derek Dooley.  They are setup to be able to compete (in most games), which is something they simply could not do during Dooley's tenure.  Dooley's teams looked completely lost on the field.  They lost to Kentucky for the first time in almost 3 decades.

The Jones tenure has felt different.  They were steadily building.  And this was supposed to be the year that put them over the top in their division.  But this team had expectations put on it for the first time in forever, and the coaching staff and players have not lived up to expectations in any single game this season, sans an explosive 2nd half against a Florida team without their starting quarterback.

So what exactly has gone wrong?  Did this group of experienced players simply slack off, thinking the preseason hype would win them games against inferior competition?  Have they just had too many injuries and the backups were not ready for the spotlight?