This is an opinion column.
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Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer will be considered college football’s best coach if he gets a win on Saturday against Georgia.
Pretty good way to make an entrance in his new league.
“Welcome to the SEC, right?” DeBoer said on Monday during his weekly news conference.
No.4 Alabama (3-0) is a rare home underdog for Saturday night’s battle against No.2 Georgia (3-0) at Bryant-Denny Stadium. UGA is favored by 2.5 points. This is DeBoer’s first chance to make a statement with his new team and it comes against the coach who is perceived to be the best in the SEC after the retirement of Nick Saban.
But Georgia’s Kirby Smart will be knocked off the mountaintop in a hurry with a loss to new-guy DeBoer.
There are big games in college football, and then there are statistically relevant “Big Money Games” that define the new GOAT metric that I developed this offseason. No.2 Georgia vs. No.4 Alabama at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium qualifies as the second Big Money Game of the season. The first was No.3 Texas at No.10 Michigan, a 31-12 victory for the Longhorns.
The GOAT metric is the best way to compare the greatest coaches of all time against each other through the decades. The GOAT metric is a coach’s record in Big Money Games. There are four official qualifiers for a Big Money Game:
- Games against Top 10 opponents
- Conference championship games
- The College Football Playoffs
- National championship games
Saban, the GOAT of GOATs, was 51-26 in Big Money Games. No has been better in the history of the sport. Paul Bryant was a tidy 32-22-1 in Big Money Games. Notre Dame’s Frank Leahy was an unbelievable 22-3-1. Urban Meyer was 26-9. Bobby Bowden was 38-43-1. I’ll have a full list of the GOAT metric rankings for all-time and active coaches in this week’s newsletter. Sign up for my weekly newsletter, Joe Goodman’s SPORTS! Happy Hour, by entering your email address in this prompt.
The GOAT metric is fun, and it does a great job of cutting through the clutter when it comes to sizing up coaches. Among active coaches, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney has the most victories in Big Money Games. His GOAT metric is 23-13. Auburn’s Hugh Freeze is 5-12. Texas’ Steve Sarkisian is now 6-12 in Big Money Games after the victory against Michigan.
Georgia’s Smart is 20-8 in Big Money Games, but he was 1-5 against Saban’s Alabama. Kirby still has a lot to prove against his old team. If Smart loses to DeBoer on Saturday, then DeBoer will have a GOAT metric of 5-1 in Big Money Games with victories against Smart at Georgia, Sarkisian at Texas and Dan Lanning at Oregon.
With Saban retired and sign-stealing Jim Harbaugh off to the NFL, DeBoer — in his first Big Money Game at Alabama — will have to be considered the best coach in college football.
Before we get to Auburn’s Hugh Freeze and the rest of the SEC, don’t forget to take this week’s 6-0 Challenge. Last week we had about 700 entries and only two winners. I’ll announce the winners each Thursday in the newsletter.
DIFFERENT SHADES OF HUGH
Stunning but true, Hugh Freeze is now 4-8 against Power 4 schools as Auburn’s coach after the 24-14 loss to Arkansas.
Through four games this season, Auburn’s offense has committed 14 turnovers. It’s a disturbing number. Among all teams at the FBS level, no offense has given the ball away more times than Freeze’s Tigers.
On Monday night, Freeze boasted on the radio that Auburn would win nine games against Arkansas if they played the Hogs nine more times. Is Auburn’s coach delusional, or are the Tigers actually a lot better than they’ve been playing so far this season? We’ll see at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday when Auburn (2-2) welcomes No.21 Oklahoma (3-1) to Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The Sooners are 2.5-point favorites, but OU coach Brent Venables is coming off a 25-15 beatdown by No.5 Tennessee. The Vols out-gained the Sooners in yards 345 to 222.
Venables announced on Monday that freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins, Jr., is starting against Auburn. Hawkins is a mobile quarterback in the mode of Arkansas’ Taylen Green.
Jackson Arnold started the first four games for OU, but the Sooners averaged just 1.1 yards per carry against Tennessee.
The pressure is mounting for Freeze, but most Auburn fans seem to understand that this is another rebuilding year. Can they stay patient? Here’s the thing about Freeze. I’m not as down on Auburn’s coach as others, but I hope he understands that he needs to be better on the Plains than he was at Ole Miss.
So far, Freeze is closer to the bottom among SEC coaches than the top.
BUYING: TENNESSEE
The Vols (4-0) are the best team in the SEC through the first four weeks of the season. No.5 Tennessee is second in the country in points per game (54.0) behind only Ole Miss (55.0).
The Rebel Land Shark Black Bears, ranked No.6 nationally, have wins against Fuman, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern. Ole Miss finally plays a Power 4 team this week with an 11 a.m. home game against Kentucky.
SELLING: MISSOURI
The Tigers (4-0) dropped from No.7 to No.11 in the AP Top 25 after its shaky 30-27 overtime victory against Vanderbilt. Missouri also struggled in Week 3 against Boston College, defeating the Golden Eagles 27-21. Missouri is off this week with a game at Texas A&M on Oct.5.
AWAY AT COLLEGE
Pike Road’s Quinshon Judkins transferred from Ole Miss to Ohio State for this season. Ole Miss couldn’t afford Judkins anymore and Ohio State reportedly spent $20 million in the offseason building its roster.
The investment in Judkins is paying off. He rushed for 175 yards and two touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ 49-14 victory against Marshall. No.3 Ohio State (3-0) begins Big Ten play on Saturday with an away game at Michigan State.
WHO HATES BIRMINGHAM THE MOST THIS WEEK?
There’s no love for the SEC replay officials in Auburn after the Tigers’ 24-14 loss to Arkansas. AU quarterbacks Hank Brown and Payton Thorne combined to throw four interceptions, but one of the errant passes appeared to be an incomplete pass.
In question is the third interception by Brown of the first half. The ball floated over the middle and into the diving arms of Arkansas defender TJ Metcalf. Did the ball actually touch the ground, though? It was close, but upon review at the SEC replay headquarters in Birmingham, there wasn’t enough video evidence to overturn the original decision.
SPEEDING TICKETS
In honor of Georgia, it’s time to hand out some moving violations to the SEC speed merchants of the week. Drive your NIL-mobiles responsibly, kids.
Luther Burden, WR, Missouri … Moving violation: Burden’s scorching go-route touchdown in overtime against Vanderbilt preserved the Tigers’ undefeated season.
Dont’e Thornton, Jr., WR, Tennessee … Moving violation: Thornton’s 66-yard touchdown reception against Oklahoma gave the Vols an early 10-3 lead.
HITTING THE ROAD
I’ll be in Auburn on Saturday for Oklahoma’s first SEC road game, but first I’m making a detour to Elba, Ala., on Friday night to check out running back Alvin Henderson against Goshen. Henderson, who is committed to Auburn, has 29 touchdowns through his first five games of the season.
MAILBAG
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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”
