Now the national media is on board. This from Stewart Mandel:
1. In her last question to a triumphant Ed Orgeron after LSU’s
49-42 upset of No. 20 Florida on Saturday, ESPN’s Molly McGrath asked whether he’d “made a statement” in the face of rumors about his job security. (He mostly deflected it.) Suddenly it dawned on me: Why is the guy who recently won a national championship assumed to be a dead man walking, but the coach he just beat for a second straight year — who has nearly the same exact .740 win percentage but with no trophies to show for it — is in no danger whatsoever?
2. If LSU’s lopsided loss at Kentucky last week was Orgeron’s Waterloo, what was
Saturday’s debacle for Florida’s Dan Mullen? After defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s unit allowed previously ineffective Tigers running back
Tyrion-Davis Price to rush 36 times for a school-record 287 yards and three touchdowns (seemingly all on the same counter play), the Gators are now just 2-3 in the SEC, with No. 1 Georgia coming up next (the Gators are off next week). They’ve quietly lost six of their last eight games against Power 5 opponents, dating to last season’s infamous shoe toss against LSU. The only positive from Saturday was freshman quarterback
Anthony Richardson coming in and igniting Florida’s offense … but that only raised questions as to why Mullen didn’t play him sooner.
3. It may be that
LSU’s win was too little, too latefor Orgeron, and it may be that Florida’s run to last year’s SEC title game gives Mullen some leeway for at least the rest of this season. But it doesn’t feel to me like the two programs are in drastically different places.