Ten thoughts from the weekend

Ten thoughts from the weekend in college football:

1. Clemson fans should be happy Texas Tech is 5-1.

Before the season, one of the popular questions fielded at Clemson-related speaking engagements was: “How long will Chad Morris be at Clemson?”

My standard response: “Pull hard for Texas Tech, Tennessee and whoever else has coaches on the hot seat.”

Morris isn’t going to leave for any old job; he’s the highest-paid coordinator in college football at $1.3 million, and he has an arsenal of playmakers with eligibility remaining beyond this year.

But Morris aspires to be a head coach at a BCS-level school, and Texas Tech would make a lot of sense given his long, strong ties to the state of Texas.

Doesn’t look like there will be an opening there anytime soon, though. The Red Raiders are the biggest surprise of the Big 12 after Saturday’s complete throttling of West Virginia.

Classic Tommy Tuberville. He’s 6-2 all-time against Top 5 teams after the 49-14 bulldozing of the Mountaineers.

2. The SEC is on the verge of major coaching turnover.

Speaking of Tennessee, Derek Dooley has quickly lost the momentum he gained with a supposedly crucial opening victory over N.C. State in Atlanta.

Auburn is a dumpster fire producing hot garbage on a weekly basis.

And Joker Phillips is a punch line at Kentucky.

The SEC’s upper crust is in great shape thanks to some distinguished coaches, but it’s easy to forget the league has suffered some major losses of bright minds in recent years with the departures of Urban Meyer and Bobby Petrino.

It’ll be very interesting to see what direction SEC schools take to fill vacancies. Alabama, LSU, South Carolina and Florida are winning with physical, ball-control offense and stout defense, and that goes strongly against the national trend of hurry-up, spread offenses.

Don’t underestimate the power of seeing your rivals win a certain way. Surely Alabama’s style influenced Auburn in its desire to move away from Gus Malzahn’s philosophy, and that shift is blowing up in Gene Chizik’s face.

The bet here is Tennessee will be influenced mostly by Florida and Alabama if it makes a change.

Dooley’s record in SEC games, by the way: 4-15.

3. Underestimate Les Miles at your own peril.

You can rip the guy for his zany antics and his bizarre game management. But that stuff overshadows some real substance to his coaching style.

It’s hard not to field a great defense with all those freakish athletes LSU has running all over the place every single year.

Yet the Bayou Bengals won Saturday night more because of a persistent, physical, determined effort by their offensive line.

LSU was missing three linemen going in, and that was an ominous development going up against a South Carolina front that completely overwhelmed Georgia a week earlier.

But Miles knows how to develop and coach offensive linemen, and he knew the Gamecocks had some vulnerabilities Georgia did not expose.

LSU was down 7-3 at halftime, and that’s when a lot of coaches lose their patience. But Miles stuck with his power running game, going right at Jadeveon Clowney and then getting to the corners when the Gamecocks packed their linebackers inside to stop the between-the-tackles stuff.

You can’t base an offense on I-formation unless you’re really, really good on the offensive line. LSU certainly fits that criteria, and that’s a credit to Miles.

4. Brent Musberger should consider hanging up his microphone.

It almost hurts to type that, because Musberger is an institution. Think of high-stakes football in the 1980s, and Musberger’s voice is an essential part of that soundtrack.

Musberger knows the intricacies of the game better than, say, Verne Lundquist, but he tends to slip during some rather big moments.

He completely botched a late-game situation Saturday at LSU, failing to recognize that South Carolina picked up a first down on a fourth-down pass that reached the goal line. Kirk Herbstreit had to correct him, and such instances have become more common over the years.

Musberger is far from bad, but he’s losing his fastball.

5. John Swofford was pulling hard for Virginia Tech last week – or at least he should’ve been.

Duke is a nice story and all with its five wins and its approach toward bowl eligibility.

And while the Blue Devils aren’t necessarily vastly inferior to anyone in the mess of a Coastal Division, it’d be really bad for the ACC if that team ended up playing for the ACC championship.

Six years ago, Wake Forest won the conference and the nation snickered. Two years ago, the same Virginia Tech team that lost to James Madison won the ACC.

Florida State and Clemson are regarded as the class of the conference, but imagine the Seminoles or the Tigers squaring off with Duke in Charlotte.

Such an occurrence was looking like a distinct possibility after the Devils went up big early in Blacksburg on Saturday. But the Hokies rebounded to drop Duke to 2-1, and now the Devils’ remaining schedule looks quite foreboding: North Carolina, at Florida State, Clemson, at Georgia Tech, Miami.

Virginia Tech has looked awful at times this year, but the Hokies are 2-1 and still very much in it. Their schedule isn’t exactly easy, though: at Clemson, at Miami, Florida State, at Boston College, Virginia.

Miami really has to be kicking itself for a home loss to North Carolina. Win that game, and the Canes are 4-0 in the ACC with games remaining against Florida State (home), Virginia Tech (home), Virginia (road) and Duke (road).

6. The (Black) Eyes of Texas.

Once upon a time, the Longhorns were considered the model college football program.

From 2004 to 2009, Texas lost a grand total of nine games while claiming a BCS title (2005) and playing for another (2009).

Over their last 31 games, the Longhorns have suffered 14 losses. Eight of those losses have been by double digits, including two absolute beatdowns at the hands of Oklahoma by a combined score of 118-38.

And don’t forget 63-14 against the Sooners in 2000, and 65-13 in 2003. Mack Brown has a statue outside his home stadium, and given the one-sided nature of the Red River Rivalry perhaps it’s time to emblazon “Property of Bob Stoops” on the forehead of Brown’s bust.

When Florida was at its ascent under Meyer, the Gators seemed too big and powerful to fail anytime soon. Same deal with Texas a few years ago. You just assume two national powers will only get stronger as a result of such prominence.

Not necessarily. Elite status can be a lot more fragile than we think, even for the programs with all the resources in the world.

7. If I’m a Georgia fan, I’m not happy with Mark Richt and Mike Bobo.

Did you see how LSU attacked South Carolina’s defense from the beginning? The Bayou Bengals successfully ran running back screens and draws to use the Gamecocks’ over-pursuit against them while testing the linebackers’ ability to get to the corners.

LSU’s brain trust believed Georgia didn’t work hard enough to test South Carolina on the corners. Granted, convention goes out the window when you find yourself in an early 21-0 hole as Georgia did. But the Bulldogs’ offensive game plan becomes more baffling in light of LSU’s success.

8. It’s now permissible to start talking about bowl games.

Seems ESPN starts its weekly bowl projections in, like, March. A comical endeavor but not pointless because, hey, they get a lot of hits.

Mid-October is a good time to start paying some attention, though.

ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach has Florida State playing Rutgers in the Orange Bowl (ugh) and Clemson playing Mississippi State in the Chick-fil-A.

9. Some of these point orgies are becoming boring.

Texas A&M beat Louisiana Tech 59-57 on Saturday. Yawn.

This game lasted four-and-a-half hours and ended at 12:45 a.m. The teams combined for 187 snaps and 1,293 yards. A bunch of Louisiana Tech fans left late in the game.

10. Is Maryland really at the top of the Atlantic Division?

Technically, yes. The Terps are 2-0 in the ACC with wins over Virginia and Wake Forest.

But Terps supporters – both of them – aren’t making reservations for the ACC title game just yet. Remaining schedule: N.C. State, at Boston College, Georgia Tech, at Clemson, Florida State, at North Carolina.