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.
A trio of fourth quarter touchdowns turned an already good night into a great one for Stanford, as the No. 21 Cardinal blew past No. 8 Notre Dame 38-20 to claim Stanford’s third straight win and seventh in the last nine meetings of private school powers.
Meanwhile in Seattle, No. 17 Washington’s blowout of No. 13 Washington State handed Stanford its fourth Pac-12 North championship and sent the Cardinal into a Pac-12 Championship rematch with No. 11 USC on Friday in Santa Clara.
Stanford entered the fourth quarter trailing 20-17, but a 19-yard pass from K.J. Costello to Kaden Smith handed the Cardinal the lead with 13:46 to play. Curtis Robinson intercepted Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush inside Irish territory on the first play of the ensuing possession, and Costello’s fourth touchdown pass, this one a 12-yarder to Dalton Schultz gave Stanford control of the game with 12:21 remaining.
Disaster struck Notre Dame again after C.J. Sanders fumbled the ensuing kickoff at his own 18-yard line, and Jordan Scarlett put the game away for Stanford with a 3-yard touchdown plunge with 10:10 remaining.
A Wimbush interception inside the Stanford end zone ended any hopes of a last-gasp comeback.
Notre Dame opened the scoring with an 83-yard snatch-and-dash connection from Wimbush to Kevin Stepherson, handing the Irish a 7-0 lead at the 3:40 mark of the first quarter. Stanford pulled even on the next drive, knifing 72 yards in five plays, the last 29 on a Trenton Irwin pass from Costello.
The Cardinal forced a three-and-out on Notre Dame’s next possession, then took the lead with a 6-play, 55-yard march, mostly on Costello’s arm. He hit J.J. Arcega-Whiteside to give Stanford a 14-7 lead with 11:29 left in the first half.
Notre Dame cut into the deficit with a 38-yard Justin Yoon field goal with 2:36 left in the half. The Irish grabbed their second lead of the night with another long throw, this one a 75-yard toss from Wimbush to Equanimeous St. Brown. After Stanford tied the game with a 24-yard Jet Toner field goal, Yoon nudged Notre Dame back in front for its final lead of the night with a 38-yard boot at the 1:23 mark of the third quarter.
Wimbush finished the night hitting hitting 11-of-27 passes for 249 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, with two throws accounting for 158 yards and the other 25 going for 91.
Though his numbers did not pop off the page, Bryce Love was perhaps Stanford’s MVP with a game-high 20 carries for 125 yards. Playing on a high ankle sprain, Love’s 20 totes were sprinkled in between hobbles to and from the Stanford sideline; Love would carry the ball, wait for the pain to subside and then run back on the field to carry the ball again and again and again.
While Stanford (9-3) will prepare for its rematch with the Trojans — USC won the first meeting, 42-24 Sept. 9 in Los Angeles — Notre Dame (9-3) will look to hold on its New Year’s Six bowl positioning.
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