Three-Point Stance: Hot coordinators; awards watch; surprises

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here with a look at the coordinators impacting college football the most this season, mid-season hardware and his biggest surprises and disappointments by conference.

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Who are the coordinators that are impacting college football the most this season? Everyone knows how much respect I have for Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown, but on Saturday night Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead demolished the Wolverines defense with an amazing game plan. Since Moorhead has arrived in Happy Valley, the offense has been difficult to handle and very unpredictable for defenses. Moorhead, who should be a hot head coaching candidate this off-season, deserves a lot of credit for the turnaround at Penn State. Of course, head coach James Franklin deserves the most credit and has done an amazing job creating a team that can compete for the national title, but where does Moorhead stand amongst coordinators impacting this college football season? Here are my top five.

• Mel Tucker, Georgia – The Georgia offense certainly helps with the running game soaking up time of possession, but the difference has been the defense for the Dawgs this season and Tucker has done an impressive job.

• Joe Moorhead, Penn State – Try to game plan against this offense, I dare you. It helps to have Saquon Barkley, but he has made quarterback Trace McSorley a dangerous college football weapon, has replaced key receivers and has made this offense so dangerous. His simple work in formations that give defenses new looks makes it hard enough.

• Mike Elko, Notre Dame – Not only is the scheme and game-planning better, but Elko has Notre Dame’s defenders hitting and playing with spirit, something we rarely saw last year. He’s the biggest difference maker for the Irish in my opinion.

• Brian Daboll, Alabama – ‘Bama hasn’t been challenged, so Daboll has been overlooked a bit, but Jalen Hurts is an improved passer, Damien Harris is a different weapon and Bama does a great job getting the ball to Calvin Ridley even though everyone knows he’s the top target. The play calling under Lane Kiffin was very good and it’s good again this season.

• Brent Venables, Clemson – The loss to Syracuse hurts, but with an offense that doesn’t have DeShaun Watson and with some key losses on defense, he’s done an amazing job dominating some games with his aggressive defense.

I’ll skip my Farrell Freshman Five and Heisman tracker this week since it was a slow week for standout true freshmen and Saquon Barkley now has a sizable Heisman lead heading into the Ohio State game.

But just past the mid-season point, I’ll name my award winners so far (real awards, not Farrell Awards)…

Heisman – Saquon Barkley, Penn State – No brainer.

The Home Depot Award (coach of the year) – Kirby Smart, Georgia – A tight battle with TCU’s Gary Patterson.

Doak Walker – Saquon Barkley, Penn State – Feel bad for Bryce Love. Feel bad for him.

Davey O’Brien – Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma – The most consistent quarterback in the country.

Fred Bilentnikoff – James Washington, Oklahoma State – He can be shut down, but not often, and when he’s on, he’s unstoppable.

John Mackey – Mark Andrews, Oklahoma – UMass tight end Adam Breneman, a Penn State transfer, projects to the NFL, but no one has played at a higher level this season than Andrews.

Outland – Quenton Nelson, Notre Dame – The best interior lineman in the country by far.

Vince Lombardi/Rotary – Christian Wilkins, Clemson – His numbers aren’t amazing, but what he brings to the table each game is hard to match at his position.

Rimington – Billy Price, Ohio State – A tight battle with Bradley Bozeman, but Price has been more consistent.

Chuck Bednarik/Bronko Nagurski – Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alabama – The best all-around defender in the country? Could be.

Dick Butkus – Malik Jefferson, Texas – Remember when Texas fans were hating on him after the Maryland game?

Jim Thorpe – Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alabama – No brainer.

Ted Hendricks – Bradley Chubb, NC State – If you haven’t heard of him, you had better start paying attention.

Frank Broyles – Joe Moorhead, Penn State – See above.

Paul Hornung – Saquon Barkley, Penn State – Versatility is what will win him the Heisman.

There have been surprises and disappointments in each Power Five conference, some very obvious and some less so. Here are mine so far.

ACC

Surprise: NC State is clearly the biggest surprise of the conference, but it’s not a runaway. Miami has been excellent and Virginia Tech has been very good as well with both breaking in new quarterbacks. But the Wolfpack are the story so far.

Disappointment: Florida State is the clear answer here, but Louisville isn’t far behind. FSU can at least point to a quarterback loss. What excuse does Louisville have? But the ‘Noles win out because they lost the Disappointment Bowl this past weekend.

Big Ten

Surprise: Michigan State is 6-1 with its only loss coming to a top 10 team and is undefeated in the Big Ten after an awful season last year. Rutgers has won three games, so that has to be noted as well.

Disappointment: Michigan is the low hanging fruit here, but this is a rebuilding year, so my pick is Nebraska followed by Northwestern. Both were expected to push for the West and neither has a prayer.

Big 12

Surprise: Iowa State is clearly the biggest surprise because no one would expect 5-2 at this stage and a win over Oklahoma. TCU is up there as well as the Horned Frogs are rebounding from an awful year.

Disappointment: Kansas State was supposed to be a top 25 team and they have been very unimpressive. I expected Texas to have a winning record at this stage of the season.

Pac-12

Surprise: Arizona State and Arizona are 3-1 in conference, so they have to lead the way. Washington State, despite a bad loss, is also surprising at 7-1.

Disappointment: Can every team be a disappointment in a way? I’ll go with USC and Utah here, with Utah winning out.

SEC

Surprise: Georgia doesn’t surprise me at all, so my answer would have been Kentucky before they got clubbed by Mississippi State. so I’ll go with South Carolina, an improving product under Will Muschamp.

Disappointment: Can Tennessee really be considered a disappointment? I think so, especially being winless in the SEC. I expected Missouri to be better but that’s because I’m dumb and the Gators offense is a disappointment to everyone.