I Tell Ya' Herbie

  Back again with another column of thoughts on the college football world, a little thing we call I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The season isn't over but my choice for coach of the year (and it could change) might be Kenny Dillingham of Arizona State.

Arizona State was predicted to be one of the cellar-dwellers in the Big 12 and the Sun Devils are 8-2 entering a home game against BYU that a win could clinch a Big 12 title game slot for the winner.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            If it's not Dillingham for coach of the year, the default winner could be first year coach Curt Cignetti at undefeated (just imagine saying that in November!) Indiana, who travel to Columbus to battle Ohio State.

I do think that it's fair to question Indiana's opponents (they haven't beaten a ranked team in their ten wins) and they didn't dazzle in beating a five and five Michigan team by five points last week but even projecting the Hoosiers to lose in Columbus, they will be heavily favored to beat rival and last place Purdue to finish 11-1.

I Tell Ya' Herbie: 

                             I'm not sure it's the best game of the week but it might have a case for the biggest if certain things come into play as unbeaten Army meets once-beaten Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium.

Army has beaten each of their nine foes by eleven points or more and a win here may move the Cadets closer to Boise State for the Group of Five automatic bid.

Notre Dame still has just one loss, that inexplicable loss to a 6-5 Northern Illinois in September, and with a win over Army, would have only a road trip to mediocre USC in the way of a CFP home game.

The Fighting Irish are fifteen-point favorites in the Bronx.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            I was surprised to see Florida Atlantic fire Tom Herman midway through his second season.

The Owls are 2-8 overall, 0-6 in the AAC, and were only 6-16 under Herman but Florida Atlantic isn't an easy place to recruit and play in a tougher conference than they did in their successful run under Lane Kiffin.

Herman must have wanted to get back into coaching badly to accept the FAU job for another reason.

Florida Atlantic places stipulations in coaches' contracts that if they are terminated and want to receive their full buyout, they must report to a mundane athletic department job away from the football program.

Herman's buyout is 4.1 million but the contract clause states that should Herman decide not to report to the job, Herman would paid a much smaller sum.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The ACC will go down to the wire with several possible scenarios.

SMU (6-0) holds their destiny in their hands needing wins over two 5-5 teams (Virginia and Cal) to clinch the league title.

Clemson is in the clubhouse at 7-1 and Miami is 5-1 with games against 4-6 Wake Forest and at 7-3 Syracuse, which could be a difficult game.

If Miami wins out and SMU splits their games, the league would have three teams at 7-1 for two title game slots.

If SMU and Miami win out, SMU is in but there will be a tiebreaker needed between Clemson and Miami at 7-1 and without a head to head option, I'm not sure which would earn the title game ticket.