Three-Point Stance: Florida State-Clemson, West Virginia, Charles Huff
Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman has thoughts on Florida State's transfers, a coach's hot seat that may be cooling off and a head coach to watch come hiring season.
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TRANSFERS COME UP BIG IN FLORIDA STATE'S WIN OVER CLEMSON
Florida State went to Clemson over the weekend and won an overtime thriller. It was the Seminoles' first win at Clemson since 2013. Many people were looking at this matchup as a possible "passing of the torch" game, where Florida State signals it is ready to dominate the conference for the next few years as Clemson has done for the last decade or so. The result doesn't seem all that definitive for those looking to make that argument but an interesting storyline did emerge that could speak to the future of this heavyweight ACC matchup.
Dabo Swinney and Clemson are notoriously anti-transfer portal while Mike Norvell and Florida State could not be bigger fans of the portal. Clemson has just one transfer on its roster (backup quarterback Paul Tyson) while Florida State STARTED 14 transfers in its matchup with the Tigers on Saturday. Florida State's leading passer (Jordan Travis), rusher (Trey Benson), and top five receivers (Johnny Wilson, Keon Coleman, Trey Benson, Jaheim Bell and Kyle Morlock) from Saturday's game all came to Tallahassee via transfer. According to PFF, five of Florida State's 10 highest-graded defenders who have played at least 40 snaps this season are transfers.
The impact transfers have had on Florida State's roster and the continued refusal by Clemson to engage with the transfer portal clearly had something to do with the result of the game on Saturday. Used correctly, the transfer portal can bring playmaking receivers and solid offensive linemen to a program. Florida State signed impact transfer offensive linemen Jeremiah Byers, Casey Roddick, D'Mitri Emmanuel and Bless Harris and brought in receivers Wilson and Coleman, creating one of the best receiving duos in the country.
Is it an odd coincidence that those two position groups are the areas where Clemson is weakest? I think not.
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NEAL BROWN COULD FORCE WEST VIRGINIA TO KEEP HIM IN 2024
Neal Brown could win his way to another year at West Virginia. Don't look now but the Mountaineers have won three-straight games and travel to Fort Worth this weekend to take on TCU.
It's been well documented that Brown barely made it to this season as West Virginia's head coach and there were a lot of question marks about this roster prior to the first game. It seemed like a forgone conclusion that he would be fired after this season but, as they say, that's why you play the game.
West Virginia needs to get to six or seven wins this year for Brown's hot seat to get a little cooler. The Mountaineers are halfway there and have games at Houston, against Oklahoma State, at UCF, against BYU, at Oklahoma, against Cincinnati and at Baylor remaining. If CJ Donaldson keeps running like he has been and the defense keeps up this better-than-expected play, there has to be at least three more wins on this schedule to keep Brown in Morgantown for another year.
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GIVE CHARLES HUFF A POWER FIVE JOB!
Speaking of the Mountain State, how about Marshall hosting Virginia Tech over the weekend and getting the win on its home turf? In fact, it's been 11 months since the Thundering Herd lost a game. Old Dominion, which nearly beat Wake Forest earlier this year, travels to Marshall this week and next week Marshall plays at NC State. Going 2-0 over the next two weeks means the Thundering Herd will enter conference play with an undefeated record and two wins over Power Five opponents.
If that happens, head coach Charles Huff has to get a Power Five job next year. Not convinced? Don't forget Marshall's win at Notre Dame last year.
Huff's resume – featuring stops at Penn State and Alabama – is impressive. He's been a star recruiter, a developer, and built this Marshall program using what he's learned under two of the best coaches in the country in Nick Saban and James Franklin. Huff has to be at the top of the list of candidates for any program looking for its next head coach.