1st & 10: Coaching buyouts, playoff rankings, Iowa State talking, Big 12 lunacy

When big news happens in college football in the state of Texas, the head coach of the Longhorns often gets asked for his opinion on the matter. So it makes sense that Steve Sarkisian was asked Monday what he would do with almost $80 million, the amount of money Jimbo Fisher is set to receive over the next eight years not to coach the Texas A&M Aggies.

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“I don’t have that in my contract,” Sarkisian joked.

After a lighthearted quip, Sarkisian went into a real answer that I believe proves Sark is a good person in a position where that quality is not always appreciated.

And while I’ll make an Aggie joke or two at Fisher’s expense, Sarkisian’s words hint at the challenges within the coaching profession when leaving a job.

When the time comes for a program to move on from a head coach, it can be extremely difficult for those who don’t have the benefit of a windfall approaching nine figures.

“There’s assistant coaches,” Sarkisian said. “There’s staff members. There’s strength and conditioning coaches. There’s trainers. All those people have families and all those people have kids, too.

“It’s a great profession. I love what we get to do every day. It’s a great profession. Everybody just wants to point to the head coach getting fired when in actuality a lot of people are eventually out of jobs, need to go find jobs, are getting relocated, and kids are changing schools. When you live that and you see the effect it has on your kids, that’s a lot. It takes its toll.”

That’s a noble answer, and one that does get ignored. Not everyone gets an eight-figure buyout, let alone one with six figures or seven figures. It’s the risk the industry carries. Good on Sark for pointing that out.

My sympathy doesn’t go as far for head coaches. Even in a case like Tom Herman‘s, one where the reported buyout was in the $15 million range, that’s a lot of money to make up for the shot to your pride.

But Sark, like his mentor Nick Saban, does a good job of trying to speak about what’s best for the sport. It’s a commendable quality for both to have, even while admitting their priority is to win football games considering they’re paid handsomely to do so.

1: Another set of rankings, another question for College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan about ranking the Longhorns over Alabama.

That’s become a question within the rankings discussion sphere, specifically when worded this way for Corrigan: how do you weigh the head-to-head with Texas and Alabama as Alabama gets better?

Here was Corrigan’s answer:

Well, again, two really good teams. Alabama has continued to improve, and Jalen Milroe has gotten better each week.

As we look at it, the importance of the head-to-head is there, just as conference championships are.

But as I think I said on the show, the debate in the room continues to be strong as we’re going through this and making sure that we’re looking at everything as we gather more information.

The teams are different. Texas has Quinn Ewers back after being gone for a couple weeks.

We’ll continue to look at it, but head-to-head certainly is important.

That’s been the answer Corrigan has provided over the past few weeks, but the second sentence does seem to reveal the head-to-head win would be challenged, though not overcome, if both Alabama and Texas were to win their conference titles.

2: When the Texas secondary struggles, the players are often asked why teams are able to pass on them. Teams average 247.0 yards per game through the air, a dismal stat that stands in contrast to UT’s standing in some of the advanced defensive metrics and also to how the Longhorns fare against the run. Pete Kwiatkowski‘s rushing defense is No. 9 nationally, allowing 90.1 yards per game.

And that question usually is answered by secondary members saying they need to communicate better.

“The metaphor we reference is it should sound like basketball practice pre- and post-snap,” Michael Taaffe said on Monday. “Always talking to your guys around you so if they didn’t see something, they saw it from your communication.”

I don’t doubt the guys talk on the field, but too often there have been disconnects that haven’t led to a lot more action by the Longhorn secondary. Players may hear a “dig” call, but they don’t react to the dig fast enough.

Even so, you won’t hear players say they have to get faster. You will hear them say they have to tackle better, right after they mention they have to communicate better.

“I think it’s important everybody’s on the same page,” Jahdae Barron said. “I can’t just tell one safety this if they rotate a lot of safeties. I have tell all the safeties so they’re all on the same page with me.”

3: Can Xavier Worthy reach 1000 receiving yards this year? It’s not out of the realm of possibility, especially with Quinn Ewers back.

Worthy has 757 yards in 10 games, a mark three yards shy of his 2022 campaign that took him 13 games to get to. To get to 1000, Worthy would need 243 yards over the next two games, or three games should Texas make the Big 12 championship game.

It’s not far-fetched considering Worthy can go off for a big play at any moment, just like he did last week versus TCU. If he’s able to do so, he’ll have just the 11th 1000-yard season in school history.

In addition, there’s a good chance Worthy passes B.J. Johnson for ninth on the school’s all-time receiving yards list this season, and Devin Duvernay at No. 8 is also within reach.

4: The Longhorns can record their first 10-win regular season since 2009 with a win over the Cyclones.

Ten-win regular seasons are a big deal, though not as big a deal as they used to be. Winning 10 games mattered a lot when there were sometimes only 11 regular season games, no conference title games to speak of, and bowl games were given more importance.

Texas has enjoyed a number of these seasons over the years, but the last 10-win regular season was over 10 years ago in 2009. Sure, Herman and company got to double digits in 2018, but in a roundabout way. Texas was 9-3 entering the Big 12 Championship, lost to Oklahoma to drop to 9-4, then topped Georgia in the Sugar Bowl for win No. 10.

An achievement, no doubt, but not the same as if Sark and company can get win No. 10 in game No. 11.

5: Ever heard of Jarrod Hufford? He’s the starting left guard for the Cyclones, and he had some things to say this week.

I asked Iowa State OL Jarrod Hufford about Texas coming to Ames one final time before leaving for the SEC. Hufford gave a spicy answer, and then added some more heat when answering @TravisHines21 follow-up question. pic.twitter.com/W0gXaGVzPj

— Mark Freund (@MarkFreundTV) November 14, 2023

His answer to the first part of the question?

“It’s definitely going to be one heck of a farewell present,” Hufford said. “I think they’re going to come here in the dark, (and) I don’t really think they know what’s coming for them. I think they’ll have to come out and figure it out. The Cyclone community in Ames, when it comes to night games especially against Texas, we’ve beaten them four out of the last five times they’ve been here. They don’t have a good record here. We have a very distasteful in our mouth with them (sic), we definitely want to send them off to the SEC with a loss on our end. This will be a good game.”

Good for him. Let’s not used canned answers all the time. We all know you want to win and win badly and that Iowa State is a program that has had its successes against Texas. Flex! Your program has earned it. Hufford is 3-1 versus Texas as a Cyclone. Talk!

But just know that when the camera’s in your face, words like this…

“Ever since I got here, it was Iowa and Texas with the Horns Down all the time and whatnot,” Hufford said. “That program, much like Oklahoma, they get all the big five-star recruits, they get all the nicest stuff in the world and they just think they don’t stink. They’re just humans. That’s how I see them. They’re people who have such a high ego that needs to be checked.”

Can be heard by people like the Longhorns’ superstar defensive tackle…

7pm https://t.co/EttP9MhiPG

— MURPH DAWG🦍 (@ByronMurphyII) November 14, 2023

6: Iowa State has two impact defensive backs in TJ Tampa and Jeremiah Cooper. Tampa has played in every game this season, with 33 tackles and two interceptions. Cooper has 36 tackles, 1.5 TFL, and five interceptions, but hasn’t played since the Cyclones topped Baylor on October 28.

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said Cooper was “certainly trending positively” to play on Saturday during his Monday press conference.

“Certainly, I would say a lot more likely to play than less likely to play at least as of right now,” Campbell said.

7: Speaking of Campbell, there’s little doubt that Hufford’s sentiments originate from the top of the organizational structure of Iowa State football.

As Eric noted yesterday, Campbell was very complimentary of the Longhorns in his press setting. He noted the talent across the roster, and complimented Sarkisian for the work he’s done to turn it around.

But players don’t get the confidence to say things like what Hufford said unless, more than likely, their coach is saying it too.

Campbell was asked about the animosity between Iowa State fans and the Longhorn football program. Aside from actual rivals Iowa and Kansas State, the Longhorns seem to catch disproportionate flack from Cyclone fans where the only thing the two programs have in common right now is conference affiliation and Interstate 35.

No, I don’t know the answer to that. I know personally, from the inside, our respect for Texas in terms of playing down there and certainly what the history of that football program has been about. Playing them here, you know what you’re playing against. You’re playing against some of the absolute best players in college football. I’ve got the utmost respect for Coach Sark, how he goes about it, what he’s done to that program, and just the elevation that he’s had in a couple of short fields has been really special to watch.

For some reason, between Hufford’s words and Breece Hall discussing “five-star culture versus five-star players” a few years back, I have a feeling Campbell shares some of the animosity his Ames faithful have when behind closed doors.

8: Texas hosts Rice on Wednesday night at the Moody Center. The Rice game holds some amount of significance for Rodney Terry, as last season it was the first game Terry served as acting head coach in the aftermath of Chris Beard‘s arrest.

That game on December 12, 2022 went to overtime, an understandable outcome considering everything that had happened in the preceding 24 hours.

The Longhorns survived a 28-point effort from Quincy Olivari, who transferred to Xavier in the offseason.

Still with the Owls is seven-footer Max Fiedler, who added 10 points, eight rebounds, and sliced-and-diced Texas with seven assists last year.

“He’s in his 5th year of playing college basketball,” Terry said about the test for Kadin Shedrick and Ze’Rik Onyema. “He’s an all-conference guy, a guy that shoots a very high percentage in the paint. He’s an elite passer, probably one of the best passers in all of college basketball.”

9: The game of the week is Washington at Oregon State. The Beavers are a 2.5-point favorite at home in Corvallis for a top-10 matchup. I think the chaos on the West Coast starts this week, and Oregon State tops the Huskies to set up an epic battle in the Civil War with Oregon.

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10: The Big 12 did everything but cover itself in glory yesterday when it released a “clarification” on the tiebreaker process for the 14-team league.

SoonerScoop’s George Stoia wrote this about how the tiebreaker rules affects the Sooners if there were a three-way tie. Texas can stay above the fray by winning out, but it’s just another example of the Big 12 Conference failing to account for all outcomes and giving the semblance of lending favor to remaining teams — even after the Brett Yormark fiasco in Lubbock.