Week 6 of the college football season didn’t provide too many shocks on the field but there is some big news off of it. Two head coaches have been fired, one of which is quite surprising, and one of the best players in the country has been lost for the season due to injury. Here are the biggest news and notes from Week 6:
Nick Chubb Out For The Year
The most devastating news from this past weekend came from Tennessee where Georgia’s star sophomore running back Nick Chubb suffered a torn PCL that will sideline him for the rest of the season. Chubb had run for 747 yards and seven touchdowns already and was on the Heisman trophy radar even despite LSU’s Leonard Fournette dominance at the position.
The Bulldogs’ were already coming off a tough loss to Alabama when things went from bad to worse as they lost their star running back and then lost a second straight game against Tennessee. Georgia has gone from legitimate College Football Playoff contender to facing an uphill climb just to contend for top spot in the SEC West.
Sarkisian Fired By USC
In one of the most shocking stories of the weekend was the news of USC’s former head coach Steve Sarkisian. He has been battling an alcohol addiction and it appears evident that it’s affected his performance for the team.
There have been rumors that he was inebriated during last Thursday’s home game against Washington and also possibly showed up to a team meeting drunk. The school told him he’s not healthy and had to take a leave of absence, but then on Monday, decided to fire him. Sarkisian had been 12-6 in two seasons at USC but clearly he has some bigger issues in his life that he needs to sort out. Clay Helton will step into the interim head coaching role as the Trojans in the midst of what has become a whirlwind of disaster under Athletic Director Pat Haden.
Edsall Fired By Maryland
After plenty of speculation about the future of head coach Randy Edsall looking forward to the 2016 season, a terrible start to the season led to Maryland speeding up the process. He was fired for much more conventional reasons, though.
The news broke on Sunday after the Terrapins suffered a third straight loss, dropping them to 2-4. Considering that Maryland has been outscored 122-34 during its current slide, there really was no doubt that something had to be done about the team’s situation. The Terps were 7-6 in each of the previous two seasons, so it’s no surprise that Edsall was finally fired after a stretch that indicated they were trending in the wrong direction.
Gators Lose Grier To Suspension
The Florida Gators had been one of the feel-good stories of the college football season…until they were dealt a tough blow on Monday. Starting quarterback Will Grier has been suspended for one calendar year after failing a drug test and getting busted with a performance-enhancing drug. He was very contrite in his press conference on Monday as he fought back tears in what he called an “honest mistake”. Nonetheless, the No. 8 Gators will have to move on without their triggerman.
Treon Harris will be the starter going forward, which is a dicey situation. Remember Harris was suspended for a game earlier in the season. While Grier had been developing nicely as a passer, Harris is more of a running quarterback, so it will be a significant change.
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Cal’s Goff Plagued By Turnovers In Loss
After an excellent start to the season in which he led California to five straight wins, junior quarterback Jared Goff imploded in a 30-24 loss at Utah in which he couldn’t stop turning the ball over. Goff had thrown for over 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions heading in to the game, so it was pretty shocking when he completed just 25-of-47 passes and threw five interceptions against the Utes. It’s easy to understand how important those five picks were in a six-point loss. He’s still one of the top quarterbacks in the country but he’ll have to avoid the big mistakes as the schedule gets tougher.
