Winners and Losers: The coaching carousel likely put into overdrive Saturday

Saturday’s losses by Texas and LSU probably mean the schools will be looking for new coaches in 2017. And given the prestige and deep pocketbooks at each institution, get ready for the rumor mill to get amped up.

Even before Saturday’s game began, a report emerged that “prominent” Texas boosters were once again infatuated with Houston coach Tom Herman to replace Charlie Strong after the Cougars’ win vs. Louisville on Thursday night. If those boosters loved the idea of Herman before the Longhorns lost to Kansas, imagine how tantalizing it is now.

Kansas’ 24-21 overtime victory was the first time the Jayhawks had beaten Texas since 1938 and the first time Kansas had won a Big 12 game since KU beat Iowa State in 2014. Aside from the embarrassment of losing to perhaps the worst Power Five football program, the loss drops Strong’s record to 16-20 in nearly three seasons at Texas. And the Longhorns now have to beat TCU to simply get to a bowl game.

While those associated with Texas have made sure that the public knows Herman is a top candidate to coach the team in 2017, the Longhorns will probably have competition for Herman’s services.

LSU interim coach Ed Orgeron was a prime candidate to keep his job if the Tigers could end the regular season 9-3 and potentially make the Sugar Bowl. But the Tigers fell 16-10 to Florida on Saturday after a potential game-winning touchdown play from the Gator 1-yard line went horrendously awry after a timeout to set up the call.

Orgeron seemed like the perfect fit for LSU, given his Louisiana roots and recruiting prowess. But 4-2 through six games likely isn’t going to cut it. Especially at a school that publicly vacillated about firing Les Miles during a 9-3 season in 2015 before finally pulling the trigger after a 2-2 start in 2016.

But Herman can’t coach both Texas and LSU. And heck, he could coach neither if he decides to stay at Houston or another school decides it wants to pursue him. So if both LSU and Texas make coaching changes, at least one will have to look outside of southeast Texas.

Oh, and the odds are pretty good Baylor will be looking for a new coach in 2017 too after a fourth-straight loss Saturday. Things are about to get crazy.

It’s a great time to be an agent for a college football coach looking to move up. Here are the rest of this week’s Winners and Losers:

WINNERS

Navy and Temple: The AAC’s two division leaders took care of business on Saturday. Navy (8-3, 6-1 AAC) clinched the AAC West title with a 66-31 beatdown of East Carolina. The Midshipmen put up 480 yards on the ground in the dominant win, including 159 and four touchdowns from quarterback Will Worth. Worth entered the season as the backup but has had a big year after Tago Smith went down with an injury in the opener. Navy has won five of its last six headed into its last two games: at SMU next Saturday and its annual rivalry game with Army on Dec. 10.

Meanwhile, Temple also improved to 8-3 (6-1 AAC) by shutting out Tulane 31-0 on the road. The Owls limited Tulane to just 142 yards of offense while putting up 533 yards of their own. With a win at home next weekend over East Carolina, the Owls will wrap up the East and face Navy in the AAC title game.

Jeremy McNichols: Jeremy McNichols continues to put up huge numbers at Boise State. In Friday night’s win over UNLV, McNichols rushed for 206 yards and four touchdowns on 31 attempts. McNichols now has three 200-yard rushing games on the season and has reached the end zone in 23 consecutive games. He has 1,575 yards and 22 touchdowns on the season.

Dalvin Cook: Cook became Florida State’s all-time leading rusher with his 28-carry, 225-yard, 4-TD performance in Saturday’s 45-14 win over Syracuse.

Cook broke Warrick Dunn’s record of 3,959 yards early and now has 4,165 yards in a Florida State career that likely will span two more games. Because we all know that Cook is probably turning pro at the end of the season.

The Seminoles moved to 8-3 and can be well-positioned for a strong bowl berth with a win over Florida next week.

James Conner: James Conner’s awesome return from cancer continues. In Saturday’s win over Duke, the Pitt running back rushed for 101 yards and two scores on just 14 carries. In the process, Conner broke the ACC record for total touchdowns and rushing touchdowns in a career. He has now reached the end zone 53 times — 50 rushing and three receiving.

Christian McCaffrey: This is the Christian McCaffrey we were expecting at the beginning of the season. The Stanford running back had a huge game against the Cal defense. Yeah, it’s the Cal defense, but it was still impressive.

McCaffrey had 31 carries for 284 yards and four touchdowns in Stanford’s 45-31 win over the Bears, including this long touchdown run.

And while it’s been a disappointing season for Stanford, the Cardinal can at least take solace in knowing that it made sure Cal won’t be going to a bowl in 2016. The loss was Cal’s 7th of the season.

Hunter Dimick: Utah’s Hunter Dimick is putting up huge numbers as a pass rusher. He set Utah’s record for career sacks (29) Saturday against Oregon. He now has 13 sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss on the season.

Tracy Claeys: There have been talks for weeks about Tracy Claeys potentially losing his job at the end of the year. He’s making it awfully hard for Minnesota (and new athletic director Mark Coyle) to do that. With an impressive 29-12 win over Northwestern, the Gophers improved to 8-3 on the year. Claeys replaced Jerry Kill, who was forced into retirement because of health issues. First he was coaching on an interim basis, but the interim tag was lifted. He said he’ll talk about an extension with Coyle after the season.

Zach Terrell and Corey Davis: 27 touchdowns. One interception. That’s a pretty good ratio, huh? After putting up 445 yards and four touchdowns Saturday against Buffalo, that’s how Western Michigan quarterback Zach Terrell’s statsheet reads. Terrell now has 2,890 yards passing on the season for the 11-0 Broncos. Corey Davis has been Terrell’s favorite target all year and they hooked up for 13 catches, 176 yards and two touchdowns. Davis now is the MAC’s all-time leader in touchdown receptions with 49.

Nevada: Nevada battled back from a 14-point second half deficit to beat Utah State 38-37 on a fourth and goal touchdown run with five seconds left in regulation. The game was tied when Nevada quarterback Ty Gangi rolled out right on a play-action fake. He looked to throw but nobody was open, but there was plenty of green grass. He went untouched into the end zone. The game was won with the extra point moments later.

LOSERS

Connecticut: UConn’s attempt to shake things up offensively has fallen completely flat. For the second consecutive game the Huskies’ offense was shutout, this time in a loss to Boston College, which has the nation’s worst total offense.

UConn freshman quarterback Donovan Williams struggled in his second start, throwing for just 127 yards and three interceptions. If there’s a positive, he only had 69 passing yards against Temple the week before. Overall, UConn had 121 yards of total offense — yes, it had minus-6 rushing yards — and four total turnovers.

In the past three games, UConn has been outscored 92-3.

Texas Tech: It’s one thing to lose a seventh game and ensure you’re not going to a bowl. It’s another to do it in incredibly embarrassing fashion to a team that isn’t going to a bowl game either.

Tech lost 66-10 to Iowa State on Saturday. Yes, 66-10. That’s impressive by the low standards of the Tech defense. Iowa State quarterback Jacob Park threw for two touchdowns and ran for another while quarterback Jake Lanning ran for five touchdowns. The Iowa State offense had over 600 yards while Tech’s usually-prolific offense barely cracked the 300-yard mark.

If Tech was playing for its bowl life next week vs. Baylor, we’d like the Red Raiders’ chances. But given that Tech has little to play for (just like the Bears), that game is anyone’s best guess.

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish had a 17-point first half lead, including a 10-point lead in the fourth and squandered it. Joey Slye kicked a 20-yard field goal with 4:16 to play to give Virginia Tech a 34-31 win. It was the eighth game for the Irish this season that has come down to one possession and seven of those contests have been losses.

With the loss, Notre Dame falls to 4-7 and is officially out of bowl contention with one final game against USC remaining. That game will mercifully end a disappointing season that began with the Fighting Irish ranked No. 10 in the preseason AP Poll.

NC State: It was just a month ago that NC State had Clemson on the ropes and was a missed field goal away from pulling an upset that would have shocked the college football world. Since then, the Wolf Pack has gone 1-4, including Saturday’s 27-13 loss to Miami. That loss leaves the Wolf Pack needing a win against North Carolina to be eligible for the postseason.

TCU: Coach Gary Patterson didn’t hold anything back following the Horned Frogs’ 31-6 loss to Oklahoma State.

“They kicked our butts. You have to be able to run the football when you get inside the 5, and you’ve got to tackle,” Patterson said. “That was as easy a game to have a definition of as I’ve had in a while. It’s been a long time in my 19 years where we got our butts kicked at home. That was one of them.”

The Horned Frogs averaged 3.7 yards per rush and just 145 rushing yards overall. Oklahoma State had two rushers go for 154 and 146 yards respectively.

“The bottom line is we got our butt kicked,” Patterson said. “It’s a lot more gut-wrenching to get a field goal blocked and lose by two points than getting your butt kicked. It’s more helpless. You can’t do anything about it. We had three guys get run over. You’ve got to decide if you want to be a football player. It’s simple.”

Missouri: The Tigers hung with Tennessee for 2.5 quarters. Then everything went to hell.

Missouri lost 63-37 after being within 28-27 in the third quarter. Somehow the Tigers had 740 yards of total offense despite losing by 26 points. Turnovers helped the margin, however, as Mizzou once again couldn’t get out of its own way at times.

A large portion of Mizzou’s yards came on the ground, exposing Tennessee’s run defense. Mizzou ran for 420 yards. If Tennessee goes to a big bowl game, the Vols could get exposed.

Auburn eagle: This is not how you fly correctly, bird.