College Football: Big XII Coaching Power Rankings 2018

Lincoln Riley

Who is #1 in the Big XII Coaching Power Rankings?

Welcome to the Big XII, where offense thrives, and defenses die. If you like points, this is the conference for you. If you like defense, you might as well turn off the game because it’s rarely played with the exception of TCU. Because of this, it can be hard to determine how the Big XII stacks up against other conferences like the Big 10, Pac-12, ACC and SEC if one side of the ball is, for the most part, neglected. However, the top of the conference is loaded with teams like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU who regularly compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

ICYMI:

Pac-12 Coaching Power Rankings

Big Ten Coaching Power Rankings

Can Lincoln Riley take the Sooners to its third playoff trip? Can Gary Patterson and Mike Gundy lead their teams to the promised land? Let’s take a look at the coaching power rankings for the Big XII.

10. Kansas – David Beaty

Without a doubt, the Big XII program that believes in their coach the most is Kansas. Am I crazy? No, and here’s why. Name one coach in America that can go 0-12 and 2-10 in back-to-back seasons and still earn a contract extension. I’ll name that coach for you. It’s David Beaty. All the credit in the world to this guy for keeping his job despite having a record of 3-33 (!!!) in three years. You can’t help but root for Coach Beaty. The only way to go is up so best of luck to Coach Beaty. Rock chalk!

9. Baylor – Matt Rhule

Matt Rhule is a brave man for taking the Baylor job. He inherited a toxic situation at the university and surrounding the football team in the wake of the allegations under Art Briles tenure as head coach. While Rhule deserves a long leash, he likely won’t get one. The Rhule won 10 games at Temple twice, which is remarkable in itself. The Baylor Bears fan base will be looking for that same success. They are accustomed to 10+ win seasons and won’t settle for excuses. Rhule must drastically improve on his 1-11 record in Waco. Otherwise, his seat temperature will go from cool to inferno very quickly.

8. Texas Tech – Kliff Kingsbury

Kliff Kingsbury’s tenure at Texas Tech can be described with one word: disappointing. He is 30-33 overall, and 6-12 in the Big XII over the last two seasons. But why hasn’t this worked? Kingsbury knows how to develop quarterbacks cc: Case Keenum, Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes. The program loves Kingsbury because he was a legendary quarterback for the Red Raiders. Texas Tech lights up the scoreboard every week. Why is this not working again? Oh, that’s right. Texas Tech is allergic to defense. Two years ago, Kingsbury’s Red Raiders allowed a mind-blowing 554.3 yards per game, which was easily last in the Big XII. However, the defense made some strides last year, and “only” gave up 443 yards per game. The good news is will most of their starters for the upcoming season. If they can improve on the defensive side, even more, Texas Tech will be a dark horse to make the conference title game.

7. Iowa State – Matt Campbell

Iowa State, enjoy Matt Campbell for now because the NFL and college football bluebloods will be knocking on his door soon. That’s how coveted Campbell will be. In two years in Ames, Ames has turned Iowa State into a highly respected team in the Big XII. There are no more guaranteed wins when teams see Iowa State on the schedule. Last season Campbell led the Cyclones to 8 wins, the program’s highest win total since 2000. If he keeps the momentum growing from last year, watch out. Iowa State should be fighting in the top half of the conference all year.

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College Football: Big-10 Coach Power Rankings 2018

Without a doubt, the Big Ten Conference has the best college football coaches in the FBS. From top to bottom, the conference has some of the most respected and talented coaches in the nation. There is a clear cut #1 for the best coach in the Big Ten, but you can make plenty of convincing arguments for #2 to #7. The talent pool is loaded.

Is this the year that a Big Ten school not named Ohio State wins the College Football Playoff? In preparation for the upcoming season, here are the coaching rankings for the Big Ten.

14. Illinois – Lovie Smith

Smith has had no love whatsoever since his return to the college game. Smith took the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl but has only managed to win five games in 2 years. The Fighting Illini were extremely short on talent, and a winning culture when Lovie arrived. So his principal job has been teaching his guys how to win and get more talent. Illinois just landed the third-ranked quarterback in the Class of 2019, Isaiah Williams. If the Illini can make improvements this year, with Williams coming in 2019, things could be on the upswing for Smith.

13. Tom Allen – Indiana

When you think of the Indiana Hoosiers, basketball, basketball, and more basketball comes to mind. Football? Not so much. Coach Tom Allen is in his second full season with the Hoosiers and will look to bolster its struggling defense. Although Indiana was 5-7 last year, the Hoosiers lost in overtime to Michigan and lost to Michigan State by 8. Only time will tell if the football program can get as much notoriety as the basketball program.

12. Chris Ash – Rutgers

Rutgers used to be at the top of the Big East with Greg Schiano coaching guys like Ray Rice, and Brian Leonard. However, Rutgers has been anything but good the past two seasons, with records of 2-10 and 4-8. The good news is Chris Ash seems to be doing the right things at Rutgers to stop the bleeding. Although it was only 4 wins last year, it was an improvement from the previous season. Ash won a national championship as co-defensive coordinator Ohio State so look for him trying to transfer some of that magic to the Scarlett Knights.

11. DJ Durkin – Maryland

Maryland and coach DJ Durkin came into the 2017 season with an optimistic attitude and that translated to an opening week upset win over Texas. However, injuries derailed the season as the Terps faded quickly. Despite the woes, Maryland has high hopes for 2018 thanks to Durkin’s successful recruiting campaign, which has the 28th recruiting class on 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. Expect Maryland to make a Bowl game in 2018.

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College Football: Pac-12 Coach Power Rankings 2018

Great players win games, but great coaches win championships. The Pac-12 always has plenty of great players and is littered with future first-round draft picks. The conference has also had coaching legends like Pete Carrol, John McKay, Terry Donahue, and Don James. Despite a rich history and tradition, the PAC-12 has never had a coaching roster as good as the upcoming 2018 season. From top to bottom, the conference is now full of some of the best coaching minds. Only the Big Ten (Meyer, Chryst, Franklin, Harbaugh, Dantonio, etc) can rival the coaching lineup the Pac-12 now has in its arsenal. Six of these coaches are in their first or second year at their schools, but all are making noise on the recruiting trail and creating a footprint on the college football landscape. Over the next 2-3 seasons, the Pac-12 collectively will have it’s highest finishes on the recruiting trail.

Despite last year’s abject failure as a conference, the future of the Pac-12 conference is extremely bright and will soon claim multiple national championships.

On to the coaches:

12. Oregon State- Jonathan Smith

Jonathan Smith is the biggest unknown of all the Pac-12 coaches. He put up big numbers as the offensive coordinator at both Washington and Montana. The best news for Smith is that there is nowhere to go but up for the Oregon State Beavers. They haven’t won one conference game in two of the last three years. The bad news for OSU is that is Smith is successful he won’t be in Corvallis long.

11. Colorado- Mike MacIntyre

To say that Colorado has struggled since joining the Pac-12 would be an understatement. MacIntyre took over the program in 2013 and has only been able to win more than 5 games once. In his defense, the university absolutely mishandled a powerhouse of a program and burned it to the ground before he got there. The school has not made a commitment to winning, and until they do the Buffaloes will continue to be Pac-12 bottom feeders. There are few coaches who could do better given what MacIntyre has had to work with.

10. Arizona State- Herman Edwards

The Herm Edwards experiment at Arizona State is either going to be feast or famine. Herm was a good NFL coach and is an excellent leader. But, he has never been a college head coach and hasn’t coached football in 10 years. It initially felt wrong ranking him this low, but their recruiting class wasn’t particularly special and he wasn’t able to retain his offensive and defensive coordinators. If Herm does well, re-ranking the coaches at the end of the season is going to be a nightmare.

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#UnafraidShow Pac-12 Power Rankings and Conference Awards


The conference of champions wrapped up a very eventful season. It was nearly impossible to pick winners from week to week. If I had to describe the conference in 2017 two words they would be parity, and underrated. It’s now time to compare the #UnafraidShow preseason power rankings with the final #UnafraidShow Pac-12 power rankings. When you compare these two, you will see that I was pretty damn good. The conference did have some performances that stood out amongst the rest. So without further ado I present the Pac-12 awards:
Pac-12 Biggest Surprise Team: Stanford. They struggled at the quarterback position all year. They seemed left for dead when they were sitting at 1-2. How David Shaw got this team to the Pac-12 Championship game is nothing short of a miracle.
Pac-12 Biggest Disappointment Team: Oregon State. Many Beavers fans considered the possibility of a bowl game in 2017, but their expectations couldn’t have been more wrong. They finished the Pac-12 season completely defeated.
Pac -12 Coach of the Year: David Shaw (Stanford). The man was outstanding for staying the course with his team and getting results in the face of adversity.
Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year: Bryce Love (Stanford). He has rushed for over 1,800 yards with one game to go. He is almost single handedly the read Stanford has been able to make this run.
Pac- 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Justin Reid (Stanford) Troy Dye (Oregon) Justin Reid finished tied for the lead in the conference in interceptions. Troy Dye finished the season 3rd in the conference in both tackles and tackles for loss.
Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Year: Dante Pettis (Washington). It seemed like every time the Washington offense struggled Pettis showed up with his super hero cape on and had a huge return or touchdown.
Now before we get to the Power Rankings I have to disclose something. My wife and I get in huge fights over these Pac-12 Power Rankings. She is a UCLA alum and huge football fan. You have probably seen us doing #TheWifevsTheExpert. When she initially saw the Final Power Ranking she flipped a lid. She had just got out of the shower and was walking around fussing at me in a towel about where Oregon was ranked. I had to explain to her the difference between standings and power rankings. Power rankings say who are the best teams at this moment. Standings indicate your record without taking injury or circumstance into account. The Ducks finished the last two games of the season on fire after their quarterback Justin Herbert returned from injury. They could go out and beat anyone in the conference now. She did not want to hear it, but it is nearly impossible to argue with the Power Rankings.
Preseason
Final
12
California
Oregon State
11
Oregon State
California
10
Arizona
Colorado
9
Arizona State
Utah
8
Colorado
UCLA
7
UCLA
Arizona
6
Oregon
Arizona State
5
Stanford
Washington State
4
Utah
Oregon
3
Washington State
Washington
2
Washington
Stanford
1
USC
USC
Final Thoughts: Stanford plays USC in the conference championship on Friday at 5pm. As much as some fans have rooting interests for other teams, it would be a great idea if everyone teamed up to root for USC. The Trojans are the only hope for the conference to make the College Football Playoffs. I know it may hurt your pride or offend your sensibilities, but it’s the right thing for the perception of the conference. WWJD.
I hope you enjoyed the Pac-12 season as much as I did. Can’t wait for these bowl games and recruiting wars!

Send all emails to: unafraidshow@gmail.com

Week 7: NFC Power Rankings

NFC Power Rankings
As the season goes on, there will be some movement on this list. Expect the Individuals (Eagles) and possibly the Buccaneers to enter the Top 5 at some point in time. The 49ers will stay simply based on their division. The teams to that are most likely to fall are the Saints and the Bears.

1.
Only an injury to Aaron Rodgers can take them out of the #1 spot.
2.
The Giants don’t “WOW” you in any one area except the win column.

3.
This team could end up anywhere. Jay Cutler is a ticking time bomb for turnovers.

4.
Offense. Defense. Special Teams. Good Football.
5.
How will this offense play with their head coach and offensive coordinator in the booth?

Week 7: AFC Power Rankings

AFC Power Rankings

1.
I have two words for you… Tom Brady!

2.
Great defense and a running game will carry them.

3.
With the recent injury to Jason Campbell, the Chargers won’t get much of a fight in the AFC West
4.
The Steelers are good but not great. They should stay on the list all season

5.

Don’t expect them to remain on this list for long.