- UCF is in rebuilding mode under Scott Frost but is miles ahead of Bill Belichick and North Carolina.
- Should Dabo Swinney leave Clemson? No, he’s got it good there. Just stop whining and fix the problems.
- ACC positioned for multiple College Football Playoff bids.
Indiana beat a ranked opponent by 53 points, and Dabo Swinney started a season 1-3. It truly is a new day for college football.
Oh, and Vanderbilt and Missouri remained on track to be undefeated when each plays Alabama in October.
Having fun yet? Well, they’re not having any laughs at Clemson, Florida, Arkansas or Wisconsin. But, September’s misery gives way to the euphoria of November coaching searches. Except at Clemson. The Tigers are stuck, unless Swinney gains the nerve to leave.
Here are four questions left on my mind after college football’s Week 4:
Just how bad can this Bill Belichick experience get?
The best part of Belichick’s game day occurred when his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, came in close for a pregame talk on the sideline. Whatever Hudson said didn’t help.
North Carolina got creamed 34-9 by Central Florida. This result is far worse than the Tar Heels’ blowout loss in Belichick’s opener. Why?
Well, in the opener against TCU, North Carolina faced an opponent that returned a healthy chunk of production, including star quarterback Josh Hoover. Sonny Dykes is settled into his fourth season coaching TCU. By comparison, Belichick flipped North Carolina’s roster with more than 70 newcomers between transfers and signees. So, maybe we should have expected Week 1 growing pains, right?
Fast-forward to this game against UCF. The Tar Heels were up against an opponent that navigated a massive roster overhaul of its own, after rehiring Scott Frost for a second stint leading the program.
This result proved Frost and his staff did a vastly superior job reshaping the Knights’ roster than Belichick and company did for UNC. Some had theorized Belichick and his NFL mates, including general manager Michael Lombardi, would demonstrate a keen eye for talent. So much for that. Belichick assembled a bunch of fresh faces, but this squad is worse than Mack Brown’s final team.
UCF’s transfer quarterback Tayven Jackson outperformed North Carolina’s own transfer, Gio Lopez, and the Knights’ rebuilt offensive line bullied the Tar Heels.
It didn’t help that Belichick referred to UCF as “Central” in the leadup to the game, almost as if UNC was facing some high school team. Frost used Belichick’s terminology as extra motivation.
“We’re UCF,” Frost said, following the beatdown.
UCF’s rebuild is coming along much faster than North Carolina’s.
Just how bad could it get for Belichick? The November schedule includes a game against lowly Stanford. A loss to interim coach Frank Reich would amount to rock bottom.
Should Dabo Swinney bolt from Clemson?
Swinney dared Clemson to fire him, and he vowed to coach elsewhere else if it came to that.
That’s big talk from a guy whose team got crushed days later by Syracuse. Swinney has now lost five of his past six games against Power Four opponents.
Where’s Swinney going to go where he’s got it better than Clemson? He only made the playoff last season thanks to coaching in the weak ACC.
Swinney couldn’t handle a little criticism two years ago from a radio show caller, and he threw a tantrum after encountering some blowback following a loss to Georgia Tech. Just imagine Swinney in the SEC’s pressure cooker, where the scrutiny is relentless. It might well consume him.
Also, try picturing a coach who’s averse to transfers keeping up with the SEC’s big spenders. Even in the Big 12, Texas Tech bought the makings of a playoff roster straight out of portal land.
Swinney best stay put.
Few coaches other than Nick Saban could outdo Swinney’s prowess during the recruit, retain and develop era. Swinney transformed a sleepy Clemson program and turned it into a monster. Now, he’s failing to live up to the expectation he created, and even Saban says Swinney’s approach requires evolution.
Swinney would have suitors, if he decided to leave. But, why attempt a rebuild elsewhere, when he’s never shown an ability to reconstruct a roster through the portal? Swinney would be better served trying to evolve within a conference he’s shown he can master, and at a school where he enjoys supreme job security.
Put the blinders on, stop whining, quit daring your employer to fire you, and fix the problem. That’s the way out of this hole.
Does Big 12 have advantage on the ACC in the playoff hunt?
The Big 12 is a stronger overall conference than the ACC. It proved that by its teams compiling a 6-1 record in nonconference games against ACC opponents.
So, the Big 12 has a leg up on the ACC in qualifying multiple playoff teams, right? Wrong.
We’re not talking about a 68-team NCAA tournament, where quality conference depth serves as a trump card to stockpiling bids. In the 12-team playoff, it’s more important to have a few premier teams that separate from the pack and navigate the conference schedule mostly unscathed. (See the 2024 Big Ten.)
That’s where the ACC has an advantage on the Big 12.
Miami and Florida State established positioning among the upper crust. Miami beat Notre Dame and Florida, and the Seminoles toppled Alabama.
Also, undefeated Georgia Tech enjoys a schedule with no ranked ACC opponents. Georgia Tech already beat Colorado for the ACC’s lone triumph against the Big 12.
The Miami-FSU-Georgia Tech trio gives the ACC muscle to pursue multiple bids with minimal impediments. Seriously, do we expect Stanford or Virginia Tech to stand in the way of Miami or Florida State?
The Big 12’s quality depth creates more landmines in the way of its top teams.
Are we ready to take Indiana seriously?
Indiana’s 63-10 beatdown of Illinois made a loud statement the upstart Hoosiers intend to be no flash in the pan.
Cocksure Curt Cignetti has this program humming, and the offense is even more dangerous behind transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza than it was during last year’s improbable playoff run.
Sure, Illinois was probably a touch overrated, but the Illini are not a total slouch. They’ll probably finish in the top half of the Big Ten standings, even after the Hoosiers disemboweled them.
There’s no “next Indiana” in this playoff race. There’s just Indiana.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.