The buyout gods rested. The money cannon ran out of gunpowder. The firing squad took a weekend off.
Folks, we just got through a Sunday with no college football coaches fired.
Do you believe in miracles?
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Speaking of miracles, Kentucky just beat an SEC opponent by 31 points. Oy vey, Florida Gators. Oh, and Wisconsin won a Big Ten game in which its punter totaled as many passing yards as the three quarterbacks the Badgers tried.
Coaching carousel: Predicting who will be hired for each Power Four vacancy
CFP bracket: Vanderbilt in, BYU out in Selection Sunday projection
Here are my Topp Thoughts after Week 11:
Is LSU still the best job on the market?
The fact this is even a question tells you how things are going on the bayou. Last week, an embarrassing round of “Who’s on first?” unfolded as LSU President Wade Rousse struggled to explain whether Verge Ausberry was or wasn’t the Tigers athletic director.
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Ausberry went from interim AD to having the interim tag removed to “acting AD” to, heck, I don’t even know. He’s running the coaching search, anyway.
LSU suspended Ausberry just four years ago for his role in improperly handling complaints of sexual and physical abuse against LSU athletes.
A reporter for the Louisiana Illuminator wrote Rousse told her he didn’t know much about Ausberry’s involvement in that scandal.
Heck of a vetting process.
The messier LSU gets, the more I think whomever lands the Penn State job might be the true winner of the coaching carousel.
Did Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza just win the Heisman Trophy?
No. After Mendoza led Indiana on a game-winning drive at Penn State, teammate Aiden Fisher called it “a Heisman moment.”
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“He’s the best player in the country,” Fisher said.
Totally appropriate for Fisher to stump for his quarterback, but Mendoza did not secure the Heisman by passing for 218 yards against woebegone Penn State.
Mendoza starred in Indiana’s game-winning drive. Part of the reason Indiana needed a game-winning drive was because Mendoza struggled up to that point. His fourth-quarter interception allowed Penn State to take the lead, creating the need for a rally.
Meanwhile, at Ohio State, quarterback Julian Sayin is completing 80.9% of his passes. Calling that a video game completion rate overrates video gamers.
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Mendoza and Sayin remain top contenders for the Heisman, but the award is not won on the second Saturday in November. These teams are on a collision course for the Big Ten championship game. How Mendoza and Sayin fare head-to-head in that game — and how Sayin plays against Michigan the week before — will be particularly influential.
Also in the Heisman hunt are Vanderbilt’s Pavia, Alabama’s Ty Simpson, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed.
Can the Group of Five qualify two playoff teams?
Highly unlikely, but not impossible.
Remember, the playoff selection committee is not required to select each of the Power Four conference champions. It’s only required to pick five conference champions. In other words, the committee could reject the ACC’s champion in favor of a second Group of Five conference champion.
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Why would the committee reject the ACC’s champion? Well, because four-loss Duke is very much alive in the ACC race for the conference title. The Blue Devils have losses to UConn, Tulane and Illinois but just one conference loss.
The American conference’s champion retains the best track for a playoff spot from the Group of Five. If Duke emerges atop the ACC’s stinking pile, the Sun Belt’s James Madison (8-1) could build a case for a second G5 spot at the expense of Duke.
The likelier outcome: A team other than Duke will win the ACC and secure the bid.
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.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LSU football coaching search remains weird, Heisman race remains open
