Take Two: Changes at LSU, Strong statement, Vols' slow start

Take Two is back this week tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

RELATED: Farrell's Three-Point Stance

Storyline: Les Miles finds himself right back on the hot seat with a bunch of frustrated LSU fans just seething after another lackluster offensive performance in the season-opener.

LSU ran the ball 29 times, threw it 21 and finished with a paltry 259 yards in a 16-14 loss to Wisconsin. As expected, running back Leonard Fournette had nice numbers, but the Tigers only scored one offensive touchdown or the stats could look even worse.

One fix? Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is headed back to the press box after calling plays from the sidelines Saturday.

LSU fans want to open up the offense more and throw since it’s obvious the Tigers just want to line up and play smash-mouth football. But quarterback Brandon Harris has shown no signs of being able to lead the offense down the field.

This might continue to be a major issue. Will top offensive weapons want to play for the Tigers with such a sub-standard offense in place? And will elite recruits stay serious about LSU with Miles’ future uncertain in Baton Rouge?

First take: “The LSU offensive performance was bad. It’s a continuation of everything bad that happened last November. What’s amazing is the people who bought into the notion that the offense would be overhauled in the off-season when the same two culprits (Cameron and Miles) are still at the helm. Miles is definitely behind the eight ball. Like I said last week, he has to go 10-2 with a Sugar Bowl to be back as coach in 2017. That has not changed. Now there is little margin for error on the schedule. Based on what we witnessed at Lambeau, there are no sure wins coming up at Auburn and at Florida. LSU could very well split those two or lose both and then Ole Miss in late October could seal his fate with a third loss. When it comes to offensive recruits, they have seen the LSU Les Miles offense for years yet they still commit and sign with the Tigers. The track to the NFL is there regardless of where LSU rates nationally in total offense.” –- Mike Scarborough, TigerBait.com

Second take: “If there is one program that hurt itself one game into the season with recruiting it’s LSU. Because now all the questions that were lingering about Miles come flooding back. How do you as a highly-rated kid in Texas or Louisiana or the Southeast commit right now to LSU? Some message needs to be sent and I don’t think it’s sending the coach back up to the box. Either they’re benching Harris and moving forward with somebody else because he’s just not getting it or we’re firing Cameron and we’re installing a new offense immediately. Recruiting could be stalled all due to the fact that they’re so unwilling to change.” -- Farrell

Storyline: It was one game, one win, but Texas –- and coach Charlie Strong -– needed that one in a big way.

The Longhorns not only defeated No. 10 Notre Dame in double overtime this past weekend in front of a record opening-weekend TV audience and a lot of recruits watching but Texas looked like a different team than last season –- confident rather than unsure.

Is this the turnaround Strong envisioned? The two-quarterback system of Shane Buechele throwing bombs and Tyrone Swoopes pounding his way for tough yards seemed to work.

It was one game. And the schedule through October is challenging. But Strong looks to have a different ball club in Austin this season. Let’s see if the Longhorns can keep it going.

First take: “To say that the win over Notre Dame saves Strong’s job may not be accurate, because there’s always a chance things could go south, but it sure was a big step towards getting any critics off his back and if things progress the way I think they will, any talk of him being on the hot seat should be gone for good. Excitement around the Texas program and the direction Strong has things heading is as high as it has been in years.

“As for recruiting, Texas will need to sustain the success it built on Sunday night, but there’s no doubt that recruits have taken notice. Texas hosted a number of the nation’s top prospects for the game, and every recruit I’ve spoken with has had nothing but great things to say about the experience. Strong and his staff have recruited well in the last two years despite struggling on the field. If Texas can stockpile some more wins, look for the Longhorns’ recruiting to really talk off.” –- Jason Suchomel, Orangebloods.com

Second take: “Is he off the hot seat? Yes. That’s a top 10 victory, they’re ranked for the first time in the top 25 under Strong. They have a quarterback who can throw the ball. He may be young but he certainly exudes confidence. And they managed a dual-quarterback situation better than Notre Dame, better than Auburn, better than a lot of schools that tried to do it. You have to give him credit. They still have to win. They can’t go 1-6 from here on out, but you can tell this is a completely different football team and that alone, just the way they played, takes him off the hot seat.” -- Farrell

Storyline: There was so much preseason hype around Tennessee, that the Vols would run away with the SEC East, that they could even win the entire conference and earn a berth in the College Football Playoff.

And then Tennessee almost lost to Appalachian State in the season opener.

The Vols trailed 13-3 at halftime only to stumble back to a 20-13 decision in overtime, which left many onlookers unsure of what to think.

Did Tennessee overlook an early small-time opponent? Was there just too much pressure heading into the season? Or is this Tennessee team just not as talented as many predicted and many fans in Knoxville hoped?

Maybe we won’t have an answer for some weeks, until the Vols really get into the heart of their SEC schedule.

First take: “I think it's a little fair to say Tennessee being inside the top 10 was just a tad overrated, and that's just not based on the first game of the season. I would have had the Vols ranked 12th in my preseason poll. But, on to your question, it's fair to have some concerns about Tennessee after its first win, but it was just one game against a team that has an unorthodox offense and defense and in the end they still won. Bottom line is there is plenty of talent on this team and I still expect them to compete with Georgia and Florida for the SEC East Championship and expect them to rebound from their subpar performance against Appalachian State and have a good showing against Virginia Tech this week.

“As for recruiting, one game rarely makes a difference, and it's hard to point to a win that caused concern in a recruit. If the Vols have a good season, they will continue to recruit well so I don't think there's any concern at all right now for the Vols from a recruiting perspective.” –- Paul Fortenberry, Volquest.com

Second take: “I’m not writing them off and I’m not that worried about them as long as they make offensive adjustments. The defense played pretty well for Tennessee and they lost their leading tackler early in the game. They sort of took for granted they were playing a Sun Belt team and maybe thought they’d roll over them. The biggest confusion to me is that run-pass mix with Josh Dobbs that he needs. He needs that balance to be effective. If they make the proper offensive adjustments, Tennessee will be fine because I didn’t see anything from anybody else in the SEC East that said they’re going to run away with this.” -- Farrell