Clay Helton went 36-13 in the Pac and he's done. Went to the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl. Won the Rose.

I guess the moral of the story is don't get blown out at home by the genius school.

Blown out by Bama? Well, that never happens to anybody.

(sarcasm alert)

But they did blow out Oregon, Notre Dame, UCLA, and had a solid win over 4th ranked Washington. Nice recovery.

If they think James Franklin is going to take the job, they better have a brinks truck ready to back up to his door for him to leave State Penn. Somewhere between Dabo, Jimbo, and Saban. Maybe more? Maybe the first 10mil/yr college football salary?

I'll give you the Washington game but go back and look at those other teams that year.

Oregon: 4-8
Notre Dame: 4-8
UCLA: 4-8

In regards to Franklin, USC is widely regarded as a Top 10 job in college football. If anything, Franklin will use it as leverage to either get a large contract from PSU or bolt for the "better" job. It really depends what he thinks PSU can do from this point as a program. They almost reached that OSU level, but not quite there yet. Can they be? Maybe. But if he doesn't think so he'll leave.

Whatever happens, USC is in a lot better position to make a better hire (aka the right hire) than just retreading old USC coaches. New AD Mike Bohn was Cincinnati's AD and hired Luke Fickell. I doubt Fickell would take that job, but you at least have to take the phone call if you're him. And as MadDog mentioned, the whole department is scrambling trying to recover from that scandal. They need a home run hire in football.

Now, Franklin to USC then Fickell to PSU? That makes a ton of sense unless OSU magically opens.

I haven't seen any analysis of how thoroughly USC players have grown as men under Helton, the lessons they've learned, or academic performance of the team. Given that these are student athletes, I assume that's the primary metric being measured?

Names being mentioned so far: PSU's Franklin, Oregon's Cristobal, Fickell, Iowa State's Campbell, Clemson asst Tony Elliott, Bama asst Bill O'Brien, Bob Stoops.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/pac12/2021/09... /

Cincy's move to the B12 might just keep them from losing Fickell. It'll be a "P" school in a couple of years, although how long it retains that status depends on how soon the B12 shows its second-class citizenship. He seems very comfortable at Cincy and has developed quite a recruiting pipeline, so he might be hesitant to give that up.

From a cost of living and tax stand point, figure his total compensation would have to more than double, just to make it a lateral move from a salary standpoint, right? (That is assuming he has no difference in preference for living in Cincinnati vs. LA)