Unfiltered Takes after Week 4: Curt Cignetti, Dabo Swinney, Texas Tech and more

A lot that happens on college football Saturdays. It’s hard to keep up with everything.

So this season, in an attempt to bring everybody up to speed — while taking a chance to provide you with some takes in the process — I’m going to rattle off over-arching thoughts from the previous weekend. I’ll also do my best to spring thoughts forward, not just tell you what already happened.

Let’s keep it going with the latest edition of Unfiltered Takes.

1. Clemson Tigers: The thing that’s most confusing about Clemson this year is that the Tigers have really good players. Heading into the season, NFL Draft analysts felt quarterback Cade Klubnik, defensive linemen Peter Woods and T.J. Parker and cornerback Avieon Terrell were potential first-round draft picks. That’s what makes watching Clemson so maddening. How, with all of these good players, could it look so slow, so uninspired, and, well, so hopeless?

2. Dabo Swinney: When a team has good players and doesn’t play well — which was apparent yet again in Clemson’s convincing loss to Syracuse on Saturday — it falls back on coaching. The problem? Dabo Swinney is one of the best coaches in college football. After going on an epic rant earlier in the week, Swinney got emotional in the postgame news conference.

“Disappointed, painful, hurt,” he said after losing to the Orange. “I’m human. I’m not a cyborg. This is my life. I’ve been here 23 years. I love this place. I give this place the best I’ve got every single day. I’ve invested my life here, and when I don’t get the job done, I’m responsible. I feel the pain. Not just my pain. I feel everybody’s pain. That comes with my job and I don’t run from that.”

That’s a completely different tone than the one we got earlier in the week. And while I still believe in Swinney’s ability to coach, I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for him. Yes, Clemson has won the ACC 8 of the past 10 seasons. That, however, isn’t the standard he set. The harsh reality is Clemson hasn’t had a team capable — emphasis on capable — of winning a national title in 5 years. That’s an absurdly long time for a program that was one competing at that level annually. If this team can’t compete at that level, what’s wrong? More importantly, what needs to change?

3. Fran Brown: Whenever a powerhouse program loses to a team like Syracuse, we fixate on the loser and ignore the winner. Not today. We had a sense Fran Brown was going to be successful when he got to Syracuse just based on his resume and general attitude, but that doesn’t make what he has actually done any less impressive. You could make the case Syracuse is one of the most difficult jobs in the country — terrible geography, not as much money as other contenders, etc. — yet he has made that team a tough out each week. It seems highly unlikely Brown will be the head coach at Syracuse next year. That said, If I were him, I’d be very selective about which opportunity I took next. He seems destined for stardom and doesn’t need to hop at just any job we perceive as “bigger.”

4. Luke Fickell: Speaking of jumping to a job we perceive as “bigger,” that may have been the mistake Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell made. He was rolling at Cincinnati and opted for a job that may have been more difficult than he appreciated at the time. Wisconsin has been one of the most consistent programs in the country over the past few decades. The Badgers have Big Ten money, too. But fixing the identity of a place — or striving to change it — may just be more difficult than doing anything else in coaching. Wisconsin was a run-first, running back and offensive line-driven program. Fickell dared to dream about opening the offense and bringing the Badgers into national contention. It backfired. This is a program that now lacks identity, doesn’t have any good players and is far worse off than it has been in more than a decade. After getting blown off the field by Maryland over the weekend, 2-10 is on the table for these Badgers. If that happens, Wisconsin may have a very difficult (and expensive) decision to make.

5. Cody Campbell: Can you buy a championship? In the NIL era, that has be perhaps the most debated topic out there. Well, Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell — a billionaire oil baron who has taken personal ownership in helping the Red Raiders find a championship — seems to have spent his money well. Texas Tech, a program that has never won the Big 12, is off to a 4-0 start after blowing out Utah. It now seems like the clear favorite in a crazy, unpredictable conference. There are plenty of tough games still out there, but Tech has better players than its Big 12 counterparts and it seems to be gelling as a team.

6. Joey McGuire: Considering Texas Tech spent so much money in the portal and brought in a bunch of new pieces, I find it amusing the head coach — Joey McGuire — spent his entire career as a high school football coach before jumping up to this level. One would think you’d want a seasoned college coach who has an extensive history of dealing with big-time recruiting and even bigger personalities. I wonder if McGuire, one of the coolest human beings there is in coaching, is actually the exact person the Red Raiders need to help a roster like this gel. So many other teams with a ton of good players have faltered because they couldn’t get everyone on the same page. Having a loaded roster is only part of the battle. Having a coach who instills a culture driving by loving your teammates is also so important. Maybe a person with a high school background — albeit in a very competitive division in Texas — fits that mold?

7. Will Hammond: When Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton came out of the game and backup Will Hammond came in, the Red Raiders looked like a completely different team. The game went from being a closely-contested Big 12 tilt to a blowout. Morton threw for more than 3,300 yards and 27 touchdowns a year ago and there never was a thought he wouldn’t be the guy. However, it was hard to watch the game and not feel Hammond is the better quarterback. I wonder if Texas Tech is going to find itself with a little quarterback controversy.

8. Mike Gundy: Everyone loves Mike Gundy. He’s a man. He’s 40. While he has been one of the more entertaining quotes in NIL discourse, it has become clear those criticisms were actually complaints from a coach not up to evolving. Gundy has been at Oklahoma State for 21 years. He is the second-longest tenured head coach in college football, behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. He has won a lot of games and done a lot of good at Oklahoma State. But after the Cowboys got beat by Tulsa on Friday night, it has never been more clear this era isn’t for him. Yes, Oklahoma State is playing a different game than Oregon — which was very apparent two weeks ago – but there is no reason the Cowboys should be this hopeless. There are other teams in the Big 12 in similar circumstances that are very good. Why can’t Oklahoma State be competitive? The game has changed and Gundy didn’t change with it. Oklahoma State is soon going to blame its head coach on its slide. And that won’t be a misguided viewpoint when it does.

9. Indiana Hoosiers: You’ve probably read this sentence a lot since Indiana blew Illinois off the field Saturday night: “It turns out this year’s Indiana is Indiana.” That’s a clever joke given the Hoosiers didn’t receive the offseason credit we now know they deserved. But this Indiana shouldn’t strive to be last year’s Indiana. Last year’s Indiana was a team that came out of nowhere and overachieved. This year’s Indiana has a chance to build on 2024’s run to the College Football Playoff, to do something even better. This Indiana team is really, really good again. That’s how a program is built. Consistency. Indiana’s goal isn’t to be the cute underdog that comes out of nowhere. Indiana wants to be a program who doesn’t feel like an outsider in the national discourse.

10. The Hoosiers’ schedule: The best part of Indiana being good this year is that we’ll get to avoid all the mind-numbing drivel about its schedule. Yes, the Hoosiers didn’t play anyone good in the nonconference again this year. But they also have Penn State and Oregon on their schedule this year, so if Indiana makes it to the College Football Playoff, nobody will be able to say they didn’t earn it.

11. Curt Cignetti: You know Curt Cignetti resents how Indiana was framed at the end of last year. You know he resents how Indiana wasn’t respected this offseason. This is a man who coaches like every coach on the opposing sideline stole his girlfriend in high school. Indiana has a chip on its shoulder this season, and that could be a deadly combination because its coach is out for blood.

12. Arch Manning: Is Arch Manning back? It’s too early to say because blowing out Sam Houston State isn’t going to erase how terrible things went against UTEP. The good news, though, is Manning threw for more than 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. Perhaps more important than stats was the fire with which he played. Manning was shoving coaches on the sideline and talking trash after scoring touchdowns. He looked like he was determined to get his swagger back. Well, Red River is coming up in a few weeks and we’ll get more context.

BONUS THOUGHT: I can’t get over Manning’s celebration early in the game when he scored on a short run. He scored and then stood over a Sam Houston State defender and chirped. On one hand, he is dying to get is swagger back and has been through a lot the past few weeks. He’s entitled to let off some steam, especially because that player taunted Manning earlier in the game. On the other, you’re taunting a future Progressive Insurance claims adjustor in a blowout. You tell me how to feel about that.

13. Oklahoma Sooners: I was wrong about plenty this offseason. One thing that may turn out to be right is the Sooners have a chance to make the College Football Playoff. After a tough win at home over Auburn on Saturday night, Oklahoma can now claim wins over Michigan and the Tigers through four games. John Mateer is a dog, the skill position players are producing and the defense is nasty. Oklahoma has the toughest schedule I’ve ever seen this year, but the Sooners may sneak into the CFP if they make it to the end of the road at 9-3. That would be a pretty convincing resume.

14. Cheating? Oklahoma receiver Isaiah Sategna III ran toward the Sooners sideline as if he were subbing out of the game. But before he reached the sideline, he stopped. Oklahoma quickly ran a play and Mateer threw it to Sategna for a 24-yard touchdown. The SEC later ruled that it was considered a “hideout tactic” and should have resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Instead, the touchdown stood. The final margin of Oklahoma’s win was 7, so it was an important break for the Sooners. My take? I don’t care. When you consider the positon Brent Venables is currently in, the man is desperate to stack wins. He is trying to save his job. Do what you need to do in order to get it. At the end of the day, Auburn still has a responsibility to track the 11 opponents on the field before every play.

15. Miami Hurricanes: There was a moment late in the third quarter of Miami‘s win over Florida that had Hurricanes fans in misery. Quarterback Carson Beck threw an interception near midfield to Cormani McClain — of all people — and left the door open for Florida. Old Miami may have choked that game off. You saw the rumblings of people coming after Mario Cristobal, saying the Hurricanes were going to find a way to give the game away. Nope. Miami absolutely destroyed Florida in the 4th quarter before winning the game comfortably. It was murder ball. Miami probably would have preferred to blow out the Gators and not have any drama, but winning a game against a heated, in-state rival that featured tense, late-game moments was impressive. It made me believe Miami is a top-5 team even more.

16. Dylan Raiola: We felt like Nebraska’s game against Michigan was going to be some revelatory affair in regards to whether Dylan Raiola was going to be a star this year. That’s not what happened. Raiola played a fine game in Michigan’s close win, but Nebraska got its butt kicked on both lines of scrimmage. Raiola had someone in his face just about every time the ball hit his hands. Michigan tends to do that to its opponents, but I didn’t come away from that game with a strong take about Raiola one way or the other. Raiola did promise after the game that the loss would bring Nebraska closer together and that he firmly believed the Cornhuskers are going to accomplish big things this year. We’ll see about that.

17. Nebraska Cornhuskers: To me, this was Nebraska’s chance to show the world it turned the page on the past. They were hosting an average Michigan team at home. The spread was less than a field goal. The team has struggled to win coin-flip games like this the previous 5 years. This season was supposed to be different. The game was in Lincoln, Raiola had a chance to break out and Nebraska had the opportunity to put the entire country on notice that things are different now. The result? Another loss in a one-possession game. In order to break out, you have to win these games. You just have to. That, to me, is the biggest takeaway.

18. Missouri Tigers: How about Missouri? How about quarterback Beau Pribula? How about running back Ahmad Hardy? The Tigers improved to 4-0 with a 29-20 win over South Carolina and they out-rushed the Gamecocks 287 to -9. The Tigers look like a wagon so far this season, but are they legitimately good?

19. Are they legitimately good? There are a bunch of teams through the first month of the season that look like they could be really good, but we aren’t sure yet. Missouri is the leader of that group. Other teams that make that list are Vanderbilt, USC, Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, Florida State, TCU, Texas A&M and Ole Miss. These are all undefeated teams who have shown flashes of pretty impressive stuff. Are any of those teams going to be dangerous at the end of the season? Are any of those teams going to make a CFP run?

Click here to read article