What was reported earlier today is now official: Todd Graham is out as Arizona State’s head coach. But not yet. Graham will stay on through the Sun Devils’ to-be-determined bowl game, which will mean the original staff will also stay on through the new Signing Day of Dec. 20.
Here’s the statement from AD Ray Anderson:
Todd Graham has been relieved of his duties as the head football coach of Arizona State University, announced Vice President of University Athletics Ray Anderson Sunday morning. Graham and his staff will remain with the program through their bowl appearance.
When evaluating our head coaches, we have been very clear in our four-prong approach: integrity, academics, performance and fan affinity advancement.
From the moment he arrived in Tempe, Todd helped change the culture and emphasized the student in student-athlete here at Arizona State, elevating the program to unprecedented heights in the classroom and strong citizenship across the board.
However, our athletic department, university and community expect our football program to compete on the field for Pac-12 titles, be competitively consistent and qualify to participate in major bowl games on a regular basis. In evaluating Todd’s body of work over a four-year period, it became clear that a change is necessary.
We are committed to turning Sun Devil Football into an elite program and competing nationally on a consistent basis.
A national search will begin immediately and we will be deliberate in hiring a leader that fits our expectations as a program and a university.
Anderson is expected to move quickly to hire Graham’s replacement, and will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. local time to discuss the move. Graham went 46-31 in his six seasons in Tempe; he was 28-12 over the first half of his tenure and 18-19 in the second half.
Todd Graham was reportedly fired as Arizona State’s head coach Sunday morning after six seasons on the job. USA Today‘s Dan Wolken reported Saturday night that the Arizona game would be Graham’s last, win or lose, and on Sunday morning news began to leak out through the Arizona State press that Graham was out.
The Arizona Republic reported that Graham will be owed the remainder of his contract, which runs through June 30, 2021 and will cost Arizona State over $12 million.
Arizona State beat Arizona last night, 42-30, ending the Sun Devils’ regular season at 7-5. That was a marked improvement from the two consecutive bowl-less seasons in 2015 and ’16, but well below the standard Graham set in 2012-14, when he went 28-12 and won the Pac-12 South in 2013.
Devils Digest reported that Graham will stay on to coach the Sun Devils’ as-yet-determined bowl game.
All that’s left now is for Arizona State to make it official.
Thanksgiving weekend in college football brought plenty of turkey, gravy and an extra dose of chaos as the postseason picture in the sport was shaken up from coast-to-coast. No matter if you were looking at the College Football Playoff or trying to figure out the various conference races, chances are you saw a surprise outcome or two in Week 13 given the number of results that ranged from eye-opening to downright shocking.
With all that in mind, CFTalk decided to peer into our crystal ball and take a look at the postseason picture — figuring out which teams wind up in certain bowl games prior to the official announcement. Running through all the scenarios, here’s how the bowl picture could play out from the final four to the very first one on December 16th:
College Football Playoff
| Bowl | Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl | No. 2 Oklahoma | No. 3 Auburn |
| Sugar Bowl | No. 1 Clemson | No. 4 Alabama |
New Year’s Six
| Bowl | Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Peach Bowl | UCF | Wisconsin |
| Fiesta Bowl | USC | Ohio State |
| Orange Bowl | Miami | Georgia |
| Cotton Bowl | Notre Dame | Penn State |
2016 FBS Bowl Games
| Bowl | Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| New Orleans Bowl | Troy | North Texas |
| Cure Bowl | Western Kentucky | Georgia State |
| Las Vegas Bowl | Arizona State | Boise State |
| New Mexico Bowl | Colorado State | Marshall |
| Camellia Bowl | Akron | Arkansas State |
| Boca Raton Bowl | South Florida | Florida Atlantic |
| Frisco Bowl | Houston | Ohio |
| Gasparilla Bowl | Memphis | UAB |
| Bahamas Bowl | Florida International | Northern Illinois |
| Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Wyoming | Central Michigan |
| Birmingham Bowl | Duke | SMU |
| Armed Forces Bowl | Army* | Southern Miss |
| Dollar General Bowl | Toledo | App. State |
| Hawaii Bowl | Fresno State | Navy |
| Cactus Bowl | Kansas State | Oregon |
| Quick Lane Bowl | Western Michigan | West Virginia |
| Heart of Dallas Bowl | Texas Tech | UCLA |
| Independence Bowl | Louisiana Tech | Wake Forest |
| Pinstripe Bowl | Boston College | Iowa |
| Texas Bowl | Texas | Missouri |
| Foster Farms Bowl | San Diego State | Washington State |
| Military Bowl | Virginia | Temple |
| Camping World Bowl | Virginia Tech | Oklahoma State |
| Alamo Bowl | TCU | Washington |
| Holiday Bowl | Northwestern | Stanford |
| Belk Bowl | Texas A&M | N.C. State |
| Sun Bowl | Louisville | Arizona |
| Music City Bowl | Kentucky | Purdue |
| TaxSlayer Bowl | Florida State | Mississippi State |
| Liberty Bowl | Iowa State | Utah |
| Arizona Bowl | Utah State | N.M. State |
| Outback Bowl | South Carolina | Michigan |
| Citrus Bowl | Michigan State | LSU |
*Accepted bowl invite
+ Buffalo, Middle Tennessee and UTSA also qualified for a bowl
And then there were three. Still.
Entering Week 13, there were three one-loss teams in the Sun Belt Conference. Exiting, that number remains static as the trio of Appalachian State (31-10 over Georgia State), Arkansas State (67-50 over Louisiana-Monroe) and Troy (62-9 over Texas State) all held serve.
That means the only FBS conference without a championship game will be decided next Saturday in two separate games — Arkansas State plays host to Troy, while Louisiana (4-3 in SBC play) travels to Appalachian State, with all three holding title hopes currently sitting at 6-1.
The scenarios are relatively obvious:
The Arkansas State-Troy winner claims a share of the SBC title if Appalachian State wins
The Arkansas State-Troy winner claims the SBC title if Appalachian State loses
Appalachian State claims a share of the SBS title with a win
Arkansas State has won or shared six championships since the league was formed in 2001, while Troy has won five and Appalachian State one. That lone for the latter came last season when they shared it with Arkansas State.
This is, well, something I suppose.
Tennessee came into Week 13’s season finale against Vanderbilt still searching for a head coach while carrying the baggage of a 4-7 record. As they exit into the offseason, a 42-24 loss to the Commodores — fourth UT loss to Vandy in six years, incidentally — leaves the Volunteers with its eighth loss of the season.
Those eight losses represent the most in a single season for a storied program that played its first football game way back in 1891. The previous high of seven had been accomplished six times, the first in 1977 and most recently in 2013. In fact, five of the six seven-loss seasons came in a six-year stretch from 2008-13 — Phillip Fulmer (2008), Derek Dooley (2010-12) and Butch Jones (2013).
What it means, thanks to the esteemed Wes Rucker‘s tweeted reminder, is it leaves Ohio State as the only football program in the country that hasn’t had a season in which it’s lost eight or more games. The Buckeyes’ single-season record for losses still stands at seven, set in the 2011 season that sandwiched the Urban Meyer/Jim Tressel reigns in Columbus.
OSU has also only had four six-loss years in 128 seasons — 1943, 1947, 1988, 1999.
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