This Week in Our Dumb, Beautiful Sport: Brian Kelly Digs His Own Grave, CFB New Money Keeps Winning, and A Wild Coaching Carousel Awaits

By Ryan Ginn on October 27, 2025 at 9:10 am
The bell finally tolled for Brian Kelly at LSU
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Welcome to This Week in Our Dumb Beautiful Sport, a weekly look at the chaos that reigns over the most perfectly imperfect world of college football.

Two coaches this season have been fired one month after they had their teams ranked in the top 5. We are setting up for an all-time coaching carousel and a College Football Playoff full of some fresh new names. 

BRIAN KELLY FIRED BY LSU

Well, that was disastrous. 

Brian Kelly is set to become the first LSU coach since Gerry Dinardo in 1999 to exit without winning a national championship. After an afternoon of sorting through a messy situation, LSU athletic director Scott Woodward announced that the school was making a change but still sorting through the details of a buyout negotiation. I have no choice but to respect Kelly's choice of continuing to make things difficult to the bitter end. 

“When Coach Kelly arrived at LSU four years ago, we had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge,” Woodward said. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize, and I made the decision to make a change after last night’s game. I am grateful for the ongoing consultations and support of the LSU Board of Supervisors and Interim President Matt Lee in this decision. We wish Coach Kelly and his family the very best in their future endeavors. We will continue to negotiate his separation and will work toward a path that is better for both parties.”

The Tigers went all-in this season on the transfer portal, but Kelly forgot to hire a competent offensive coordinator or offensive line coach. An early loss to Ole Miss was compounded by a less forgivable loss to Vanderbilt, especially because it was becoming increasingly clear that the Tigers' offensive woes were never going to get better without something changing. LSU actually led 18-14 at halftime against Texas A&M -- a team that had not won in Tiger Stadium since 1994 -- but allowed 35 consecutive points to start the second half and got their doors blown off in a 49-25 loss. 

With Alabama and Oklahoma still on the schedule, in addition to a feisty Arkansas team, LSU was staring straight down the barrel of humiliation the rest of the way, especially if its army of mediocre mercenaries checked out. Kelly probably could have salvaged this if he fired offensive coordinator Joe Sloan earlier in the season, even if only to look like he was trying, but any goodwill he had left was out the window by this point. 

HOW WOULD YOU RANK THESE JOBS?

It's going to be an absolutely wild coaching carousel, especially because the combination of the 12-team playoff and the early signing period will likely make some coveted but otherwise gettable coaches off limits. I'm honestly not sure there are enough quality candidates to go around, which could make the hiring process especially competitive. Here's an alphabetical list of some of the jobs that either have come open or are likely to open this year. 

  • Arkansas
  • Auburn
  • Florida
  • Florida State
  • LSU
  • Michigan State
  • Oklahoma State
  • Penn State
  • Stanford
  • UCLA
  • Virginia Tech
  • Wisconsin

It's a wild world when someone out of Florida, Florida State, LSU, and Penn State will only be the fourth-best job on the market at best. (And that's assuming Texas doesn't come open). I'm curious how y'all would order these job openings from best to worst. Let me know in the comments!

WHAT A WILD TOP 10

The latest AP Top 25 includes a handful of the usual suspects in the top 10; namely Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, and Oregon. But it also includes some things that the human mind cannot yet comprehend, such as No. 2 Indiana (last championship: never o'clock), No. 3 Texas A&M (last championship: 1939), No. 8 Georgia Tech (last championship: 1990, under somewhat miraculous circumstances), No. 9 Vanderbilt (last championship: LOL), and No. 10 BYU (last championship: 1984). 

The new blood keeps on winning, and I'm loving it. Anything that gets more schools and fan bases invested in the sport is a win for college football as a whole. 

SARK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Two hours prior to the noon games kicking off, The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported that Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was sniffing around NFL jobs -- particularly the Tennessee Titans.

Perhaps this is taking more liberties than I should, but I actually do buy the possibility that Sarkisian or his agent leaked this, although not because he actually wants to coach in the NFL. Instead, it feels much more likely that this was an incredibly ill-timed attempt to try to plant the seeds for extorting the Horns for a contract extension. Whatever the reason, it doesn't seem like his team enjoyed dealing with it. The Longhorns did pull off a miraculous comeback to beat Mississippi State (whose coach has never won an SEC game in 1.5 years) in overtime, but not before digging themselves a 31-14 deficit. 

RUTGERS WINS IN WILD FASHION

OK, this is peak Dumb Beautiful Sport right here. Rutgers not only won so in regulation after kicking a game-tying field goal with 1:06 left, but its comeback also involved Purdue's quarterback fumbling deep in his own territory after completing a pass to... himself. Roll the tape!

Congrats to Greg Schiano, who seemed quite happy (or relieved, at least) after the game. 

BILL BELICHICK FALLS SHORT OF FIRST ACC WIN

Bill Belichick's UNC squad is still hunting for its first ACC win, but the Tar Heels came about as close as possible this weekend. Facing No. 16 Virginia, the Tar Heels played well enough to end regulation tied 10-10. After Virginia scored a touchdown to open overtime, UNC responded with a touchdown of its own. Here, Belichick decided to go for the win, making what I believe was likely the correct decision since second overtime already requires teams who score touchdowns to attempt a 2-point conversion. Here, making it definitively means a win whereas saving a 2-point conversion for double overtime may just lead to extending the game to a third overtime period. 

Alas, it was not meant to be as running back Benjamin Hall was stopped a couple inches short of the goal line.

DEION SANDERS GETS WHUPPED 

I was never a fan of the Deion Sanders experiment at Colorado, although I do give the school credit for trying something different. But suffice it to say that things are going a tad more poorly without Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter in the defensive backfield or receiving corps. The Buffaloes got smoked Saturday night, losing 53-7 to Utah after being outgained 597 yards to 140 yards. Utah led 46-0 entering the fourth quarter despite starting a true freshman at quarterback. 

KENTUCKY IS IN A BAD SPOT

Perhaps this was inevitable once Texas A&M agreed to hire Mark Stoops and then had to go back on it because of a revolt in the fanbase, leading to an incredibly awkward situation for Stoops in which he got caught trying to leave for a job he didn't get. 

After years of overachieving in Lexington, Stoops then plateaued but has now moved into outright hurting the program. The Wildcats are 2-5 overall and 0-5 in SEC play. In normal circumstances, Stoops' firing would be a mere formality. However, the Wildcats somehow gave Stoops a contract more onerous than the contract James Franklin and Brian Kelly were working under. The buyout negotiations may alter this, but per the terms of Kelly's contract there was no immediate lump sum payment required. Instead LSU will be able to pay it off in monthly installments. Stoops, on the other hand, must be paid all $38 million of his buyout within 60 days of the coach's firing. Not great!

PLAY OF THE WEEK

South Carolina's loss was unquestionably a choke, but it was a choke job that also involved an incredible defensive play from Alabama defender Deontae Lawson. With the score tied 22-22 with less than two minutes to play, South Carolina had the ball with a chance of working their way into field goal range. Instead, it was Alabama who ended up in field goal range. Deontae Lawson ripped the ball out of the hands of South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers, with teammate Tim Keenan III recovering it at the Gamecocks 38 yard line. That gave Alabama all the leeway it needed, and the Tide escaped Columbia with a 29-22 win. 

IDIOT OF THE WEEK

I know we covered LSU's stupidity in the opening section but I simply have to expound upon this because I truly cannot believe it happened. This week's idiot of the week is Tigers offensive coordinator Joe Sloan, who showed in one sequence why LSU hasn't scored any points this season. 

After LSU lucked its way into an interception of Marcel Reed with just over a minute to go in the first half, the Tigers eventually found themselves on the Texas A&M 16 with 30 seconds left and one timeout. What followed is legitimately one of the dumbest things I've ever seen on a football field. On second and 10, LSU handed off to Caden Durham for a short gain, immediately forcing them to use the last timeout. Third and 10 was a quick pass to the flat, and it's a minor miracle that Aaron Anderson dropped it because LSU might not have been able to get off a field goal attempt if he'd caught it with 20 seconds left and no timeouts. At no point did LSU attempt to throw towards the sideline or end zone. The handoff to Durham was legitimately insane. 

Anyways, all of this is to say that Brian Kelly telling Joe Sloan he's an idiot was not only justified but also maybe the only likable thing he did in four seasons in Baton Rouge. Unfortunately for Kelly, he followed that up by being outscored 35-7 in the second half.

REF JAIL INMATE OF THE WEEK

I generally found during my time on the Ohio State beat that the two Big Ten fan bases that most whined about officiating were Michigan and Michigan State. (A little known fact is that Michigan and Texas A&M -- the Wolverines' SEC equivalent in referee griping -- have never actually lost a football game. There are only games they've won and games that don't count because the referees cheated them because they specifically hate those schools and have an agenda.) But sometimes even the most sour grapes fan bases have a point, and Saturday that was the case with Michigan State.

This call is actually fairly close, although I do agree that the defender was onside. However, the impact of this call cannot be denied and it's one you really shouldn't miss as a college referee. If you're interested in more (mostly justifiable) Sparty complaints from the loss to Michigan, Yahoo helpfully compiled a whole catalog of them. 

NO CONTEXT SCORES OF THE WEEK

Here are some scores that caught my eye for any number of reasons – randomness, outcome, unique matchup – that shall remain unknown:

Georgia Tech 41, Syracuse 16
Washington 42, Illinois 25
Kansas State 42, Kansas 17
Wyoming 28, Colorado State 0
Texas Tech 42, Oklahoma State 0
Wake Forest 13, SMU 12
Nebraska 28, Northwestern 21

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