Fact or Fiction: Dan Mullen could hit the hot seat this season
In today’s Fact or Fiction national columnist Mike Farrell looks at three big recent topics in college football and decides whether each statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.
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1. The ACC is the worst Power Five conference this season.
Farrell's take: FACT. Wake Forest is the pride of the ACC this season and the Demon Deacons would have to win out to be considered a playoff team. And even then they would get snubbed. Disappointing seasons by Clemson, North Carolina and others have left the ACC clearly on the outside looking in when it comes to the national title picture. Wake and Pitt are the only two teams ranked in the AP Top 25.
The Pac-12 isn’t much better but at least that league has Oregon in the top 10.
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2. Cincinnati would beat Alabama.
Farrell's take: FICTION. I ask this question because Alabama jumped over an undefeated Oklahoma team to No. 3 in the AP poll but didn’t pass Cincinnati. And I don’t know why.
Alabama would trounce the Bearcats, whose best win is against a solid but beatable Notre Dame team. They struggled with an awful Navy team just as OU struggled with an awful Kansas team so Alabama should have moved ahead of them as well.
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3. Dan Mullen could find himself on the hot seat.
Farrell's take: FACT. Dan Mullen is 33-12 and 21-10 in the SEC in his fourth season as head coach of the Florida Gators. He went to the SEC title game last season. So how could he hit the hot seat? Well, as I mentioned in my column on Tuesday, Ed Orgeron won a national title in 2019, had a stellar record and was still fired recently. Oh, and Orgeron has recruited circles around Mullen, whose Gators are No. 34 in 2022 recruiting.
A bad loss to Georgia, something like 34-10, would put the Gators at 4-4 this season and that’s an awful look. Add in poor recruiting and that seat could get quite warm or even hot after this weekend.