Those hot seats should be boiling over in the coming days in Knoxville and Baton Rouge after what went down in SEC stadiums on Saturday. Tennessee was completely outclassed in every facet of the game at home by Georgia in a 41-0 curb-stomping in front of a checkered out Neyland Stadium. Later that night, LSU dropped a home game against Troy in non-conference play. Butch Jones and Ed Orgeron are each in deep, deep trouble.
Jones is arguably in the worst shape of the two SEC coaches on the hot seat, given he’s in his fifth season on the job. He doesn’t have the luxury of the excuse of not having his own players on the roster, as he’s now more than four full recruiting cycles into the job. There’s simply no excuse for a 41-0 loss at home, even if Georgia looks to be a legitimate SEC — and possible College Football Playoff — contender.
There was nothing positive to draw from such a lopsided loss. The Vols were outgained 378-142. Tennessee had four turnovers and just seven first downs the entire game. Tennessee converted just one of their 12 third down situations for a first down. The defense, which was supposed to tighten up since last year’s hiring of Bob Shoop as defensive coordinator, was gashed for 294 yards on the ground. I don’t know if Georgia will continue to be a true playoff contender, but Tennessee had no way of stopping them from looking the part. It was, perhaps, the most embarrassing loss in Tennessee history. It also doesn’t help that Florida picked up another win in conference play to help bury Tennessee in the SEC East.
The window for Tennessee competing for and winning the SEC East was wide open for a few years, but has now been locked shut. The Vols missed their chance to make something long-lasting happen in Knoxville under Butch Jones, and the time to strongly consider some drastic changes is here.
As for Ed Orgeron, the situation at LSU may be different for frustrating reasons if you’re an LSU fan.
LSU saw their 49-game winning streak at home against non-conference opponents come to an end at the hands of Troy on Saturday night. After digging a 17-0 hole in the third quarter, LSU did show more fight than Tennessee could dream of to make a game of things in the fourth quarter, but a home loss to Troy is still a loss that should never really be a possibility at LSU. But perhaps we should have seen this one coming.
The Tigers were tanked by Mississippi State just two weeks ago, and the Bulldogs have since been demolished by Georgia and then Auburn the last two games by a combined score of 80-13. It turns out Mississippi State may not be very good either, and they made mincemeat of the Tigers. Just last week, we watched LSU have to sweat out a home win against Syracuse. And now the schedule for LSU is about to get very difficult with upcoming games at Florida and Alabama, and a home game against Auburn mixed in between those two games. As I noted on College Football Talk earlier this week, LSU may have a winning record, but I see a tough uphill battle just to get to the bowl season.
And if that doesn’t put the pressure on Orgeron, what will?
The problem in Baton Rouge, more than dropping a home game against Troy, paying them nearly $1 million for the game and getting trolled on Twitter afterward, is the unfathomable buyout clause in Orgeron’s contract, which is reported to be $12 million. A $12 million buyout for a coach with any success makes sense. For LSU to throw that kind of buyout fee at Orgeron is just bad leadership from above. And after buying out the contract of Les Miles at roughly $9.7 million over the next five years, the last thing LSU can justify is paying out $12 million to a good quality recruiter who can’t coach his team to a home win against Troy.
So it would seem Orgeron may be sticking around a little longer than some LSU fans may want unless a wealthy booster comes along to help pay that buyout fee. Maybe LSU should think about hiring Suze Orman to handle the financial decisions.
Meanwhile, in College Station, Kevin Sumlin has seen his hot seat cool with a 4-1 record under his belt, even if some of those games have had some tension-filled moments along the way.
